What you will learn at CalRBS History of Type in August 2022—no. 26

I will be teaching the history of type at California Rare Book School (CalRBS) August 8–12, 2022. The 5-day intensive class will be based at the Letterform Archive in San Francisco. Along with lectures, discussions, and hands-on examination of typographic artifacts and materials at the Archive there will be field trips to other Bay Area institutions to look at books, broadsides, and more. The class will be small (7 to 12 people).

Here are 10 things you will learn in the class:
1. why there are 12 points in a pica
2. why there are 12 points in a cicero
3. why a pica does not equal a cicero
4. why a pica does equal a line
5. why a line is a measure
6. why a pica does not equal a measure
7. why the lowercase of 72 pt Antique Olive is larger than the lowercase of 72 pt Koch Antiqua
8. why Antique Olive is a sans serif but Koch Antiqua has serifs
9. why Koch Antiqua has very short descenders
10. why short descenders are an abomination; and why short descenders are useful