Devilish Descender

Went hunting in town for some antiquarian books and was super stoked to find this amazing 1st edition of The Chess World Vol. 1 … 1866!

Blackletter typeface for chapter headings!

Here’s the The:

The

…so much goodness going on here!

It’s always amazed me that entire German books were set in blackletter script until the first few years of the 20th Century.

Blackletter is still going strong deep into today’s American pop culture!
TSrep

Yes, but as sort of a novelty style, whereas for hundreds of years in much of Europe it was the standard, mainstream look of typography.

And really, it’s never totally died out. Lots of newspapers, for example, still use it in their nameplates.

‘Tribal’ might be a better word than ‘novelty’?

Rap, Hip Hop, Metal, Goth and now some of the most sought after street fashion lines of today such as Kanye West’s Life of Pablo merch … have made blackletter part of pop culture’s main street.

Rich history … going forward into rich futura? Blackletter used in a HUD or FUI or even a UI?

Of the more recent modern cuts Bastard is one of my favs!

It might be both. I’d probably prefer the term subculture, however. It’s hard for me to picture Taylor Swift as tribal. :wink:

This discussion reminded me of something a read a few months back. It took some looking, but I found it.

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That is one pretty The!
I love looking at old illuminated books where the blackletter type is hand created.

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Bleah. Thanks for reminding me how thankful I am that the course of my work has landed me in a place where I can mostly ignore all that mainstream “culture”. Does anyone ever consider how oxymoronic [sic] terms like “street fashion” are?

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No probs!

Steady on with the tranquilizers.

Pay no nevermind to an ever-growing multi-billion dollar streetwear industry.

Illuminated manuscripts are insane … Black books of Hours being one of my favorite.

Yes, I need them to tolerate people so assuming as to infer.

No doubt I will. Ever-growing? No such thing. Fashion is fashion; trends cycle and cycle; “streetwear” is just a (really stupid) marketing name for one of 'em because the spenders of multi-billions currently have a need to feel as though they look “street” in their next round of selfies . . . at least until the next undeserved self-indulgence comes along.

Can you imagine handling a book of hours…without gloves???
Assuming this is real:

WTF!?!

Unfortunately it does look real … sigh.

Love that warm gold emboss and cool blue!

The smudge around that drop cap is prolly from her/his greasy pizza fingers!

This font is look like wroxeter regular.

Which font?

I think you can see that

Think again.