J. F. Coakley, The Typography of Syriac: A Historical Catalogue of Printing Types, 1537-1958 (New Castle, DE, and London: Oak Knoll Press and the British Library, 2006). Pp. xxxiv + 272. ISBN: 1-58456-192-0
Carl W.
Griffin
Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute
George A. Kiraz
James E. Walters
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Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute
2008
Vol. 11, No. 2
For this publication, a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
license has been granted by the author(s), who retain full
copyright.
https://hugoye.bethmardutho.org/article/hv11n2prgriffin
Carl W. Griffin
J. F. Coakley, The Typography of Syriac: A Historical Catalogue of Printing Types, 1537-1958 (New Castle, DE, and London: Oak Knoll Press and the British Library, 2006). Pp. xxxiv + 272. ISBN: 1-58456-192-0
https://hugoye.bethmardutho.org/pdf/vol11/HV11N2PRGriffin.pdf
Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies
Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute,
vol 11
issue 2
Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies is an electronic journal dedicated to the study
of the Syriac tradition, published semi-annually (in January and July) by Beth
Mardutho: The Syriac Institute. Published since 1998, Hugoye seeks to offer the
best scholarship available in the field of Syriac studies.
Syriac Studies
Typography
History
File created by XSLT transformation of original HTML encoded article.
[1]
Typography, in general, is the art of printing, but it may
refer more specifically to the craft of typeface design, as it
does here. Many catalogs and histories of the typography of the
Latin script have been written, but much rarer are studies of
non-Western typefaces and typography. J. F. Coakley's The
Typography of Syriac: A Historical Catalogue of Printing Types,
1537-1958, is exceptional both for its subject matter and
its exhaustive character. It is similar to John H. Bowman's
Greek Printing Types in Britain (1998), but where
Bowman covers just a century and a half of Greek typography
A subject on which Coakley has also published. See
J. F. Coakley, "The Oxford University Press and Robert
Proctor's Greek Types," Matrix 13 (1993): 179-89.
in
one region, Coakley treats the entirety of Syriac metal type
design and usage.
[2] Coakley
is uniquely suited to author this work, due both to his
affiliation with the Houghton Library in Harvard, with its
superb manuscript and typographic collection, and as the
typographer for his own Jericho Press, which publishes examples,
quite unique in our day, of hand-set Syriac type. But it is his
exhaustive research and passion for the subject that has
produced such a superlative work.
[3] The book
opens with two prefaces, one for students or typography and the
other for scholars of Syriac. Addressing syriacists, Coakley
first expresses a sentiment I expect many have had. "One of the
reasons I was first attracted to Syriac studies, though I was
perhaps hardly aware of it then, was aesthetic. The Syriac
book-hand is one of the most graceful scripts that has ever
been invented, and simply to be able to read and write it
oneself was thrilling." While there has been almost nothing
published by syriacists on this topic before now, he continues,
"Yet I am sure that most of us do have feelings, conscious or
sub-conscious, about the script on the page we are looking at,
and I hope the readers of the present book will find it
satisfying to inform those feelings with some historical
information and criticism" (xiii).
[4] An
introduction provides a very brief history of Syriac printing
(1-4),
A fuller history the author has published
elsewhere: J. F. Coakley, "Printing in Syriac, 1539-1985," in
Eva-Maria Hanebutt-Benz, Dagmar Glaß and Geoffrey Roper,
eds., Sprachen des Nahen Ostens und die Drukrevolution:
eine interkulturelle Begegnung / Middle Eastern Languages and
the Print Revolution: A Cross-cultural Encounter
(Westhofen: Skulima, 2002), 93-115.
followed by a thorough survey of the Syriac
script in its various forms (4-16) and a discussion of the
mechanics of designing and producing Syriac metal type (17-24).
The author then introduces the scheme of his type catalog
(25-26), which groups together all letterpress Syriac typefaces
according to script (serto [W], estrangelo [S] and East Syriac
[E]) and assigns each an alphanumeric designation based on
script-type and chronological order. Thus the familiar Drugulin
serto used in Nöldeke's grammar is designated W61, the
estrangelo used in Overbeck's Opera selecta is S14,
etc. This referencing system is convenient and also a practical
necessity, given the numerous internal references. Following
the letterpress type catalog is a history of Syriac mechanical
typesetting, i.e., Linotype and Monotype (251-65), and
concluding the book is an appendix of "Evidence for types not
shown" (266-67) and a general index (268-72).
[5] The
heart of the work, then, is an exhaustive catalog of all known
letterpress Syriac typefaces (27-250). Each entry his headed by
an alphanumeric reference, as just described, the name of the
type designer and/or foundry, and the date when the type was
struck or when the first example is attested in print. A sample
of each typeface and any derivative fonts is reproduced
alongside its history and a description of notable facts and
features. The author apologizes for presenting his data in
prose, rather than in the technical and tabular format of most
catalogs (25n82), but Coakley has produced hereby a highly
readable narrative work rather than simply a reference
tool.
[6] As
Coakley says, this books has value for Syriac scholars, apart
from any inherent interest they may have in typography, by
informing their aesthetic sense of Syriac typefaces "with some
historical information and criticism" (xiii). In this digital
age, when Syriac scholars not only can but at times
must be typographers of their own work, having some
knowledge of "good" or "bad" typeface design, and a historical
sense of Syriac type usage, is also desirable. In this regard I
found interesting, for example, the history of "gothic" serto
scripts.
[7] Unlike
standard Greek and (Roman) Latin typefaces, Syriac typefaces
were from the beginning modeled on Syriac handwriting. It is
unusual for Syriac type to be highly stylized in the way Greek
and Latin typefaces may be. A striking exception is the serto
type produced by Johannes Richter in 1611, a monolinear and
eccentric design which strongly departs from handwritten
Syriac. The design influenced a large number of subsequent,
predominantly German typefaces which Coakley terms "gothic"
(49).
Gothic type is a class of Latin typefaces which are
monolinear, sans serif, and somewhat geometric. Coakley
explains alternatively, "'Gothic' suggests what is both North
European and what is dark and grotesque" (49n65). Gothic types
are sometimes also called "grotesques," reportedly because,
when first introduced by 19th-century advertisers,
the public was shocked at their spare and non-traditional
character.
Example of "gothic" serto (W50) from Pius Zingerle's
Monumenta syriaca (1869).]Due to its influence,
Richter's typeface has the distinction of marking "the most
important step in the degradation of Syriac type-face design in
Northern Europe down to the nineteenth century" (49). Peter de
Lagarde was even more pointed: "Kein Syrer hat jemals so
geschrieben... der verrückteste Syrer in seinen
verrücktesten Stunden hat es nicht gethan."
"Die neuen syrischen Typen des Hauses Drugulin,"
Nachrichten von der Königlichen Gesellschaft der
Wissenschaften und der Georg-August-Universität zu
Göttingen, 1888, no. 14, 377. Cited by Coakley,
49n66.
While many texts
were printed in this typeface up to the twentieth century, it
has rightly fallen almost entirely out of use.
[8]
Coakley's book is well edited and nicely produced, typeset by
the author himself and demonstrating his practical knowledge of
the craft. One minor desideratum would be to have the typeface
references (W61, S14, etc.) included in the header of the
relevant pages, perhaps in square brackets at the inside
margin, to facilitate the constant cross-referencing the reader
will certainly do. Otherwise, I only find myself wishing the
author could have included data he necessarily omits (26),
namely, a more full listing of the printers and publications
which employed a particular typeface. Coakley includes many
such references, and I find this information interesting and
valuable. To do this comprehensively would fall outside the
scope of a type catalog, certainly, but this catalog thankfully
provides future researchers a solid point of departure from
which to accomplish that task.
[9] The
author rightly titles his work a "Historical Catalogue," and
this is certainly a historical work of the first order. While
more purely technical data might be tabulated at some future
day, or some particular item expanded upon, I cannot imagine
this work as a whole being superseded. Such a definitive work
requires exceptional labor. The author remarks, "Both of my
daughters have been born and have grown up since this project
was begun" (xv). The author's long and careful labors are
abundantly evident and have resulted in a benchmark work,
deserving of our thanks and congratulations.
_______
Notes