Writing

Folio: (Konrad Bauer/Walter Baum 1956): Grotesque forms have been beaten against the shoreline of typography ever since their invention in 1816, but it was not until the 3rd wave that they washed away their competition. The first wave came in the 19th century when their simple construction and sturdy stroking allowed those primitive forefathers to withstand the rough printing conditions of the early “machine age” and their heavy features also allowed them to attract the rough and ready attention necessary for advertising during its infancy. Despite being denigrated for their formal crudity, they became a staple diet to the emerging marketing culture by the middle of that century, but insofar as that first wave struck during the dark hours of typography and did not sink into the typographic water table, their usefulness was washed away as the tides of early industry receded into history.