RBS Course Offerings in Typography and Book Design
A good place to begin the study of typography is Stanley Nelson's Introduction to the History of Typography (T-10). James Mosley's Type, Lettering, and Calligraphy, 1450-1830 (T-50) is aimed at those with at least some background in the history of letterforms. A second Mosley course, Type, Lettering, and Calligraphy, 1830-1914 (T-55) continues the themes introduced in T-50, but the first course is not a prerequisite for the second.
T-50. Type, Lettering, & Calligraphy, 1450-1830
James Mosley
The development of the major formal and informal book hands, the dominant printing types of each period, and their interrelationship. Topics include: the Gothic hands; humanistic script; the Renaissance inscriptional capital; Garamond and the spread of the Aldine Roman; calligraphy from the chancery italic to the English round hand; the neo-classical book and its typography; and early commercial typography. The course presupposes a general knowledge of Western history and some awareness of the continuity of the Latin script but no special knowledge of typographical history. See T-55 for a description of the continuation of this course.
It is presumed that applicants, even though they may not have had formal exposure to typographic history, have a considerable but general interest in the history of the book. In their personal statement, prospective students should describe their background in the field (if any), and mention what aspects of letterforms (if any) are of particular interest to them.