Course Length: 30 hours 
Course Week: 3-8 August 2025 
Format: in person, Newberry Library in Chicago, IL 
Fee: $1,495

This course will provide a general overview of the history of typography and related letterforms in the West from the fifteenth century to the present day. It will cover description and identification of types, including moveable metal type, wood type, type for machine production, and digital type. The course will also aim to place type and lettering within historical, cultural, and political perspectives through a series of case studies that examine the creation, dissemination, and uses of type over the centuries. Topics will include specific printers, type designers, or foundries (e.g., Aldus, Granjon, Caslon, Ludlow); calligraphic influence, type design and language; type specimen books; and historical revivals. This course is intended for students with little or no experience in the history of typography. While the course does cover the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it largely does not overlap with T-60 The History of 19th- & 20th-Century Typography & Printing.

Taught at the Newberry Library, the course will take advantage of one of the best typographical collections in the world and will feature hands-on presentations of materials. Guest speakers, as well as a field trip to a printing studio, will provide students with a further understanding of how typography was (and continues to be) used to shape the way in which we look at books. In their personal statements, applicants should describe their interest in and experience with typography or letterforms (if any), along with how the course might fit into their current work.