Volume 20–4.pdf - U&lc

ITC Bookman Cyrillic
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THE CYRILLIC ALPHABET shares the same roots
as the Latin alphabet: both are derived from
Greek script. However, Latin evolved from
Greek historically, while Cyrillic was invented.
The alphabet was named after the Greek monk
Constantine (also called Saint Cyril) who, in
862 AD, came to Moravia with his brother, St.
Methodius, to spread Christianity and to educate
Slays "in their own language:'
Until the end of the 17th century, the Cyrillic
style used in most written and printed communications
was row-USTAV, a distant relative of the Western medieval scripts. In the
early 18th century a simplified, latinized version of the alphabet was introduced by
Peter the Great, the reform-minded emperor of Russia. The character shapes of the new
style, called GRAZHDANSKY SHRIFT, or 'civil type; were largely based on the forms of the
late 17th century Dutch faces, and the font included Western-style punctuation, lower
case letters and Arabic figures. While civil type was then used in most Russian printed
matter, religious texts continued to be set (or even handwritten) in POLU - USTAV. In the
late 19th century a new name was coined for the
latter: TSERKOVNO-SLAVYANSKIY, or 'Church Slavonic: It
is still being used, and new typefaces are being
created in that category. However, it was civil type
which has become the foundation of all Cyrillicbased
typography.
About 60 languages, many of them not belonging
to the Slavic group, use the Cyrillic alphabet in
their written communications. The basic structure
of a modern Cyrillic-based typeface is identical to
its Latin cousin: it features both upper and lower
case letters, small caps, numbers, superior and inferior
characters, punctuation marks, etc. Cyrillic type also comes in roman and italic,
and in various weights and proportions. Most of the differences between Latin and
Cyrillic relate to shapes of certain characters. There is also a similarity in the construction
of the upper and lower case versions of many Cyrillic letters. The number of letters
in the basic Cyrillic alphabet is greater than in Latin, so the complement of a Cyrillicbased
font is normally also larger. There are a few natural idiosyncrasies about punctuation
conventions and signs used in Cyrillic-based typography, just as there are in
various Latinate languages.
Every existing Latin-based typeface can be more or less successfully 'cyrillized: Cyrillic
letterforms have the very same features as the Latin ones, such as main (normally
vertical) and connecting (normally horizontal) strokes, serifs, ascenders and descenders,
bowls, swashes, etc. Therefore, all style variations existing in the Latin-based type
design are feasible in Cyrillic. There are Cyrillic typefaces which can be easily classifiable
as oldstyles, transitionals, moderns, slab-serifs, or grotesques. In the absence of direct
historical precedents, or similar Cyrillic designs, one has to"figure out" the respective
letterforms, as if the style actually existed in Cyrillic script. Such extrapolation may
yield perfectly credible results, or feel rather artificial: it depends not only on the skills
and sensitivity of the type designer, but also on whether the typeface being cyrillized
has a rather clean look without too many idiosyncratic lettershapes in the font.
The historical development of Cyrillic type design and typography followed the same
direction as type and typography in the West. Its esthetics evolved from classicism,
through Empire and Biedermeier to the Victorian excesses, to Art Nouveau, Art Deco,
constructivism, neo-classicism, Swiss neo-functionalism and post-modern periods.
However, since the original type was first developed in the late 17th century, its basis
can be classified as a sort of "pre-transitional" style. Therefore,"oldstyles," and many
other conventional styles so familiar to the Western typographer, had no parallel in
Cyrillic typographic history.
Straightforward styles, such as those shown here, are better suited to be adapted to
crisp, contemporary Cyrillic letterforms for use in a wide variety of printed materials.
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