I've always been drawn to the bombastic fat faces that acquired a size and ornateness never seen before the nineteenth century. These fonts carved a new terrain of public readership with the strategic use of short declarations, exhortations, and aggressive questions, intended to catch the eyes of viewers who were on the move. Indeed, commentators in the nineteenth century often note that these large, ornate, and mechanically-crafted scripts were tersely vivid. Throughout the century, the term “poster letters” suggested textual messages that were emotionally charged, their design conveying urgency. Moreover, such letters were frequently described as “glaring” “flaming” or “flaring” their words. As Dickens put it, there was a proliferation of “characters of fire.”
This type was intended for public readership, so I'm amazed to come upon a little-known typographic experiment from 1837. A series of sermons and spiritual guide, Heavenly Incense, A Christian’s Companion is published entirely in fat faces. Moreover, they are printed in bold. As one nineteenth century print expert noted, “the forbidding solemnity of every page is indescribable.” To my amazement, though, the book made it into a second edition. Endorsements in the second version, published in 1847, specifically note the type; Baltimore’s Lutheran Observer, for instance, claiming that “The print is very large and distinct, so that the aged and others, whose sight is very weak, may read it with ease.”
