What are Gothic Letters?

One of the most recognized styles of text is Gothic lettering, also known as Blackletter. Gothic letters were commonly used in western Europe from the 1100s through the 1600s and are sometimes referred to as Old English lettering, though they have no connection with the actual Old English language.

Gothic lettering developed as the people of Europe were becoming increasingly literate. Because books needed to be published for use outside of religious texts, there was a need for an easier, faster and cheaper typeset to use. Gothic lettering styles came into effect due to this need and were used primarily for academic texts.

Because of its modern reputation as Old English lettering, the English form is perhaps the most well known. However, numerous countries made use of some form of Gothic lettering in the over 800 years that it was in use. The name Gothic originates from Italy, where it was used in the 15th century to describe the lettering style. While the typeset began to fall out of favor in western Europe in the 1600s, it was still used in Germany after the turn of the 20th century, where it was initially slow to be adopted.

Gothic lettering comes in several forms, similar to modern lettering. The most recognizable is Textualis, which is what most people today associate with the term Gothic lettering. It features large and ornate, yet distinct letters. All the national forms of Blackletter use Textualis. Cursiva is also common to all national forms, but like modern cursive, it is less structured. Hybrida combines characteristics of Textualis and Cursiva, hence the name. There were additional forms used for the German language called Fraktur and Schwabacher. Fraktur was the more common of the two, so much so that German Blackletter was often referred to simply as Fraktur, regardless of the actual typeset. Schwabacher eventually was used more for emphasis, similar to modern italic.