Insular Majuscule & Contemporary Types
From a peculiar phase in the history of the alphabet
This article is a follow-up to the story about Book of Kells found here.
Reading the text in the Book of Kells was ironically never the primary purpose of the book (see the article on the previous page). But this does not mean, that the script in the Book has not been studied and admired by scholars for centuries. As with the decorations and illustrations, the script itself found in the Book of Kells also stands as typographical landmark and point of reference: The script, with the distinct triangular serifs and intriguing rounded letterforms, is called the Insular Majuscule and in the Book of Kells we have it in its final and most accomplished form.
The evolution of the a
The history of alphabet
The Insular Majuscule claims a peculiar spot in the history of the alphabet (see below). The first development of the alphabet was the move from the logographic to phonographic sign systems—an important development from the direct representation to abstraction. This took place when the Egyptian hieroglyphs developed into the Phoenician alphabet, where one sign represents one spoken sound. This alphabet (which strictly speaking is not a true alphabet due to the lack of vowels) gave rise to the Greek alphabet—the first true alphabet, which is the source for all European modern scripts. This is also the case for the Roman alphabet, taking the Greek letterforms as a basis for the Roman capital (majuscule) alphabet, that we know and still use today.
As we also recognise today, when being charged with the task of filling out a form by hand, where it is prescribed to only use uppercase letters, these sturdy Roman capital letterforms are better suited for carving in stone than for handwriting. As literacy and subsequently handwriting increased, more informal script variants evolved; collectively described as Roman cursive.
These modifications of the letterforms also involved a gradual movement towards minuscule variants of the majuscule Roman letters. Such hybrids are the continental Uncial and Half-uncial, where the majuscule letterforms are occasionally equipped with vertical descenders and ascenders that are integral part of the letters, rather than accidental pen flourishes. These letterforms were the basis for the Carolingian minuscule, which most closely resembles the minuscule that we use today in combination with the much older Roman majuscules.
Insular isolation
But what about the Insular majuscule? The term “insular” refers to manuscripts and scripts developed on the British Isles. And the Insular majuscule is a distinct Irish development of the continental Half-uncial that reached the Isles around 500 ad. Over the next 250 years the letterforms was influenced by the distinct Celtic artistic tradition. The Irish scribes imbued the rather humble Half-uncial with exaggerated serifs and elaborated details. Furthermore due to the virtual isolation from outside influences, it was possible for the Irish calligraphic tradition in the monastic scriptoria to develop and formalise this wonderfully distinct and characteristic script, of which we have the finest and most spectacular example in the Book of Kells.
Kellun
Despite the splendour and aesthetic qualities of the Insular majuscule—or maybe even because of precisely that—the script does not live up to modern day standards, when it comes to legibility. That is why Heidi Rand Sørensen, type designer here at 2K, designed Kellun—a modern interpretation of the Insular majuscule, ready for the challenges of modern day typesetting. You might find it someday in a design from 2K.