New books on the history of Persian typography
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Connie Bobroff
Jul 5, 2017, 2:00:59 AM7/5/17
to Persian Computing, Persian Typography
Hi Everyone,
After some recent off-list discussions with Behnam and Behdad Esfahbod, I wanted to pass on some updates on a couple new books on the history of Persian computing and typography. These are valuable because the researchers were able to obtain access to primary sources including the people involved in historical events.
This book in English will be published in August, 2017:
Nemeth, Titus. Arabic Type-Making in the Machine Age
The Influence of Technology on the Form of Arabic Type, 1908–1993, BRILL, August 2017, 550 pp., €135,00, $156.00.
The above book is based on the author's 2013 dissertation from the University of Reading:
Arabic type-making in the machine age : the influence of technology on the form of Arabic type, 1908-1993, 2013, Dissertation, Univ of Reading.
As you may recall,
Behdad had earlier paid the British Library fee to have this dissertation scanned to be made available for free download for all. However, apparently, the author restricted access and Behdad's good intentions came to naught. There are some particularly interesting details on the development of Mitra (by Timothy Holloway, earlier called "Linotron Farsi No.2") and Nazanin (By Mr. Haqiqi and earlier known as both "New Kayhan Face" and "Haghighi"). The correspondence between Kayhan-Ettelaa'aat with Linotype is non-stop action! The best part (p. 309) is where Ettelaa'aat (later Iran Chaap) was telling Linotype that the nastaʿliq-looking fonts they were sending were too "Arabic" and to please make something more "Persian" although Ettelaa'aat could not define the features of the "typographic national identity." Ettelaa'aat sent Linotype some samples of what they thought were "Persian." Linotype was shocked because they were not what everyone had always thought was "Persian," i.e. nastaʿliq, but rather naskh. As the designs got farther and farther from handwritten, manuscript models, they became more acceptable as "Persian" and less "Arabic." This complaint of "too Arabic!" delayed the project by many years and that too, when they were rushing to finish before the hot-metal era gave way to computers. Pretty exciting story. Maybe they can make a thriller film from it!
Behdad introduced this dissertation back in January, 2016 (Bahman 1394) at a typography colloquim at Khaane-ye Honarmandaan in Tehran and also talked about some of his own discoveries in the Linotype archives at the Univ. of Reading. You can download the mp3 audio file of his talk (in Persian) at
Another new book (in Persian) is
طراحی حروف برای فونت فارسی
اثر امید هامونی
Hamooni, Omid. Design of Letters for Persian Fonts, Fatami Publishing, Azar 1395 = Dec, 2016, 160 pp.
http://www.omidhamooni.com/ (site down at the moment)
I call to your attention to pp. 41-42, about the legendary Mr. Haqiqi (حسین عبداللهزاده حقیقی) and Kayhan and Ettelaaʿaat newspapers. Here the author has also made reference to another thesis:
این مصاحبه به وسیلهٔ خانم کوکب طاهباز برای چاپ در پایاننامهٔ کارشناسی ارشد ارتباط تصویری ایشان با موضوع «بررسی قابلیتهای تصویری خط فارسی». دانشگاه تربیت مدرس در سال ۱۳۷۷ انجام شده است.)
There are also some youtube videos of Mr. Haghighi in action:
Lastly, don't forget about Behnam's collection of Shabakeh interviews on his page,
History of Persian Desktop Publishing
It's really nice to finally get these details. Hopefully there will be more books and articles like these in the future.
-Connie
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