1. b. The Alphabet

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Phoenician alphabet (c. 1000 B.C.) reads from right to left; the letters below indicate the sounds they represented.

Greek alphabet (c. 403 B.C.) originally adapted from the Phoenicians c. 900 B.C.

23 letters of the Roman alphabet, most adapted from the Greek.

Square capitals (fourth century) written with a reed pen.

Rustica (fifth century), written more freely with reed pen. The dots represent the beginnings of punctuation.

Half-Uncials (seventh century), written with reed pen. Slashes indicate punctuation.

Carolingian miniscule (ninth century), written with reed pen.

Black Letter (fifteenth century), written with reed pen.

Printed line from Gutenberg's Bible c. 1455. the design was derived from Black Letter.

Humanistic writing (fifteenth-century Italian), based on the Carolingian miniscule.

Printed line of type, Venice, 1475. The design by Nicholas Jensen was derived from Humanistic writing.

Printed line of the first italic type. Also based on Humanistic writing.