Type History

The birthplace of type and print is believed to be Asia. First prints were found in Chinese temples. Gutenberg introduced the printing in Europe in the late 1440s. The Renaissance is the age when fonts start to develop. Before Gutenberg the only fonts known were Old English, Gothic and blackletter but the Renaissance gave birth to other font known as new Roman.There was also a transitional age where old style met modern style and the font created is known as Times Roman.
The following age was the Modern era when the sans serif typefaces like the Egyptian were born. But of course, not all modern typefaces are sans serif. Other fonts from this period are known as New Century Schoolbook, Futura and Helvetica.
Today, great variety of typefaces are available through the digital world. the most well-known fonts used are: Arial, Times, Helvetica, Courier and Symbol. Some of the most famous type designers are: Adrian Frutiger, Aldus Manutius, Claude Garamond, Eric Gill, Frederic Goudy, Giambattista Bodoni, Herman Zapf, Jan Tschichold, John Baskerville, Nicholas Jenson, William Caslon, and William Caxton.
Below I posted three videos related to type. The artists used type to create art, digital image.

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/helvetica/type.html
http://desktoppub.about.com/od/typedesigners/Famous_Type_Designers_and_Printers.htm