I have to confess to hearing the present story from James Moseley, a fellow typographic historian and retired librarian from St Bride; but as I liked it so much I thought I’d pass on my pleasure. Letterforms can be found in all sorts of places and none more delicious than in the Belle Époque at Newington Green, London; a patisserie that maintains a level of confectionary quality its Parisian equivalents would be glad to reach. A specialty of the house is its tarte au citron, which, as is customary, has the word ‘citron’ piped in chocolate on its lemon base. The lettering is an interpretation of the écriture anglaise, the script that the French named after its model, the 18th-century English round-hand that appeared with the introduction of metallic quill. All writing styles are influenced by the tool with which they are written and the medium that it employs: in this case the tool is that of the pâtissier and the medium is chocolate.
About caroline Archer
Caroline has worked in the typographic industry since 1988. She has a holistic approach to the subject being not only a practicing typographer but also a teacher of its theory, a researcher of its history, and a writer and journalist championing the typographic cause.