Much of what one needs to know about the history and beauty
of a font may be found in its ampersand. Done well, an & is not so much a
character as a creature, an animal from the deep. Or it is a character in the
other sense of the word, usually a tirelessly entertaining one, perhaps an
uncle with too many magic tricks.
?
Although long treated as a single character or glyph, the
ampersand is actually two letters combined - the e and the t of the Latin 'et'
(the word ampersand is a conflation of 'et, per se and'). It is the result of
scribes working fast: its first use is usually credited to a shorthand writing
method proposed by Marcus Tiro in 63 BC.
?
The biggest and most noble demonstration of its unifying
potential came in early 2010, when the Society of Typographic Aficionados
(SOTA) released 'Coming Together', a font consisting of 483 different
ampersands. This cost $20, with all proceeds going to Doctors Without Borders
to assist with the Haiti earthquake appeal. Almost four hundred designers from
thirty-seven countries contributed one or more glyphs, ranging from the
Caslon-esque to the almost unrecognizable. It was the fourth FontAid event, the
first three benefiting Unicef (26 letter pairs), the families of victims of
September 11 (a collection of question marks) and those affected by the Indian
Ocean earthquake and tsunami (400 floral ornaments known as fleurons).
?
Coming
Together swiftly became a bestseller at the digital font agencies that offered
it. This is the best thing about the ampersand - its energy, its refusal to sit
still. It is almost impossible to look at one and not think about its shape, or
to draw one and not think about liberation.
?
Simon Garfield "Just My
Type" (2010)
