Could anyone explain the role of the Spanish empire during the 16th and 17th centuries in the history of type design? It seems odd that the largest empire in the world during this period does not seem to have a strong influence on type design. My understanding of type design history is pretty shallow, so in fact in my understanding of 16th and 17th century history.
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According to a brief type history by Mike Parker (now apparently no longer online, or at least I can’t find it at Type Network):
http://web.archive.org/web/20160410131224/http://www.fontbureau.com/blog/mike-parkers-story-type-8/
If you read Spanish there are a few text that can interest you:
Albert Corbeto's papers presented in the Spanish congress of typography (CIT)
'Type and calligraphy in the second half of the XVIII'
'Eudald Pradell y la fundición del convento de San José de Barcelona'
and Albert Corbeto's books:
Especímenes Tipográficos Españoles hasta 1833 (see note here: and a review here)
Daniel B Updike y la historia de la tipografía en España and Tipos de Imprenta en España, (a note here. This is a double volume)
Historia de la tipografia (this one is more general than just about Spain, the review here)
And there are two books published by the Spanish national library (Biblioteca Nacional), that are based in two exhibitions curated by Jose Maria Ribagorda (also designer of the Ibarra Real typeface):
the one mentioned by Ramiro, Imprenta Real (read the review in Eye magazine)
and Caligrafia Española, (I cant find very good links for this one, maybe this one and this)
Updike included a chapter about Spanish typography and type design in Printing Types.
This is all I can think about off the top of my head, I hope its useful.
PS: I started a pinterest list (now I regret that I did it on pinterest) with every book published in Spanish (original or translated) about type, typography, lettering, that I came across with (which means there are more, but I don't know them)