THE alluring idea behind David Rault’s entertaining and instructive comic book The ABC of Typography is that a graphic account of the development of Latin script would introduce a new generation to the historical framework in which the visual appearance of the written word developed.

[[{"fid":"17286","view_mode":"inlineright","fields":{"format":"inlineright","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false},"link_text":null,"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"inlineright","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false}},"attributes":{"class":"media-element file-inlineright","data-delta":"1"}}]]Comic books appeal to a very wide readership, from pre-school children through to earnest intellectuals, and their great facility in conveying complex ideas in an accessible way makes them an ideal medium for the instruction as well as entertainment that this book provides.

Appealing to the expert as much as to the novice, the book’s sections are each created by a different artist and with widely differing styles.

This makes for a work of some visual complexity and the diverse range of graphic devices, spiced with subversive humour, make for a pleasurable read and a good foundation for further inquiry.

The total effect is to set the development of typography in a broader social and political context, which presents much of the discussion by Stanley Morison in his 1972 Politics and Script in a more accessible form.

Our use of upper and lower case dates back to Emperor Charlemagne in the 8th century who, having established his hegemony over much of Europe, set about rationalising commerce and the law.

He standardised weights and measures and, as the ruling class always does, insisted on having his own way in the transmission of ideas.

Charlemagne instructed his professional intellectuals, the monks, to render the words of God and emperor in both majuscule and the Carolinian minuscule. Thus we have our language rendered in a written form, with and without capital letters.

That today we call these upper and lower case derives from the physical organisation of mechanical type into a stack of wooden cases in the age of printing with moveable type.

Bizarre as it may seem, little more than a generation ago design and printing was an essential fusion of physical and intellectual activity involving the selection and arrangement of chunks of metal and wood or the exceptionally noisy operation of massive hot-metal composing machines.

The world of typography illuminated in this book, created principally by people working in France and expertly translated, draws on a broad range of influences from both sides of the Atlantic and it’s an exceptionally entertaining read.

It sets the scene for a more comprehensive graphic presentation of typography in Britain and in English.

The ABC of Typography is published by SelfMade Hero, £14.99.