Visuals The Art of the Word.

The look of a typeface can determine how readers perceive a word or phrase. Take the common seasonal greeting ''Happy holidays.'' When set in an ornamented Latin style, the words appear jolly and joyous, while spiky Old English or German Fraktur reads as dour -- Scrooge-like. Various typefaces symbolize the holidays, and not just those goofy novelty faces with dangling icicles or sprigs of holly. Ecclesiastical gothics, bifurcated Tuscans and filigreed slab serifs are fitting styles for this season. Display types are designed to convey a host of notions and emotions. They are as versatile (and functional) as articles of clothing -- and as with clothing, some types are basic black, while others go in and out of fashion like hemlines. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, American and European type foundries -- the factories where type was designed and cast for commercial and industrial use -- churned out literally tons (since type came in lead and wood) of eccentrically decorative typefaces and typographic ornaments, most of it bought by printers. Advertising was a burgeoning industry, and the more outlandish display styles were conceived in equal measure to attract the public's eye and to distinguish one merchant from the next. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]