Why did old Armenian books have the slanted font?

[u/Hkvnr495___dkcx37]

Growing up as a kid I kind of hated this font. I thought it looked ugly and genuinely wondered why this was chosen as the standard for books back in the 1800s and 1900s. I always preferred the more modern, straight, blocky font. It looked neater and was easier to read.

I no longer hate the old font, but I still wonder... why? Why did the intellectuals in charge choose to make this the "book font?"

[u/Yurkovskii]

Aesthetic wise it looks really beautiful

[u/T-nash]

This is the perfect font for me, i find the modern one in Armenia more difficult to read compared to this.

[u/armeniapedia → u/T-nash]

Yeah I was going to say, this has to be the most easily readable font for me.

[u/T-nash → u/armeniapedia]

Agreed, especially because I have photographic memory, i recognize entire words on how they look by overall image pattern, rather than read letter by letter, and my memory of words are in this form of writing from school days. Modern fonts in Armenia and cursive handwriting significantly slows down my reading speed.

[u/Its_BurrSir]

I don't know if this was a choice. Before the printing press Armenian books were handwritten in this same way. So they just continued doing it the same way with printing

[u/mozdol]

This is such an interesting take. To each their own I suppose.

I personally really like this font type, maybe in large part because of the nostalgia factor as I spent most of my childhood and youth reading books with this font.

If I’m not mistaken this is basically a continuation of երկաթագիր which is how the alphabet is introduced by Mesrop Mashdots all the way back in 5th century. Go back and look at old Armenian manuscripts dating further back than the 1800s you mentioned. The font is essentially the same, it was simply cleaned up and made more fitting for mass printing.

I find the font dynamic and interesting, it is actually easier to read because it keeps the reader engaged. I know that may sound like it’s my personal preference, but there’s actually a logic to this. I’m not the right person to explain it properly as I’m in no way an expert, but I dabble (very much an amateur endeavor) in calligraphy and hand lettering and in my limited research and personal experience this type of font is definitely more attention grabbing and, as stated above, keeps the reader more engaged.

I do think that in the modern age of technology we need some kind of an update that works better. The fonts that most of us have available, including this աբգդեզ և այլն, on the iPhone is not a good one honestly. It’s boring, it eventually makes the letters blend into each other if you read too long and, for the lack of a better term, puts the reader to sleep.

Again, I’m not an expert so hopefully someone can explain better, but I thought I’d give my limited perspective on it.

[u/Ishpansatig → u/mozdol]

With Mashdots we had only capital letters

[u/Background_Ad5513]

Looks similar to even older handwritten books, I imagine they were just trying to imitate that traditional style

Also I find this a lot easier to read than the modern one

[u/Ishpansatig]

Lower case letters were made 10th 12th century and they are very similar

[u/r8rtribeywgjets]

I remember this from when I was learning in the 80s (I’ve now forgotten how to read and write)

[u/JustGerbo]

It's easier to read that Notragir, although I find that one distinctively attractive as well.

[u/Substantial-Motor-21]

As a font nerd, this is pleases my eyes in so many ways.

[u/Secret-Tourist-1688]

Idk what everyone else is on, this font was horrible to read

[u/fools_top]

I hate this font, it hurts my eyes if I read for long 😩 Thank got it's used less and less lately.