Blog Post 6

Since then, McClintock has corrected his own claim by tracking down a 1914 Loeb Classical Library Edition translation of De Finibus by H. Rackham. The 1914 Loeb Classical Library Edition ran out of room on page 36 for the Latin phrase “dolorem ipsum” (sorrow in itself). Thus, the truncated phrase leaves one page dangling with “do-”, while another begins with the now ubiquitous “lorem ipsum”.

Further work by Richard McClintock, Philippe Cibois, and Emily Zhang have now matched parts of the original Letraset lorem ipsum text to the entirety of page 36, smoothly continuing onto the entire pages 56, 70, and 118, further affirming this 1914 translation was likely the origin of the text. Not the 1500s!

The story of Letraset taking up this text remains somewhat murky, but it’s believed that librarian and type expert James Mosley at the St. Bride Printing Library, who had a close relationship wtih Letraset, helped develop lorem ipsum for their Body Type product in 1966. No matter the exact origins, it’s admittedly an odd way for Cicero to sail into the 21st century.

 

 

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Since then, McClintock has corrected his own claim by tracking down a 1914 Loeb Classical Library Edition translation of De Finibus by H. Rackham. The 1914 Loeb Classical Library Edition ran out of room on page 36 for the Latin phrase “dolorem ipsum” (sorrow in itself). Thus, the truncated phrase leaves one page dangling with “do-”, while another begins with the now ubiquitous “lorem ipsum”.

Further work by Richard McClintock, Philippe Cibois, and Emily Zhang have now matched parts of the original Letraset lorem ipsum text to the entirety of page 36, smoothly continuing onto the entire pages 56, 70, and 118, further affirming this 1914 translation was likely the origin of the text. Not the 1500s!

The story of Letraset taking up this text remains somewhat murky, but it’s believed that librarian and type expert James Mosley at the St. Bride Printing Library, who had a close relationship wtih Letraset, helped develop lorem ipsum for their Body Type product in 1966. No matter the exact origins, it’s admittedly an odd way for Cicero to sail into the 21st century.