“Sans-serif type made its modest debut in an 1816 specimen book issued by William Caslon IV. Buried . . . in the back of the book, one line of medium-weight monoline serifless capitals proclaimed “W CASLON JUNR LETTER FOUNDER.” It looked a lot like an Egyptian face with the serifs removed, which is probably how Caslon IV designed it. . . .
Sans serifs, which became so important to twentieth-century graphic design, had a tentative beginning. The cumbersome early sans serifs were used primarily for subtitles and descriptive material under excessively bold fat faces and Egyptians. They were little noticed until the early 1830s, when several typefounders introduced new sans-serif styles. . . . Vincent Figgins dubbed his 1832 specimen sans serif in recognition of the font’s most apparent feature, and the name stuck.”

—Phil Meggs & Alston Purvis, Meggs’ History of Graphic Design, 2006.