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I had heard that he created his own lettering system so that his words would be easily distinguishable from the actual words of the Torah. Is this just hearsay or speculation? If so, is there any reason given for why?

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See: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashi_script – Curiouser Jul 12 '11 at 23:54
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So, 1) Rashi didn't create "Rashi script," and 2) it was indeed used by publishers to distinguish between source texts and commentaries? If you'd encapsulate that in an answer, I'll give you the reward. – TK Kocheran Jul 12 '11 at 23:58
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I didn't put it in an answer because what you asked for was simply the information from a wikipedia entry. That sort of question has been rejected in the past, so I wasn't sure it was really appropriate to answer in that way. – Curiouser Jul 13 '11 at 10:12

4 Answers

up vote 10 down vote accepted

It is mentioned in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashi_script that it was not Rashi's script (according to he.wikipedia.org, the script is actually sefardic in origin).

The printers needed a new script to differentiate commentaries from the main text. (Tosfos also uses "Rashi letters" as well as many other commentaries)

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up vote 5 down vote

He didn't. According to a Mansucript Preparation class I attended this year, what's known as Rashi script was the font the printer used. As a side point, the script used in some Judeo-Arabic written manuscripts - particularly the Rambam's handwriting - is very similar to Rashi script.

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Re "the font the printer used": yes, but as you note in the rest of your answer, it was based on handwriting. (So that's not really a "side point".) – msh210♦ Jul 14 '11 at 15:18
Touche. But I was talking about the Rambam, NOT Rashi. And yes, most early printers based their printed text on handwriting. – Zvi Jul 14 '11 at 19:15
up vote 2 down vote

also because it takes less space, you can write more within the same page, meaning cheaper, smaller and more concise books

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up vote 1 down vote

I was taught that since ink and particularly parchment was at a premium, it would make sense to fit as much writing as you could onto a sheet, and as such, what we know as Rashi script was born, as it was more compact than block.

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