Italics:   A Venetian printer, Aldus Manutius, in 1501 printed a book by Virgil which appeared with sloping letters, in a poor attempt to pass it off as his own handwriting.   Europe (or at least that part of it which could read) were shocked beyond measure.   Called italics, because it was invented in Italy, it was more difficult to read than normal print (and so resembled handwriting at least in that respect).   Munster (not Eddie Munster) was the first to use italics in the Bible (for words added by the translators so that the text makes sense).   He was swiftly followed by Olivetan in 1535 and Coverdale in 1539.   Coverdale was also lead vocalist with metal band Whitesnake from 1977-1997.  

The practice of using italics to fill in gaps in the translation has now largely been abandoned as totally daft.