When Gutenberg invented printing in the 15th century, they litirally had a rectangular piece of metal with a letter engraved on it. they would put the letters in order to form the words. That was how printing started. The letter were physical objects that were engraved. Gutenburg was a Goldsmith. That's how he had the Idea. Fun fact, the style that they used is now called Blackletter. So yes, they did have Typefaces.

For the typewriters they generaly use monospace typefaces, but it's not the only option.

There is a strange thing about helvetica which is that it is largely absent in books. Most books use serifs. I think this is due to historical reasons.