Typography

Charles Bigelow, Paul Hayden Duensing, and Linnea Gentry (eds) Best of Fine Print on Type and Typography, San Francisco: Fine Print/Bedford Arts, 1988. Reviews and details at Amazon

Lewis Blackwell, Twentieth Century Type, Rizzoli International Publications/Calmann & King, 1992, pp.256, ISBN 084781596X
Reviews and details at Aamazon

Lewis Blackwell, 20th Century Type: Remix, London: Lawrence King, 1998, pp.191, ISBN 1856691160
New edition of a historical survey of 100 years of innovation in typographic design - presented in elegantly publication which has become a favourite amongst designers. Full review HERE

Lewis Blackwell and David Carson, The End of Print: The Graphic Design Of David Carson, Chronicle, 1995, pp.160, ISBN: 0811811999
California dreaming. Father of ultra-distressed type. Carson came to fame by designing Raygun and has remained popular with the avant garde ever since. Full review HERE

Lewis Blackwell and David Carson, David Carson: 2nd Sight: Grafik Design After the End of Print, Universe Books, 1997, pp.176, ISBN: 0789301288
Follow-up to best-selling title above. More of Carson's influential work - where type and graphics begin to merge with each other. Full review HERE

Joseph Blumenthal, The Printed Book in America, Boston: David R. Gondine, 1997.

Alexander Branczyk et al, Emotional Digital: A sourcebook of contemporary typographics, London: Thames & Hudson, 2001, pp.312, ISBN 0500283109
Showcase presentation of modern type design from the best of today's studios - both traditional and avant-gard. Examples shown in wide range of applications. Beautifully produced book. Full review HERE

Robert Bringhurst, The Elements of Typographic Style (2nd edn), Vancouver: Hartley & Marks, 1996, pp.351, ISBN 0881791326
The Bible of typography. Beautifully designed and poetically written encyclopedia of all things typographic. Impossible to recommend this book too highly. Full review HERE

Christopher Burke, Paul Renner: the art of typography, London: Hyphen Press, 1999, pp.223, ISBN 1568981589
Scholarly biography of the designer of the Futura typeface. Mixes graphic design issues with politics and social history. Elegantly produced and well illustrated. Full review HERE

Sebastian Carter, Twentieth Century Type Designers, New York: W.W.Norton, (new edition) 1995.

Warren Chappell, A Short History of the Printed Word, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1970.

Carl Dair, Design With Type, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1982.

Geoffrey Dowding, Finer Points in the Spacing and Arrangement of Type, (Revised edition), Vancouver: Hartley & Marks, 1995, pp.96, ISBN 0881791199
Does what it says on the tin. Dowding reflects on the more subtle points of punctuation and letter spacing. Elegant, restrained, and well-produced. Full review HERE

William Addison Dwiggins, Layout in Advertising, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1948.

Adrian Frutiger, Type, Sign, Symbol, Zurich: ABC Verlag, 1980.

Eric Gill, An Essay on Typography, London, 1936, reissued Boston: David R. Godine 1993, pp.144, ISBN: 0879239506
Gill's essay is a slightly quirky plea for the aesthetics and morals of good design principles. This has become a design classic. Produced in Gill's own typeface - Johanna. Full review HERE

Bob Gordon and Maggie Gordon, The Complete Guide to Digital Graphic Design, London: Thames and Hudson, 2002, pp.224, ISBN 050028315X
Typography is only one part of this survey of contemporary design - but the book is so beautifully illustrated and produced, it acts as an excellent example of page structure and layout. Full review HERE

Bob Gordon, Making Digital Type Look Good, London: Thames and Hudson, 2001, pp.192, ISBN 0500283133
Beautifully designed and elegantly printed study. Includes the anatomy of type, rendering, technology, and fine tuning. Clarifies all the complexities of font technology in a very straightforward manner - showing how tracking, kerning, and hyphenation can be used to good effect.
Full review HERE

Nicolette Gray, A History of Lettering: Creative Experiment and Letter Identity, Boston: David R. Gondine, 1986.

Robert Harling, The Letter Forms and Type Designs of Eric Gill, Boston: David R. Gondine, 1977.

Hart's Rule for Compositors and Readers, London: Oxford University Press, 1999, pp.182, ISBN 019212983X
Compact style guide to typographical and presentational niceties - from puncuation and spacing, to hyphenation, foreign words, symbols, and proof-correction. Full review HERE

Oldrich Hlavsa, A Book of Type and Design, New York: Tudor Publishing, 1960.

Richard Hollis, Graphic Design: a concise history, London: Thames and Hudson, 1994, pp.224, ISBN: 0500202702
Compact, well-illustrated, and good-value history of twentieth century design - including graphics and typography. Full review HERE

Sally Hughes, Design and Typography, Computer Step, 1998, pp.193, ISBN 1840780045
Well-illustrated and simple introduction to typography and desk top publishing - every point illustrated by examples. Full review HERE

Indie Fonts, Buffalo, NY: P-Type Publications, 2002, pp.408, ISBN: 0963108220
Beautifully produced collection of over 2000 fonts from eighteen of the most innovative independent type designers. Full review HERE

W. Pincus Jaspert, W. Turner Berry, and A.F. Johnson, The Encyclopaedia of Type Faces, New York: Blandford Press, 1986.

Rob Roy Kelly, American Wood Type, New York: Van Nostrand Rheinhold, 1969.

Robin Kinross, Modern Typography: An Essay in Critical History, Chronicle Books/Princeton Architectural Press, 1996, pp.208, ISBN 0907259057 Reviews and details at Amazon

Alexander Lawson, Anatomy of a Typeface, London: Hamish Hamilton, 1990, pp.428, ISBN 0241132673 Reviews and details at Amazon

Alexander Lawson, Printing Types: An Introduction, Boston: Beacon Press, 1971.

Mac McGrew, American Metal Typefaces of the Twentieth Century, New Castle Delaware: Oak Knoll Press, 1993.

Ruari McLean, The Thames and Hudson Manual of Typography, Thames and Hudson, 1980, ISBN 0500680221
Popular, good-value, and well illustrated general introduction to typography. Covers all aspects of the craft, but ends with focus on book design. Full review HERE

Ruari McLean, Jan Tschichold: Typographer, Boston: David R. Gondine, 1975.

Stanley Morrison, First Principles of Typography, New York: The Macmillan Company, 1936.

Stanley Morrison, A Tally of Types, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973.

Robert Norton, Types Best Remembered/Types Best Forgotten, Parsimony Press, 1993, ISBN 1884606008
Collection of well-known typefaces, complemented by negative and positive criticism. Reviews and details at Amazon

Bruce Rogers, Paragraphs on Printing, New York: Dover Publications, 1979.

Julian Rothenstein and Mel Gooding (eds), 130 Alphabets and Other Signs, London: Thames and Hudson, 1993, pp.183, ISBN 0-500-27741-9
A charming sample book of signs, symbols, alphabets, rules, swashes, and pictograms. Highly recommended. Full review HERE

Julian Rothenstein and Mel Gooding (eds), A B Z: More Alphabets and Other Signs, London: Redstone Press, 2003, pp.221, ISBN:1870003330
Another charming sample book of font sets, signs, symbols, alphabets, rules, swashes, and pictograms. Highly recommended. Full review HERE

Rosemary Sassoon, Computers and Typography, Oxford: Intellect, 1993, pp.164, ISBN 1871516234
Articles on text massage; layout and readability; new alphabets using bitmapped fonts; the history of typography and its effects; the visual analysis of a page of text; and Sassoon's essay on perception and type design related to writing for children. Full review HERE

Rosemary Sassoon, Handwriting of the Twentieth Century, London: Routledge, 1999, pp.208, ISBN 0415178827
Developments in the teaching and study of handwriting over the course of the 20th century. A historical record of techniques, styles and methods. Beautifully illustrated with examples - from guidance manuals, schoolbooks, clerks' registry entries, and personal handwriting.
Full review HERE

Erik Spiekermann & E.M. Ginger, Stop Stealing Sheep and find out how type works, Adobe Press/Hayden Books, 1993, ISBN 0672485435
Very popular introduction to the general principles of typography. Well designed and illustrated.
Full review HERE

Walter Tracy, Letters of Credit: A View of Type Design, Boston: David R. Godine, 1986, ISBN 0879236361 Reviews and details at Amazon

Jan Tschichold, Asymmetric Typography, London: Faber & Faber, 1967.

Jan Tschichold, The Form of the Book: Essays on the Morality of Good Design, Vancouver: Hartley & Marks, 1991, pp.181, ISBN 0881791164
Short essays from Tschichold's 'late' period on some of the most fundamental issues of arranging type on paper. Eloquent opinions on page shape, margins, text spacing, and even blank pages. Full review HERE

Jan Tschichold, The New Typography: A Handbook for Modern Designers, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995, pp.236, ISBN: 0520071476
Manifesto of the modernist movement. Tschichold's 'early' period, politically committed argument for 'form follows function'. Original illustrations, and printed in period style. Full review HERE

Jan Tschichold, Treasury of Alphabets and Lettering: A Source Book, W.W. Norton, 1995, pp.236, ISBN 0393701972
Reviews and details at Amazon

D.B. Updike, Printing Types: Their History, Forms and Use, New York: Dover Publications, 1980.

Hugh Williamson, Methods of Book Design: The Practice of an Industrial Craft, New haven: Yale University Press, 1985.

Adrian Wilson, The Design of Books, San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1995, pp.159, ISBN 081180304X Reviews and details at Amazon

Jon Wozencroft, The Graphic Language of Neville Brody, London: Thames & Hudson, 1988, pp.160, ISBN 0500274967
Comprehensive survey of Brody's graphics and typography - in two very popular and well-illustrated volumes. Best-seller. Full review HERE