We have consciously made a distinction between books about graphic design and typography. In this section we have limited the selection to books only dealing with the history, design, production, use and understanding of lettertypes, both traditional and digital.
Hendrik D.L.Vervliet
London/New Castle Delaware 2010
Cloth 472 pages
Black & white facsimiles
Extensive bibliography index
Design & Typesetting: Paul W. Nash
Text in English
Price: € 99.50
"A majority of today's Western text types, whether Roman, Italic, Greek, or Hebrew, derive from type designs conceived or perfected in sixteenth-century France. They became available all over Europe from the 1540s onwards. Their design, often going by the name of Garamont, remained unchanged for two centuries. Their pleasant serenity and excellent readability triggered a revival from the 1850s onwards.
This conspectus aims at surveying exhaustively and regardless of aesthetics, all Roman, Italic, Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic typefaces made in France during the sixteenth century. Such a survey will be of interest to historians, bibliographers, and philologists wishing to identify the types used in the imprints they are investigating, as well as to type historians or type designers wishing to base their attributions on documentary evidence.
The conspectus consists of introductory chapters on the sources available, the evolution of sixteenth-century type-casting and letter-engraving, biographical notices of 17 punch cutters (both famous ones, such as Colines, Garamont, Granjon, and lesser known ones, such as Vatel, Gryphius, or Du Boys) and the methodology used. The main part of the book consists of the facsimiles of 409 typefaces (216 Romans, 88 Italics, 61 Greeks, 41 Hebrews, 2 Arabics, and one phonetic) each with a short identifying notice, describing their letter family, size, punch cutter (or eponym), their first appearance in books or type-specimens, the surviving materials such as punches or matrices, and finally (for about two-thirds of them), the recent literature. Every typeface has been illustrated, several with multiple examples of their use." (Publishers Text)
Dermot McGrinne
Dublin 2010 (2nd edition-first published in 1992)
Cloth with printed dust-wrapper 220 pages
Illustrated in colour & bl/w
Design: Jarlath Hayes
Text in English
Price: € 49.50
"The designing of special type for printing Irish language texts began in the late sixteenth century and lasted into our own day, attracting the attention of many leading political and religious figures - Elizabeth I; Irish Franciscans in exile on the Continent; even at one point Napoleon I - and scholars such as John O'Donovan, Eugene Curry, George Petrie and John Henry Newman. Latterly, internationally renowned designers - Stanley Morrison, Victor Hammer & Eric Gill - made significant contributions to Irish type design.
Dermot McGrinne's book is the most comprehensive published on this subject and has already become a standard work of reference." (Publishers Text)
Geum-Hee Hong/Lydia Stockert/Julia Krömer
Mainz 2010
Printed paper-covered boards 496 pages
Including CD for Mac & PC with 122 free-fonts
Concept & Design: Geum-Hee Hong/Judith Schalansky
Text in German only
Price: € 52.50
"The computer keyboard replaces ink - and while our own handwriting withers, cursive fonts boom. Together with Geum-hee Hong we went looking for the most beautiful and extravagant fonts. In Brush’n Script you will find expressive handwritings (such as Cezanne‘s or Jefferson‘s), elegant Italian and French cursives, wonderful English handwritings, expressive marker-fonts, flamboyant Brush&Swash typefaces, but also school- and freestyle fonts. The multiple examples will inspire not only calligraphers." (Publishers Text)
Well designed collection of cursive & written fonts.
Jeanette Abbink/Emily CM Anderson
New York 2010
Printed paper-covered boards 224 pages
Illustrations in colour & bl/w
Design: Jeanette Abbink/Emily Anderson
Text in English
Price: € 43.95
"Can you really compare experimental 3D typography – like lettering made of live moss or letter kites that fly messages in the sky – to the work of Gutenberg? If you ask Jeanette Abbink, Emily CM Anderson and the over 100 international designers, typographers and artists featured in 3D Typography, the answer is a resounding yes.
Abbink and Anderson have compiled this book as a reaction to the fact that so much of today’s typography is conceived via screens. Like Gutenberg and generations of typeface designers who worked with physically shaped lead type the featured artists in 3D Typography return the literal heft to letters.
Contributors include Amandine Alessandra, Thorbjørn Ankerstjerne, asa~ama, Autobahn, Huda Abdul Aziz, Andrew Byrom, Rhett Dashwood, Keetra Dean Dixon, Oded Ezer, Hikaru Furuhashi, Anna Garforth, Keith Hancox, HandMadeFont, Fons Hickmann, Karrie Jacobs, Gyöngy Laky, Amitis Pahlevan, Mike Perry, Clotilde Olyff, Miguel Ramirez, Camilo Rojas, Stefan Sagmeister, Dan Tobin Smith, Typeworkshop, Thijs Verbeek, Thomas Voorn and many, many more." (Publishers text)
Martin Majoor/Sébastien Morlighem
Introduction by Jan Middendorp
Paris 2010
Sewn paperback 174 pages
With bl/w text-figures
Design: Pauline Nuñez
Text in French & English
Price: € 34.00
Born in Sèvres (France) in 1926, still active today, José Mendoza y Almeida is the ‘godfather’ of French type design. He gained international recognition from the most famous typefoundries who published his best known typefaces. During his long career, which has also involved graphic design and calligraphy jobs for publishing and advertising, he collaborated with important figures such as Maximilien Vox and Roger Excoffon. He also taught type design within the Imprimerie nationale, at its Atelier national de création typographique.
This book, the first ever dedicated to his work, features an introduction by Jan Middendorp and several essays on Pascal, Photina, ITC Mendoza Roman and other less-known typefaces, written by Martin Majoor and Sébastien Morlighem. Many unpublished documents are reproduced in the book for the first time.






































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