Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!yale!husc6!contact!umb!karl From: karl@umb.umb.edu (Karl Berry) Newsgroups: comp.fonts Subject: books on typefaces Message-ID: <1166@umb.umb.edu> Date: 25 May 90 22:18:10 GMT Organization: UMASS-Boston, Boston, MA Lines: 309 As long as we're all posting our lists, instead of mailing them, here's mine. Sorry for the lack of consistency in format, etc. By the way, I would not consider the RIDT-89 proceedings to be a good buy for someone interested in learning about type design and type history. It is very much oriented towards computer scientists, and their research, not towards typographers. The RIDT-91 conference may be a little broader, who knows. In no particular order, here are some references to books and articles I've collected on typography, type design, and such matters. David Kindersley Optical letterspacing for new printing systems Wynkyn de Worde Society, 1976, distributed by Lund Humphries ISBN 85331-360-1 Tom Lichty Design principles for desktop publishing Scott, Foreman & co, Glenview, IL Michael Harvey Lettering design: form & skill in the design & use of letters Barre Publishing, Barre, MA Donald E. Knuth Volume E of of Computers & Typesetting: Computer Modern Typefaces Addison-Wesley ISBN 0-201-13446-2 Frank Romano Typencyclopedia: A User's Guide to Better Typography Bowker ISBN 0-8352-1925-9 Ruari McLean The Thames and Hudson Manual of Typography Thames and Hudson ISBN 0-500-67022-6 Encyclopedia of Type Faces Sterling (Published by Blandford Press, England) ISBN 0-7137-1347-X Edited by Robert C. Durbeck and Sol Sherr Output Hardcopy Devices Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (Academic Press) ISBN 0-12-225040-0 >From: Chuck Bigelow Subject: Typographic Journals In answer to request for information on Five Journals of Typography, here are five serious journals that I have subscribed to. though my subscriptions to two seem to have lapsed, or perhaps the journals have stopped publishing: VISIBLE LANGUAGE, c/o Cleveland Museum of Art, Box 1972, Cleveland, OH 44106; $16 per year (4 issues). An excellent journal overall, begun in 1967. Has published pioneering studies of digital type quality, computer type design systems, semiology, history, design education, theories of perception, etc. Because of variety, not every issue will interest all readers. FINE PRINT, P.O. Box 3394, San Francisco, CA 94119. The most beautifully printed typographic journal still in print. Mostly printed letterpress on special low-acid, archival quality paper. Reviews of "fine printing", articles on modern and historical typeface designs, book-binding, paper-making, history of printing, exhibition announcements and reviews; contains much more poetry, arts and crafts than science. Subscription $40 per year. (I have been an editor of the Typography section since 1980). TYPOGRAFISCHE MONATSBLAETTER / REVUE SUISSE de l'IMPRIMERIE, Zollikofer AG, Fuerstenlandstrasse 122, CH-9001 St. Gallen, Switzerland. Subscription 96 Swiss Francs per year (6 issues). In German and French; usually contains the most avant-garde Swiss ideas on typography, as well as detailed technical discussions of hygroscopic measurements of paper or the modulation transfer function of a new lens system for a typesetter, and of course innovations in the erudite vocabulary of French printing terms. Some articles are also in English. Copiously illustrated with photos and diagrams. TYPOS, c/o The London College of Printing (at the Elephant & Castle), London SE1 6SB, England. Subscription $38 for 3 issues per year. A very well designed and well-written journal that expresses, shall we say, the Anglo-Saxon perspective on modern tyopographic design. COMMUNICATION et LANGAGE, Retz, 2 Roule du 75001, Paris; Subscription 168 French Francs for 6 issues. Composed in, of course, Univers, the sans-serif which the French overwhelmingly prefer to Helvetica, which they regard as an abomination. Totally in French. Not for the faint of heart or the non-Francophone. I sometimes find the text obscure and difficult, but usually interesting if I can get through it. It expresses, shall we say, the Gallic perspective on typographic thought. INFORMATION DESIGN JOURNAL, P.O. Box 185, Milton Keynes MK7 6BL, England. Rather like VISIBLE LANGUAGE but from the UK. Scholarly articles on various aspects of typography. My own subscription seems to have lapsed, but I don't know if the journal is still being published. ATypI (Association Typographique Internationale), Siege Social: Case Postale 611, CH-4142 Muenchenstein, Switzerland. This is not a journal (though you will wind up getting interesting publications) but the major international professional association of typographers, type designers, typesetting equipment manufacturers, and typographic educators. Every two years it sponsors a seminar on some aspect of Letterform research and education. The last one was at Stanford ("The Computer and the Hand in Type Design" -- Proceedings to be Published in Visible Language) and the next will be in Hamburg, Germany in late September 1985 ("Handwriting Education"). Promotes copyright protection and ethical licensing of typeface designs. Membership fee is $35 per year for individuals. (I was formerly President of the ATypI Committee on Research and Education in Letterforms.) Note that most journals have a higher fee for institutions and libraries than for individuals, so if you want your library to subscribe, be prepared for a different price. --Chuck Bigelow Mice Type Alphabets, Inc. Box 5448 Evanston, IL 60204 1 (800) 326-4083 $45/yr, quarterly Here is another, more trade-oriented journal: TypeWorld Publications, P.O. Box 170, 35 Pelham Road, Salem NH 03079 603-898-2822. Type design: *Lynn Ruggles. Paragon: An interactive, extensible environment for typeface design. COINS #87-134, 1987. UMass/Amherst, $9.65. A recent research project combining traditional design techniques and computers. Uses Metafont-type spline curves and a completely graphic user interface. Kathleen Carter. Computer-Aided Typeface Design. Technical Report 87. University of Cambridge, Computer Lab, Corn Exchange St., Cambridge, England CB2 3QG. 3.15 British pounds. Another type design system, for the Rainbow workstation. Uses line segments and a sophisticated method for automatic calculation of side bearings. Daniel Updike. Printing Types (in two volumes). An American type designer writes on the history of type and type design. The Providence Public Library has a special room with Updike's book collection, which includes many rare and interesting books on typography. Debra Adams. A Dialogue of Forms: Letters and Digital Font Design. May 1978. MIT Microreproduction Lab, 77 Massachusetts Avenue room 014-0551, Cambridge, MA 02139. $46.35. Good illustrations and discussion of computer-aided type design. She was an advisor to Bitstream. David Siegel. The Euler Project at Stanford. Computer Science Department, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305. Discussion of the Stanford typography group's attempt to turn Hermann Zapf's drawings for Euler, a new typeface for mathematics, into Metafont programs. **Hermann Zapf. Hermann Zapf and his design philosophy. Society of Typographic Arts, Chicago. 1987. ISBN 0-941447-00-6. A collection of essays by Zapf the role of computers in type design, problems designers face, etc, etc. Half the book is illustrations, of Zapf's calligraphy, typography, and typefaces. This is a beautiful and valuable book. Frederic Goudy. The alphabet and elements of lettering. $4.95. Sebastian Carter. Twentieth century type designers. Taplinger Publishing. $24.95. Biographies of most major type designers, with many examples of their work. Includes Hermann Zapf, Adrian Frutiger, ... ------------------ General typography: Emil Ruder. Typography/Typographie. Arthur Niggli Ltd., Teufen AR, Switzerland. 1967. Discussion of many aspects of typographic design, using examples. Not a how-to book. Printed in French, German, and English. John Lewis. Typography: Design and Practice. Taplinger Publishing, England. 1978. ISBN 0-8008-7922-8 (paperback). Some history, but mostly philosophical considerations in typography. Good background material for people interested in typography. James Craig. Designing with type. Watson-Guptill Publications, 1515 Broadway, New York, NY 10036. 1978. ISBN 0-8230-1320-0. A more practical guide on how to lay out the page, choice of typeface, terminology, etc. Frederic Goudy. Typologia. University of California Press. $7.95. Discussions on both type design and typography by a master designer. Ruari McLean. The Thames & Hudson Manual of Typography. Thames and Hudson. $11.95. An excellent style guide from a particular company. ---. Fine Print On Type. ???. We found it remaindered, from Strand in NYC. It's a collection of very diverse articles, ranging from Kris Holmes' remarks on her design of Isadora to debates about the true author of the Arrighi types to reports on a conference. Richard Rubinstein. Digital typograpy: an introduction to type and composition for computer system design. Addison-Wesley, 1988. -------------- Type specimens: **James Sutton & Alan Bartram. An Atlas of Typeforms. Lund Humphries, Britian. Examples of (mostly text) typefaces from Roman times to the 20th century in several sizes, complete font specimens, and sample typeset text. This is a very valuable book to type designers, and has been remaindered. We found it for about $20 from Edward R. Hamilton in Falls Village, Connecticut. (#937010, $19.95+$3, ERH, Falls Village, CT 06031-5000) Christopher Perfect and Gordon Rookledge. Rookledge's International typefinder. 1983. Lund Humphries Publishers, 26 Litchfield St., London WC2 9NJ. Upper and lowercase alphabets, both text and display, in one size. Classified according to the author's own (quite good) system (by typeface features instead of date). Benjamin Bauermeister. A manual of comparative typography. Van Nostrand Reinhold. $34.95. Concentrates on showing differences between various typefaces. Jan Tschichold. Treasury of Alphabets and Lettering. 1966. We found it remaindered from Strand Books, 828 Broadway, New York, NY 10003, phone (212) 473-1452. Also has a preface with some of Tschichold's thoughts on letterspacing, the ampersand, etc., etc. >From: justin@iros1.iro.umontreal.ca (Justin Bur) (type design) Walter Tracy. Letters of Credit. Boston: David R. Godine, 300 Mass Ave, Boston, MA 02115 (617) 536-0761; London: Gordon Fraser Gallery, 1986. US $27.50. Two parts: the first on general history and principles of type design, the second a critical discussion of the work of Jan van Krimpen, Frederic Goudy, Rudolf Koch, W.A. Dwiggins, and Stanley Morison. Tracy was head of type design for Linotype in Britain. (typography) Adrian Frutiger. Type sign symbol. Zuerich: ABC Verlag, 1980. A summary of Frutiger's career, including his typeface designs (Univers, Meridien, Frutiger, OCR-B (!), etc.) and work as a graphic designer. Trilingual (German with English and French translations) and entirely fascinating. The book is listed in the current issue of German Books in Print, but is no longer listed in French Books in Print. The price is something like 98 SFR (ouch). Ruari McLean. Jan Tschichold, typographer. Boston: David R. Godine; London: Lund Humphries, 1975. Out of print (sigh). A biography of one of the most influential typographers of the century. The Penguin Composition Rules are reproduced in their entirety. Fernand Baudin. La typographie au tableau noir. Paris: Retz, 1984. paperback 79FF; CDN $26.20 in Montreal. An informal (handwritten, even!) presentation of the principles of typography. John Dreyfus & Francois Richaudeau, ed. La chose imprimee. Paris: Retz, 1977; 2e 1985. 200FF; CDN $71.40 in Montreal. An encyclo- pedia of printing and type, including 11 long articles and about 400 short entries. Adrian Wilson. The design of books. Peregrine Smith Inc., 1974. ISBN 0-87905-019-5. Norman Weinberger. Encyclopedia of comparative letterforms. Art directions book company, New York. 1965. Matthew Carter. Bell Centennial. Type and technology, Monograph #1. Center for design and typography. The Cooper Union, New York, 1982. Charles Bigelow. On Type: Galliard. Fine Print 5(1): 27--30. 1979. Matthew Carter. Robert Granjon. Visible Language 19(1): 77--97, 1985. Edward Catich. Origin of the serif. 1968. Adrian Frutiger. OCR-B: a standardized character for optical recognition. Journal of typographic research 1(2):137--146, April 1967. Andre Gurtler: Design of Egyptian SOS. Journal of typographic research 2(1): 27--42, 1968. Andre Gurtler, Christian Mengelt, Schwind: From Helvetica to Haas Unica. Haas Typefoundry, Munchenstein, Switzerland, 1977. Andre Gurtler and Christian Mengelt: Cyrillic Gothic: formal modifications in the design of a Russian sans serif. Journal of typographic research, 11(1): 25--36, 1977. Workshop on font design systems. INRIA/Irisa, May 1987. Erich Schulz-Anker. Syntax-Antiqua, a sans serif on a new basis. Gebrauchsgraphik, number 7, 1970. Gerard Unger. The design of a typeface. Visible Language 13(2): 134--149, 1979.