context publication research: books

Ok, this is going to be a large blog post, because books are such a pain to photograph/transfer from camera/resize images/upload images to blog, that I decided to do them all at the same time.

As my context publication is about typefaces, and using fonts in print, its unsurprising that the best source of research and contextulising has been from books that I could actually get my own hands on. I love books on type and type design and typography so making my own was a logical step. Here are the photos I took of the books that have been the most inspirational to me.



This first one is an old type specimen book I managed to get from an ebay seller in America, its undated but I think its from the 1940's or 1950's judging from the fonts in the book, this obviously was a major inspiration for my own context book, as mine too is ring-bound and a specimen book of sorts. The layout is really tight, and its a useful little book I tried to find out more about the business but google didnt have much at all. I really love this book, but I imagine not everybody will fine it as interesting, I knew my context book would need to be more accessible than just type specimens.

This next one is also a lovely vintage find: A book on typography from the 1930's, again I just love it, amazingly, almost everything in the book is still relevant to setting type that looks good on computer today. I didnt photograph the cover because the inside page is so much nicer:

This is another old one but a bit different, this book is about hand lettering and sign-writing so not exactly typography, but the lettering is fantastic.

All the lettering in the book is hand drawn, no-one today would draw an exact caslon like this when you can choose a caslon font and set it any size you like, but the skill in the book to be able to do this is amazing.

Next up is a newer book that was a massive help in researching the typefaces I wanted to go in my book, Its set out by type designer not by font, and is frustrating that there seems not enough info about each designer, but its a great resource to learn about something then find more on the net. Another bad cover design.

This next one is my type bible, yeah the cover is crap, again, but the contents of the book is first class. Its  also on lovely paper stock that the ink seem to just sit on rather than soak in, hard to explain but a great book.

This last one is the newest book. This is the most accessible book on type I have ever read, really interesting read and a great layout. The cover is nice as well which is rare for a book on typography!