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     technologies


This page is currently under development. We'll be adding detailed pointers to online and offline resources in coming weeks.

subsection heading icon     typography

Typography: Who, When, How (Cologne, Konemann 98) edited by Friedrich Friedl, Nicolaus Ott & Bernard Stein is a comprehensive guide to typographers, printers and 'dead tree-flake' technology. Rookledge's International Handbook of Type Designers (Carshalton Beeches, Sarema Press 91) by Ron Eason & Sarah Rookledge is shorter but more analytical. Arguably the best guide is Robert Bringhurst's The Elements of Typographical Style (Vancouver, Hartley & Marx 96). Bringhurst coauthored A Short History of the Printed Word (Vancouver, Hartley & Marx 98).

For a more in depth study consult Robin Kinross' Modern Typography: An Essay in Critical History (Princeton, Princeton Architectural Press 96) and Sebastian Carter's masterly 20th Century Type Designers (New York, Norton 95). Walter Tracy's Letters of Credit (Boston, Godine 89) profiles major designers and design considerations. 

Jan Tschichold's The New Typography: A Handbook for Modern Designers (Berkeley, Uni of California Press 95) and The Form of the Book: Essays on the Morality of Good Design (Vancouver, Hartley & Marks 95) are better value than the characteristically wacky rant by Eric Gill in An Essay On Typography (Boston, Godine 93). 

Tschichold's Treasury of Alphabets & Lettering: A Source Book (New York, Norton 95) while less analytical is a major resource. Alexander Lawson's Anatomy Of A Typeface (Boston, Godine 96) intelligently profiles a face rather than the man.

Fleuron Anthology
(Toronto, Uni of Toronto Press 73) edited by Francis Meynell & Herbert Simon comprises essays on printing from the seminal journal Fleuron. Joseph Blumenthal's Art of the Printed Book, 1455-1955: Masterpieces of Typography through Five Centuries from the Collections of the Pierpont Morgan Library (Boston, Godine 73) is,
simply, a beautiful book.

Karl-Erik Tallmo's essay Where It's @ discusses the history of the 'at' symbol. In contrast, Johanna Drucker's The Visible Word: Experimental Typography & Modern Art 1909-23 (Chicago, Uni of Chicago Press 96) is a rigorous academic study.

subsection heading icon     the press

Among archival and museum resources Luc Devroye's typographic portal is a comprehensive link-farm. The St Bride Printing Library in London is a specialist reference library with a world-class collection covering printing, paper, binding, graphic design, typography, illustration, publishing and book-selling. 

In Australia the more modest Melbourne Museum of Printing (MMP) at Footscray is worth a visit.

The UK Printing Historical Society (PHS) publishes an authoritative journal and bulletin. 

The American Printing History Association (APHA) was founded in 1974 to encourage study of printing history and associated activity, including typography, papermaking, bookbinding, illustration and publishing.

William Peterson's Modern Fine Printing site offers electronic access to basic documents on British and American fine printing, particularly William Morris and the Kelmscott Press. James Moran's Printing Presses: History & Development From the Fifteenth Century to Modern Times (Berkeley, Uni of California Press 78) is a major study.

subsection heading icon     binding and paper

Mirjam Foot's 1997 Panizzi Lectures on The History of Bookbinding as a Mirror of Society (London, British Museum 98) is less recondite than Jan Szirmae's The Archaeology of Mediaeval Bookbinding (Aldershot, Ashgate 99), an argument that binding techniques were - like paper - a prerequisite for the print revolution. 

Foot also wrote Studies in the History of Bookbinding (Aldershot, Scolar Press 93), co-authoring Howard Nixon's A History of Decorated Bookbinding in Italy and A History of Decorated Bookbinding in England (Oxford, Clarendon Press 92). Philippa Mack produced the more accessible British Library Guide To Bookbinding: History & Techniques (Toronto, Uni of Toronto Press 98)

The Dunhuang Project includes an online history of Chinese bookbinding. 

We commend Tsuen-Hsuin Tsien's Paper & Printing, volume 5.1 of Joseph Needham's magisterial Science & Civilisation in China (Cambridge, Cambridge Uni Press 85). Richard Hills' Papermaking in Britain 1488-1988 (London, Athlone Press 88) is a succinct introduction to manufacture and markets.


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