Anatomy of a Typeface

Front Cover
David R. Godine Publisher, 1990 - Design - 428 pages
"To the layman, all printing types look the same. But for typographers, graphic artists and others of that lunatic fringe who believe that the letters we look at daily (and take entirely for granted) are of profound importance, the question of how letters are formed, what shape they assume, and how they have evolved remains one of passionate and continuing concern. Lawson explores the vast territory of types, their development and uses, their antecedents and offspring, with precision, insight, and clarity. Written for the layman but containing exhaustive research, drawings and synopses of typefaces, this book is an essential addition to the library of anyone s typographic library. It is, as Lawson states, not written for the printer convinced that there are already too many typefaces, but rather for that curious part of the population that believes the opposite; that the subtleties of refinement as applies to roman and cursive letters have yet to be fully investigated and that the production of the perfect typeface remains a goal to be as much desired by present as by future type designers. Anyone aspiring to typographic wisdom should own and treasure this classic."--Amazon description.

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Contents

Preface
7
Goudy Text and the Blackletter Types
13
Hammer Uncial
35
Cloister Old Style
47
Centaur
62
Bembo
74
Arrighi
84
Dante
98
Bulmer
209
Bell
218
Oxford
229
Caledonia
243
Cheltenham
253
Bookman
262
Times Roman
270
Newspaper Types
277

Goudy Old Style
110
Palatino
120
IO Garamond
129
Galliard
141
Granjon
147
Sabon ISI 14 Janson
158
Caslon
169
Baskerville
184
Bodoni
196
Franklin Gothic and the Twentiethcentury Gothics
295
Clarendon and the Square serif Revival
308
Optima and the Humanist Sansserif Types
324
Futura and the Geometric Sansserif Types
337
Script Cursive and Decorated Types
349
Type Making from Punch to Computer
381
Bibliography
405
Index
413
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