E-Book Overview
"Good typography should be invisible", so goes the old maxim--the typeface should carry the message, but not distract with its own personality. But if you've ever wondered how type was developed, exactly what a Goudy Friar is, or if Baskerville has anything to do with Sherlock Holmes, then Type will answer these questions and more. This is the story of the faces behind type, letters and typography: it tells of the passions and obsessions of its creators, of war, persecution and political upheaval, of business and technological breakthrough, of rivalry, death and disinterment. With the skill of a novelist, Simon Loxley weaves the story of letters through the history of our time. From Gutenberg's first moveable type to the internet, type has grown out of ambition, jealousy, desire, treachery and love. Never again will you look at your letters, your bank statements or your books in the same way.
E-Book Content
T h e SEC RET HI STORY of LETTER S
SIMON LOXLEY
Simon Loxley
Type: the secret history of letters
Published in by I.B.Tauris & Co. Ltd Salem Road, London Fifth Avenue, New York www.ibtauris.com In the United States of America and in Canada distributed by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of St Martin’s Press, Fifth Avenue, New York Copyright © Simon Loxley All rights reserved. The right of Simon Loxley to be identied as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of . Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher.
hb A full record for this book is available from the British Library A full record for this book is available from the Library of Congress Library of Congress catalog card: available Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books, Bodmin Set in Monotype Bembo and Futura Bold
Contents
Sine qua non | vi The naked letter: the anatomy of type | viii Introduction | 1
The adventure and the art: the obscure origins of a revolution |
2
Dynasty: in which William Caslon makes Britain the type centre of the world |
11
Dangerous passions: radical European typography in the inter-war years |
12
Leper messiah: Gill semi-light, Gill heavy |
13
Europe after the rain: rebirth and twilight |
3
Garamuddle: when is a sixteenthcentury typeface not a sixteenthcentury typeface? |
4
The maverick tendency: the type and strange afterlife of John Baskerville |
14
Detour | Meltdown: a stroll around a fallen giant |
Two ghosts: forgotten technologies from the dustbin of history |
15
Motorway madness: David Kindersley and the great road sign ruckus |
16
A company man: Herb Lubalin and the International Typeface Corporation |
Detour | Portable serenity: the precision and the passion of the letter cutter |
5
‘Hideous Italians’ : thicks, thins, and the rise of advertising type |
6
American spring: creating the modern age |
7
An awful beauty: the private press movement |
17
8
Under re: Frederic Goudy, type star |
The twenty-six soldiers: ddling with the format |
18
Detour |Typecast: on the trail of the metal fanatics |
New gods: Neville Brody and the designer decade |
19
Revolution again: liberating the letter |
9
10
Going Underground: Edward Johnston’s letters for London | The doves and the serpent: Stanley Morison and the