Bibliography - Typography

At first I considered researching censorship for my bibliography. However, inspired by the presentation that we attended today (and also, I guess, by the fact that Marc had already tackled censorship in his bibliography), I decided to change my topic. Therefore, the books that I looked up were related to...

T Y P O G R A P H Y

(I would put a page break here, but I haven't been able to get it to work on my interface thus far. anyone who knows a way that it works, please say how in the comments. Thanks! :) )

Now, you, fellow bloggers and classmates, probably actually know what typography is, unlike all of my friends who couldn't figure out exactly what it was I was researching in the library for hours on end. But in case you'd like a clarification of the term:

"Typography is the art and usage of different type settings and fonts, (including italics etc.) and is the printing equivalent of handwriting in a manuscript."

-Quoted from personal interview with S. B. Watson, November 29, 2011.

Now that you know what it is, I'll tell you where to find out even more about it. Some of these books are very interesting; others were... well, very technical in nature, and therefore a bit difficult to read through like a novel. But I'd expect that's not really how you'd use them anyway!

I began my search for the topic by going to the library.

(NO! REALLY??) I looked down at the floor map board...thingy, whatever it's called... by the elevator, and discovered that the fifth floor had a section on libraries and printing. That sounded like the closest match to my subject, so up I went.

Going up...

On the fifth floor, I wandered for a time among the mysterious realm of books and shelves. There's something kind of mystical about libraries, I've always thought so. This time, though, I couldn't take the time to browse calmly through the shelves, despite all the annoying, temptingly interesting books that kept calling out "READ US! REEEEEEEAD US!!!"

Come to think of it, that part might have been the Restricted Section...

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Anyway, I eventually found the section on printing! (Right next to Science Fiction, oddly enough) At first, the books I found were only vaguely related to printing... there was one written in German called Konnte Adam schreiben? or, near as I can figure it, Did Adam know how to write? But that had nothing to do with typography.

Thus began my epic quest to locate relevant books. The first one I found, creatively titled The Book, I located just by looking through the shelves and browsing each book individually if it showed any promise.

In the bibliography of The Book, I found two more sources! - One a book, (Type designs - their history and development) and one an article in a periodical.

Now all I had to do was hope that the library carried them both. Amazingly enough, it did! We have EVERYTHING here, I swear. But, unfortunately, I couldn't find the periodical. I think it might have been moved to special collections. All was not lost, however, for I found the next edition of the same periodical (The Dolphin) in the "Oversized Books" sections (after getting help from the reference desk on locating it), and it had a very similar article, which actually ended up being more relevant to my topic anyway (On Recognizing the Type Faces)

So, by having an imperfect way of finding the location of what I needed, I ended up with a better source! Odd, isn't it? Perhaps it has to do with what we discussed today in class about browsing, and how physically handling and searching a book can let you get a better idea of its contents.

I had found three relevant books so far, but I knew I needed more. When I'd used the computer system in the library to find the Type designs book, a helpful library employee showed me how, on the opposite side of the shelves from where I'd been looking, there was actually and extensive typography section. I was amazed that there were so many books on this subject!

It was there, on those four or five shelves, that I physically found the rest of my sources, this time without even using the internet catalog of the library (However, I have since located the rest of them there to create links on this post). Since most of the books in the section were about modern typefaces or designing them, I focused on those in the smaller group that discussed historical typewriting in more detail.

So there you have it, my Grand Journey of Discovery. And below, the results of my work:

Bibliography:

Bennett, Paul A. On recognizing the Type Faces. The Limited Editions Club, New York. 1935.

Bennett mentions in his article that "That type is best suited for its purpose when the words it spells may be read without consciousness of the design of the letters," or, in other words, "Good types never intrude." His point here in the article is that a typeface should not be distracting in any way, that it is meant to convey information. This reminded me of the statement by Jean inThe Book about the importance of balancing beauty with function.

Goudy, Frederic W. Typologia - Studies in type design and typemaking, with comments on the invention of typography, the first types, legibility and fine printing. University of California Press. 1940.

Much of this book was a description of the process of making and using type, and its evolution through time. However, there is a chapter called "The First Types" that was focused more on what I had in mind to research. Here he gave an overview of the usage of typefaces in the years following the invention of the printing press.

Jean, Georges. Writing - the Story of Alphabets and Scripts. N. Abrams, inc., New York. 1992.

This book was valuable for its discussion of how early printers tried to imitate handwriting, both in the style of the books and in the typefaces. He goes on to describe how that changed in the 18th Century, when many more people began to read for the information contained in the books, caring less about the pictures and fancy styles of type and lettering.

Johnson, Alfred Forbes. Type Designs - their History and Development. Grafton and Co., London. 1934.

This author wrote an in depth time-line of the changes in type, going into details about the shift from Gothic styles to Roman, from Roman to the more modern Roman type that we know in older books and papers (think of style of the words on the Declaration of Independence, but still with holdovers from the older, more decorated types), and then to various other forms, such as Italics, which he devotes much space to. His final chapter is also interesting - it shows what types were used in early advertisements.

Lane, John A. Early Type Specimens in the Plantin-Moretus Museum. Oak Knoll Press. 2004.

This book was very much a catalog of the museum's type-related specimens. It was a long list of the artifacts, divided by their land of origin, with very detailed technical explanations and descriptions of each type, who created it, what it was written on, what distinguished it from others, and which types it was most similar to. It was interesting to see some of the 'hubs' of where types occurred, as listed in the locations.

McMortrie, Douglas C. The Book - the Story of Printing and Bookmaking. Oxford University Press. 1967.

The author was right to call this one "the book." It's pretty big. Anyway, this book was the first one I found that's listed here. The author gives a general history of book making, from the origin of the alphabet to the time when printing spread in America. He describes in great care his favorite typeface (made by William Caslon), claiming that no other has ever surpassed it. My favorite of his points were his words on the conflict between legibility and beauty in writing - if it's purely legible, it is monotonous and detracts from its message. If it is purely decorative, it detracts even more from the message, for it's very difficult to read. He says of types made only for beauty that they are: "a type of great charm in individual letter forms but tiring in mass." He also adds a discussion of Germany's movement towards using the Roman characters instead of tradition German typeface.

And to top off this (I think) very succesful and informative research trip, I found two books in the conveniently nearby science-fiction section that looked fun too. So now I have something new to read at home!

Anyway, thanks for your time, and have fun with your own topics!

Good night, and good luck.