req@warwick.UUCP (Russell Quin) (11/13/85)
In article <5770001@acf4.UUCP> spector@acf4.UUCP (David HM Spector) writes: >Does anyone have a pointer or two to some good books on font design, >specifically DIGITAL font design? > Please reply via mail, I'll summarise if I get any replies. I will send some mail to David Spector with some references. The following seems to be worth posting in its own right, and I have changed the subject line to reflect this. Most of the books listed are taken from the bibliography of Ruari McLean's excellent introductory book, `Typography'. The %X comments are also taken from there. The # comments are my own. You may need to remove them for bib or refer. I have no idea how accurate some of these references are; I don't have the books here to check. The books are *not* oriented towards computers. Most of the books on Digital Typesetting that I have seen have suffered from a lack of insight about Typography and letterforms, or are somewhat dated. In any event, an understanding of letterforms is needed before one starts designing fonts, so the books on calligraphy may help. The book by Anne Camp is recommended, but I don't have a reference. Sorry. - Russell # typography -- introductory material %A Fletcher, A. %T Graphic Design: Visual Comparisons %C London %D 1963 %A Gerstner, K. %T The New Graphic Art %C Switzerland %D 1959 %A Glaser, M. %T Graphic Design %C New York %D 1979 %A Hofmann, A. %T Graphic Design Manual %C London %D 1965 %A McLean, R. %T Typography %I Thames and Hudson %C London %D 1980 %X a good introduction, with an annotated bibliography %A Rand, P. %T Thoughts on Design %C New York %D 1947 %A Ruder, E. %T Typographie. Un Manual de Cr\\*'eation %C Switzerland %D 1967 %A Scarfe, L. %T Alphabets: an introductory treatise on written and printed letter forms %C London %D 1957 # Calligraphy # Very incomplete. Books by Johnston, Heather Child & Anne Camp are # particularly worthwhile introductions. %A Ballinger, R.A. %T Lettering Art in Modern Use %C New York %D 152 %X A fascinating pictorial survey, with commentary and some instruction %A Baudin, F. %A Dreyfus, J. %J Dossier A-Z %V 73 %I L'Association Typographique Internationale %D 1973 %A Child, Heather %T Calligraphy Today %D 1963 %A Dwiggins, W.A. %T The Shapes of Roman Letters %O Item IV %J MSS by WAD %C New York %I The Typophiles %D 1947 # the Trojan Capitals are also discussed by Johnston in Writing, ... %A Goudy, F.W. %T The Capitals from the Trojan Column %C New York %D 1936 %A Goudy, F.W. %T The Alphabet and Elements of Lettering %C New York %D 1963 %A Gray, N. %T Lettering on Buildings %C London %D 1960 %A Gray N, %T Lettering as Drawing %C London %D 1971 %A Massin %T Letter and Image %C London %D 1970 %A Reiner, I.&H. %T Lettering in Book Art %I Zollikofer %C St. Gall, Switzerland %D 1948 %A Steinberg, S. %T The Labyrinth %C London %D 1960 %A Steinberg, S. %T The New World %C London %D 1965 %A Zapf, H. %T About Alphabets. Some Marginal Notes on Type Design %I The Typophiles %C New York %D 1960 %O Excellent illustrations of Zapf's working drawings #Instructional %A Chappell, W. %T The Anatomy of Lettering %C New York %D 1935 %A Fairbank, A. %T A Handwriting Manual %C London %A Fairbank, A. %T A Book of Scripts %C London %D 1949 %A Harvey, M. %T Lettering Design %C London %D 1975 # possibly the most influential book on lettering this century. First # published around the turn of the century, & in print ever since. The style # is generally considered a little dated now; compare with Anne Camp or Heather # Child -- an upright formal italic has become more usual than Johnston's # Foundation hand, but the principles he extols still hold. %A Johnston, E. %T Writing, Illuminating, and Lettering %C London %D 1945 %O 21st impression %A Thompson, T. %T The Script Letter: its Form, Construction and Application %C New York %D 1965 %J The Journal of the Society for Italic Handwriting %O Membership Secretary: D. Fell, 29 Coval Rd., London SW14 # font design: # letters for printing # well worth looking at! %A D. B. Updike %T Printing Types, their History, Forms and Use %C Oxford %D 1922 %I O.U.P. %O Two volumes (revised) %X On of the most readable accounts [of the history of type design] %A Johnson, A. F. %T Type Designs %I Andr\*'e Deutsch %C London %D 1966 %O 3rd Edn. %A P. Gaskell %T A New Introduction to Bibliography %C Oxford %D 1972 # general %A Goudy, F.W. %T Typologia, studies in Type Design & Type Making %C Berkeley %D 1940 -- ... mcvax!ukc!warwick!req (req@warwick.UUCP) ... mcvax!ukc!warwick!frplist (frplist@warwick.UUCP) friend: someone one seems to be able to tolerate at the moment