Typography: Design and Practice sc BrrrrraaWNg, Premier12 John LewisThis edition digitally re-mastered and published by JM Classic Editions © 2007 Original text © John Lewis 1977 ISBN 978-1-905217-45-8 All rights reserved. No part of this book subject to copyright may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior permission in writing from the publisher.Contents Page ‘Antroduction 1, The development of typographic design 13 2, Modern trends in typographic communication 71 3. The mechanics of typography 84 4, The economics of typography and new ‘processes 105 5._Notes on typographic styling 124 6. Rules are made to be broken ___135 Glossary of terms 142List of illustrations ‘Typographics: broadsheetdesigned by Frontispiece: Tony Foster 1976 Gothic typeface: printed by A. Pfister at Bamburg 1462 12 Roman typeface: printed by Nicolas Jenson 12 ‘The Old Face Type: printed by Aldus ius i i 2 A comparison of Neo-Classical and Old Face types LB Egyptian, Fat Face and Sans Serif types LE} Neo-Classical typefaces: Manuale Tipografico title-page 1818 14 Dis; typography: mid-nineteenth century laybills 15 ‘Title-page from The Gentle Art of Making Enemies Page from The Gentle Art of Making Enemies Double-spreads from A Note by William Morris ‘on his aims in Founding the Kelmscott Press 1898 20/1 Page for the Doves Press bible 1901 22 Kelmscott Press: page set in Morris's Gol iden 1892, 23 The three typefaces designed by William A comparison between Gothic Black Letter and a Bold Grotesque 23 Double spread from A Defense of the Revival of Printing designed by Charles Ricketts 1899 26 Tess of the d’Urberviiles tithe-page 1901 27 Double spread trom Goblin Market designed and illustrated by Laurence Housman 1893 28 Title-line of Jugend 1900 x Talwin Morris book cover design 31 English art nouveau typefaces ¢.1890 31 le-spread from Foce Homo designed by Henri van de Velde 1908 32 Title-spread from Das Binden des Haares designed by ER. Weiss 1902 32TYPOGRAPHY: DESIGN AND PRACTICE Art nouveau initial typefaces designed by Peter Behrens 1901 Title-page from The Compleat Angler designed by Bruce Rogers 1909 Title-page from Pure Poetry designed by Francis Meynell 1924 Tod und Leben: lithograph by Edvard Munch 1897 Futurist poster: Les Mats en Liberté Futuristes by F. T. Marinetti 1919 Cover of Blast No J by Wyndham Lewis 1914 Blast No J the first of Wyndham Lewis’s manifestos Cover design for La Posie by Jean Epstein 1921 Dada-merika: collage by Georg Grosz and John Heartfield 1918 Back and front cover for Club Dada 1918 Vyeshch: cover design by El Lissitzky 1922 Das Entfesselte Theater: cover design by El Lissitzky 1927 Dame vor Plakatsdule by K. Malevich ¢.1920 Composition with red and black: painted by Piet Mondrian 1936 De Stijl: cover design by Theo van Doesburg 1923 Merz: cover design by El Lissitzky ¢.1925 Letter heading design by Kurt Schwitters ©1928 Exhibition card for the Bauhaus designed by Herbert Bayer 1923 Prospectus for first Bauhaus press book: L. Moholy-Nagy 1923 Title-page from first Bauhaus press book 1923 Bauhaus book prospectus 1929 Die Bihne im Bauhaus Contents page for Bauhaus magazine 1928 The Bauhaus magazine cover designed by Joost Schmidt 1929 Herbert Bayer's Universal typeface 1925 Spread from Eine Stunde Druckgestaltung Spread from A Guidebook to Dessau by Jan Tschichold c, 1932 33 35 37 38 41 42 45 46 47 49 50 5L 52 53 33 54 55 56 56 57 58 59 60 élLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Typographische Gestaliung: vitle-page and spread designed by Jan Tschichold 1935 The Penguin Shakespeare: series designed by Jan Tschichold 1949 The Penguin Shakespeare: first page of the sonnets Bifur: display type designed by Cassandre. ©1931 Horsepower: poster designed by E. McKnight Kauffer. c.1933 A comparison of sans serif type designs Calligrammes: the pages ‘I's raining’ Guillaume Apollinaire translation 1965 Sophie Taeuber-Arp: text and title-pages designed by Max Bill 1948 Univers designed by Adrian Erutiger Typefaces with a large x-height An Essay of Typography: unjustified setting by Eric Gill Signs for the University of Essex designed by James Sutton Grid for page layouts Imposition sheet for book layout The Castle of Otranto printed by Bodoni 1791 Gill sans bold, showing wide set Layout by Anthony Froshaug for the title-page of Le Grand Meaulnes Layout by Anthony Froshaug for a page of accounts 1946 Layout for specimen page for Dunlop Report and Accounts 1976 Proof of Dunlop Report and Accounts page Proof correction marks VIP input sheet Measurement of a typeface The effect of Monofilm unit reduction ‘Comparison of setting by Monotype and IBM 72 typesetter The range of typefaces for use on the ‘Typositor ‘Type distortion by means of the Modigraphic system Use of abbreviations in advertisement 62y3 65 69 70 74 cod 16/7 8 80 al 86 87 aL 95 96 104 108 109 1123 49 122 123 126TYPOGRAPHY: DESIGN AND PRACTICE Hyphens and parentheses ‘The use for emphasis of punctuation marks Quotation marks in display The use of paragraph marks by William Morris Classical proportions for page margins ‘The use of printer's flowers for book covers Lettcrheading for the Bauhaus, Dessau Letterheading set in Folio grotesque Letterheading designed for a theatre produc- tions firm Letterheading showing use of blind blocking Cover for Archigram No 5 designed by Rae and Fether Concrete Poetry: typographic experiment Alice in Wonderland: “The mouse's Tale’ by ‘Lewis Carroll Catalogue cover by W.J.H.B. Sandberg ¢.1960 Conerete Poetry: poster pocm by Jan Hamilton Finlay 1964 Openings: designed by Edward Wright c. 1967 net/net concrete poem by 1. H. Finlay 1968 Page from Typographic Variations on the Poem: ‘Autobiography by L. Macnetce A million dollars of expletives: broadsheet by Peter Mayer 1967 That extra month and Ask anyone who has beer there: broadsheet by Robert Brazil 1972 Experimenta Typographica H: ‘The usefulness of jugs’ and “The inner life principle’. Designed by W.J.H.B. Sandberg 127 127 127 128 128 130/1 132 133 133 14 135 136 136 137 137 138 138 139 140 141Introduction This book has been developed from my Typography: basic principles which was first published in 1963, The first part of the book deals with the influences that have shaped the design of the printed page since the nineteenth century. This stands basically as it was be- fore, but the various influences have been dealt with in greater depth, As for the rest of the book, which is about the prac- ticalities of the typographers’ craft, so much has changed in the techniques of printing and typesetting over the last dozen years, that this has needed not only enlarge- ment, but completely re-writing, ‘The main changes are the substitution of offset for letterpress printing and filmsetting for hot metal setting. In many ways, from the designer’s point of view. these changes are for the worse! The apparent flexibility of offset printing, particularly for books where type and half-tone illustrations are integrated, and the use of film setting has resulted in a strait-jacket impased by the high cost of corrections. The case of correcting metal type or moving blocks about in a chase is not matched when using film. Vivid letterpress balf-tones are too often replaced by flat and insipid offset reproductions. This is not the place to talk about the reproduction of pictures, but clearly the best typographic designs will be nullified by indifferent printing of not only the type but the pictures that may go with it. The freedom of film setting and the constant use of Letraset (et alia) have freed the typographer from the precise restrictions of hot metal. This freedom has how- ever deprived him of the firm structure that metal type imposes. One used to be taught that type was not made of rubber, so one’s layouts had to be precise, one’s cast- off exact. Today, with developments in photo-composi- tion, types can be closed up or spread out and even the actual letters can be elongated or expanded as well, Such freedom can be an embarrassment. All is not lost if typographers remember that their job is to communicate or at least to provide a channel of communication between author and reader. The man- ner in which they present their typographic message is the essence of this book.