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The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst
Quite possibly my favourite book ever. If judging the number of times I’ve read it is any indication.
I bought the first edition in 1992, immediately realizing it as the authoritative book it was. That it was beautifully designed, and written with the sort of grace a poet is capable of, just made it more appealing. (Bringhurst is a remarkable man, and this exemplary treatise on the subject is just one of his many achievements.)
I read that book cover to cover, over and over. The section on the Golden Section was worth the price alone.
I’d bought more recent editions as gifts for friends over the years, but never treated myself. While I was in Swipe in Toronto recently, I grabbed the fourth edition. I may not be as involved with graphic design and typography as I once was, but given how much I’ve enjoyed and gained from this book over the years, a second copy 25 years on was worth it.
Anyone who works with type to any degree, needs to own this book, and put the teachings in to practice.
A Story as Sharp as A Knife: The Classical Haida Mythtellers and Their World – Robert Bringhurst
Bringhurst wrote one of my bibles, Elements of Typographic Style
(anyone who works with type needs to own and study this book
diligently), but the man is an awe inspiring multi disciplinary wizard.
Besides being a published poet with numerous works to his name, he is a
noted and gifted book designer, studied architecture, linguistics, and
physics at MIT, and comparative literature and philosophy at the
University of Utah, has a BA from Indiana University and an MFA in
creative writing from UBC. His list of accolades is lengthy. In addition
to all that, he taught himself to read, write and speak Haida. He
claims (and I don’t think it’s hyperbole) that the Haida myths rank
among the great literature of the world.
This is a piece hanging up in the Hamilton Public Library. The artist is Micah Lexier. The piece is about 7½ meters (25') by 3½ meters (12'), and made from laser cut steel. It is dated as 1990.
I remember when I used to get copy with notations like this. I remember when I used to send type back to the typesetting house like this, with notations for corrections. Now it seems no one really cares to put in the effort to make type look really good. Now all I see are people who paid a small fortune to go to a college, and don’t know the difference between an en dash and a hyphen, put primes where quotations are supposed to go, have no idea what I’m talking about when I say they that a headline needs to be kerned, and look at me with a look of incomprehension when I say they need to use proper small caps. They do work that would have gotten me fired or the type setting house looking for new clients, and yet it seems like that has become acceptable and the new norm. I suspect a lot of kids nowadays would be utterly lost if I gave them a sheet filled with proofreaders marks, the kind I used to get when I started out, and was expected to know how to read. It could be argued that with technology the way it is now, the lines between the writer and the typesetter and the proof reader and the graphic artist are blurring to the point of fading away entirely. Anyone along the continuum can now make those changes, but do they really do any sort of fine tuning any more? Computers are wonderful in that they’ve democratized what was once an arcane practice, but it also seems like people are willing to accept whatever some hack produces. I guess I’m just a crusty old fart, but I really do appreciate the history and art and science of typography, and think that if it’s going to be done, it should be done well and properly. More people should take the time to study a page of type done by Aldus Manutius, which is a thing of beauty, the format and the spacing is pristine, and each letter on that page would have been carved by hand. Typesetting and printing was difficult in his day, and yet he took the time to make it perfect. Now, with technology that would make what he did comparatively easy, so many just don’t bother to strive for such perfection.
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