Pioneers of Modern Typography, Revised Edition [Paperback]

Herbert Spencer (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0262690810 | ISBN-13: 978-0262690812 | Publication Date: March 23, 1983 | Edition: Rev Sub

Graphic designers, typophiles, and students of the Modern Movement will welcome the reissue of this important source book. Since it was first published in 1969, it has served as the standard guide to the impact of twentieth century avant-garde movements on graphic design and typography. This revised edition has a more compact format and incorporates new materials and illustrations.

Spencer's substantial introduction examines the origins and artifacts of the revolution in graphic design and carefully disentangles the respective influences of Futurism, Dadaism, De Stijl, Suprematism, Constructivism, and the Bauhaus. Spencer traces the interactions of the key personalities associated with these movements and presents concise biographical sketches of them.

An album of color reproductions displays characteristic examples of the most important innovators' work, representing such genres as posters, magazine covers, letterheads, advertisements, and poems.

Herbert Spencer is Professor of Graphic Arts at the Royal College of Art, London.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The name of Herbert Spencer, editor of The Penrose Annual, is in itself a guarantee of a thoughtful and thought-provoking approach to the problems of typography and art, and the revolution which overtook printing in the early years of this century is certainly a worthy subject for his closer examination."
- Graphis



"Nothing could be more useful than this book to focus on all the brilliant personalities that contributed to the creation of a new language in typography.... This book is a must for students of design, as it is for us professionals to evaluate the origins of modern typography before we take the next step."
- Massimo Vignelli

About the Author

Herbert Spencer (1924-2002) was a typographer, graphic designer, teacher of graphic design, and art director of the Lund Humphries publishing house from 1969 to 1988. He was editor of the journal Typographia and the Penrose Annual and Professor of Graphic Arts at the Royal College of Art.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press; Rev Sub edition (March 23, 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262690810
• ISBN-13: 978-0262690812
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 8.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,681,339 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Door Opening, April 7, 2008

By 

Rafe Copeland (Auckland, New Zealand) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pioneers of Modern Typography (Paperback)

This book was one of the first windows for me into the world of modernism, especially in a typographically and visual graphic sense; it still has a huge impact on me. It documents the typographical works of many great minds who in many cases are more well known for their painting and sculpture, such as Werkman and van Doesburg, as well as demonstrating the material of the likes of Tschischold, Lissitzky and Schuitema.

Perfectly concise, it provides a very valuable and illuminating glimpse into the foundations of typographical Modernism, touching on Dada, Futurism, Constructivism and many other major movements which together contributed to forging a definite Modernist style and philosophy. Despite not being an exhaustive account of these movements, Spencer selects the most relevant information to provide a very solid basis of knowledge in one of the most important movements in graphic design, and it is still one of the books i turn to most for inspiration.

5.0 out of 5 stars Compact yet thorough survey, August 1, 2007

By 

Nora Brown "Nora Brown Design" (Boston, MA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pioneers of Modern Typography (Paperback)

Picked up this book used just because it contained so many interesting examples of European graphic design from the first half of the 20th century. I wasn't disappointed by the text. Spencer paints a good picture of who influenced whom, who was meeting with whom, where, and when. What struck me was how seriously these individuals took typography and design. They thought they could fundamentally change society, change governments. I guess governments thought so too, as some were imprisoned by the Nazis and one, H.M. Werkman, was executed.