From Library Journal
Long regarded as a divine gift, the alphabet has been seen not just as a collection of arbitrary signs but as the direct visual embodiment of meaning. Pythagoreans, Kabbalists, neo-Platonists, and medieval Catholic mystics regarded the alphabet as a code that explained the universe. Drucker (art history, Yale) examines these and other ideas about the origins and inherent meanings of the alphabet, relating them to their intellectual milieu. She also discusses developments in the forms of the letters. She notes, for example, how modern typefaces, first developed in the late 18th century, embody Enlightenment philosophy. Her well-written discussion is enriched with over 300 illustrations drawn from important texts and documents. A major study in the history of books and the history of ideas; recommended for academic and public libraries alike.
Joseph Rosenblum, Guilford Technical Community Coll., Jamestown, N.C.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
Language is devoted to articulation, but the inarticulate elements from which it is composed -- bare forked letters, decaying sounds -- have long teased the human imagination as something at once unnacountable and provocative: a threat of utter incoherence underlying all linguistic expression; a token of some final as yet undisclosed revelation. Drucker, an author of many accomplishments, a poet, novelist, art historian, and printer, has written a history of alphabetic forms and speculations. She limits herself to the West, but needless to say that still leaves a lot to consider. Uncials, historiated capitals, alchemical codes, and the Kabbalah are all here. This is a fine and suggestive survey, thoroughly researched, handsomely illustrated, somewhat detached in tone -- which is odd: the author loves her subject; she needn't have struggled so hard to hide it.
Copyright © 1996, Boston Review. All rights reserved. -- From The Boston Review
