Typology: Type Design from the Victorian Era to the Digital Age [Paperback]

Steven Heller (Author), Louise Fili (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0811823083 | ISBN-13: 978-0811823081 | Publication Date: June 1, 1999

A must-have for designers, not to mention that quirky group in love with type for types sake (you know who you are), Typology is the most visually dynamic compendium of typefaces on the market. Steven Heller and Louise Fili, two of the most admired and respected designers working today, cover everything from the classic elegance of the late 19th century to the fractured hypermedia of today. Organized by historical era and country of origin, each section introduces the culture and aesthetic of the period, discusses how individual styles developed, and offers insights into the artistry of key typographers and foundries. Expertly assembled and thoughtfully written, no other book encompasses this wealth of type styles in historical context. Its pages are profusely illustrated with hundreds of complete alphabets, and such original artifacts as typesheets, catalogs, broadsides, posters, and many other primary source examples. In all, Typology is the long-awaited type encyclopedia destined to be a standard reference work for years to come.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Heller, the New York Times's senior art director, and Fili, an independent designer, have authored an attractive but hard-to-categorize guide to type. One finds brief (approximately 300-word) overview essays of seven time periods of typography: pre-modern, early modern, avant-garde modern, commercial modern, late modern, electric modern, and postmodern. Following these essays are shorter sidebar essays that discuss the various international influences within each time period (e.g., "Art Nouveau in Germany, France, The Netherlands, and Austria"). The essays are well written but require some knowledge of artistic and architectural trends. Hundreds of black-and-white and color illustrations from primary sources enrich the text, but, unfortunately, references to their sources are incomplete. The volume concludes with a bibliography of 55 books from the mid-1950s through the early 1990s. All in all, it is difficult to establish the audience for this book: The text is beyond the level of high school and lower-division undergraduates, but there is not enough scholarly apparatus to interest advanced scholars. Recommended for libraries that regularly receive requests for illustrations of historical typefaces or examples of display type.AP. Steven Thomas, Central Michigan Univ. Lib., Mt. Pleasant
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Readers familiar with Heller and Fili's numerous books for Chronicle, particularly in the Art Deco Series, may be worried that this latest book covers the same material. In fact, it is much larger in scope (as well as in size), covering commercial type designs, especially display type, form the last 100 years. As the authors state, Typology is not so much a formal history as a visual survey, and yet it is more than just a type timeline; each section has a brief essay that places the typefaces of that period within the contest of cultural, societal, economic and technological forces. Also, each period is subdivided by country; it is very useful in educating one's eye to be able to flip back-and-forth between, for example, Art Nouveau types in France and those in Germany (or The Netherlands or Austria). Typology certainly delivers its promise of visuals; there's an abundance of type specimens, broadsheets, catalogs and posters, most of which will be new to the reader, and all of which are beautifully reproduced and identified by year and designer. One would have to doggedly scour the used bookstalls of the world to accumulate this amount of material. Aren't we all lucky that we have Heller and Fili to do it for us?

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 196 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (June 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811823083
• ISBN-13: 978-0811823081
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #988,437 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a Great Type Book!, May 16, 2003

By 

Mara Kurtz "MK" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Typology: Type Design from the Victorian Era to the Digital Age (Paperback)

Heller and Fili have done it again. If you love type, and want to get an eclectic overview of the development of typography in the twentieth century you will enjoy this book. . It's also a perfect companion to read with Heller's Graphic Style book. I use the pair as textbooks in the History of Graphic Design class I teach at Parsons School of Design in NYC.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Indispensable, May 11, 2004

By 

J. D Suggs (Atlanta, Georgia United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Typology: Type Design from the Victorian Era to the Digital Age (Paperback)

This book, which is a close cousin of Heller's and Fili's Deco/Modern series ("Deco Type", "French Modern", "Deco Espana", etc.), is not just a book of fonts. It has plenty of those, and in complete form, so you can use them, but the emphasis is on excellent graphic design and how distinctive, intelligently-used fonts feature in it. This is made vivid with lots of illustration (much of it in color) and lots of text, which is informative, insightful, and very analytical. This is an essential reference and educational tool: students should consider it a small investment, and I can't imagine a professional designer being without it around the office.

The emphasis is rightly placed on early to mid-twentieth century design, but the book is fairly comprehensive, with enough of the Victorian Era and the Digital Age to justify its subtitle.

The book itself is a nicely-bound softcover with thick pages and good, clear reproduction.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Who said a book about type is boring?, June 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Typology: Type Design from the Victorian Era to the Digital Age (Paperback)

I loved this book so much when I bummed it off a friend that I actually decided to buy it! After reading it, you'll never look at type without wondering what cultural and economic influences helped shape it. You'll also get a kick out of seeing how different countries treated type in the same art period. I get bored easily by too many dry sentences, so I geniunely appreciated all the examples of catalogs, posters, etc. the authors put in there. Hardback books can be a killer on the legs if you want to curl up with a good book, so the soft bound cover was a blessing. Anyway, enjoy!