Type. A Visual History of Typefaces & Graphic Styles, 1901-1938 (v. 2) [Hardcover]

Alston W Purvis (Author), Cees De Jong (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 30, 2010

A visual history of fonts and graphic styles: volume 2

This book offers a connoisseur's overview of typeface design, exploring the most elegant fonts from the history of publishing. Taken from a distinguished Dutch collection, this exuberant two-volume edition traces the evolution of the printed letter via exquisitely designed catalogs, showing type specimens in roman, italic, bold, semi-bold, narrow, and broad fonts. Borders, ornaments, initial letters and decorations are also included, along with lithographic examples, letters by signwriters, inscription carvers, and calligraphers.
Featuring works by type designers including: William Caslon, Fritz Helmuth Ehmcke, Peter Behrens, Rudolf Koch, Eric Gill, Jan van Krimpen, Paul Renner, Jan Tschichold, A. M. Cassandre, Aldo Novarese, and Adrian Frutiger.
In order to accommodate a vast amount of material, we have divided this text into two volumes. This, the second volume, covers the period from 1900 to the mid-20th century, and contains a historical outline by Alston W. Purvis.
Includes exclusive access with TASCHEN keycard to online image library: over 1400 high-resolution scans of type specimens downloadable for unrestricted use:

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

About the editor and author:
Cees W. de Jong is a designer and publisher based in Laren, the Netherlands. He has published numerous books on design, architecture and art, and is now working as a design/publishing consultant and author. He has also published many books on graphic design.

About the authors:
Alston W. Purvis is professor of the visual arts division of the School of Arts at Boston University, USA. He is also the author on many books on graphic design.

The late Jan Tholenaar was a collector of the printed letter in all its various incarnations, but especially exquisite design catalogs and specimen books. He lived in Amsterdam, where he passed away in 2009.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 360 pages
• Publisher: Taschen; Mul edition (March 30, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3836515148
• ISBN-13: 978-3836515146
• Product Dimensions: 12.8 x 9.8 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #353,825 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Pix 10, Information 2, April 18, 2010

By 

Ina Saltz (New York City) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Type. A Visual History of Typefaces & Graphic Styles, 1901-1938 (v. 2) (Hardcover)

I ordered both of these volumes; when I first received them they looked so beautiful that I was seduced simply by flipping through the images. But when I settled down to read the accompanying text and captions, I was sorely disappointed. The written material is humdrum at best. The book does bear the words "Visual History" in its title, but one might still expect some expert explanatory material to place the images in context.

It is true that the images are generously proportioned, the books are handsomely produced, and the keycards inside the back covers provide access to all of the hi-res images. However, these volumes should have provided text that did justice to the quality of the visuals.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent, April 29, 2010

By 

photo joe "photoeye69" - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Type. A Visual History of Typefaces & Graphic Styles, 1901-1938 (v. 2) (Hardcover)

What a great reference of typology! I use a lot of these fonts today. What an amazing price as well. You can't go wrong. Any graphic designer or advertising agency should definitely have this on hand. Taschen produces such beautiful books!