Printing Types: An Introduction (Paperback)

by Alexander S. Lawson (Author), Dwight Agner (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Revised and Expanded Edition

This revised and expanded edition features a history of typesetting, a system for identifying typefaces, and glossaries of typographical, typesetting, and computer terms.

Product Details

• Paperback: 132 pages
• Publisher: Beacon Press; Revised & enlarged edition (August 13, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807066613
• ISBN-13: 978-0807066614
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,583,858 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Informative, with good examples, June 27, 2005

By	wiredweird "wiredweird" (Earth, or somewhere nearby) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

Lawson's goal is to categorize different printing types ("fonts" in the computer world) "... in a logical system based first upon their structure and seondly upon their historical derivation." The kind of font makes a real difference in the feel and sense of the work written in it, so this isn't just a mouse-milking exercise in taxnomic detail for its own sake.

This book goes a long way towards meeting its goal. It describes the major structural families of Roman letter forms, based on stroke weights and emphasis, style of serifs (if any), and historical origin. There are plenty of visual examples for most of the text, critical for training the eye. This brief book is certainly a good start.

It's just a start, though. Lawson chose a brief format for this book. That avoided tedium, but necessarily omitted examples and discussions that could heve deepened the presentation. The section on display fonts is the briefest, probably because the range of display fonts is widest and hardest to divide into tidy compartments. Instead, Lawson relegates all special cases to the "hell box," the bin where damaged type was dumped on its way to being melted down. This, I think, is a symptom of the book's weakness: the tendency to force type faces into his Procrustean categories, and gloss over whatever didn't fit.

He acknowledges that "Exact classification of the many types which can conceivably be listed as decorative is not easy." I would argue that rigid classification is not always desirable and is often impossible. Lawson mentions Knuth's MetaFont program in passing, and that tool (or another like it) inflicts mortal wounds on any body of categories. Whatever the diagnostic point that separates one class from another, in serifs and bracketing, emphasis, decoration, etc., the clever artist can defeat it. It would be a freshman computing exercise to morph two (or more!) fonts into each other, straddling the line of distinction with one foot firmly on each side of the divide.

If not taken to dogmatic extremes, type taxonomy can be helpful in a variety of ways. It establishes a common language, allowing terse exchange of complex ideas. When classification fails, as it surely will at some point, the typographer needs a descriptive vocabulary that calls out a font's unique structure in equally concise words. Lawson seems to have become so dedicated to classification that he under-represents the rich descriptive vocabulary needed for the second half of the job.

This is a good introduction, and may work well if type is a tool rather than a passion for you. This book will probably disappoint the specialist or advanced student, however. Other books give more detailed description and in more specific terms.

//wiredweird

5.0 out of 5 stars Basic Concepts with Good Examples, February 16, 2009

By	BYF "Backyard Flix" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

Contents Include:

1 - HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF TYPESETTING
* Historical Development
* Mechanization of Typesetting
* Single Types -- Foundry and Monotype
* Display Sizes of Type
* Photolettering Devices
* Phototypesetting
* Computerized Phototypesetting
* Type Design Today
* Protection of Type Design

2 - NOMENCLATURE
* Typeface Terminology
* Glossary of Typographical Terms
* Glossary of Typesetting Terms

3 - TYPE CLASSIFICATION
* The Need for a Systematic Approach
* The Vox System
* The ATypl System
* The British Standards System
* The DIN System
* A Rational System