An Essay on Typography (Hardcover)

by Eric Gill (Author), Christopher Skelton (Introduction)

Editorial Reviews

Review
Written with clarity, humility and a touch of humor…timeless and absorbing --Paul Rand, The New York Times --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Description
An Essay on Typography was first published in 1931, instantly recognized as a classic, and has long been unavailable. It represents Gill at his best opinionated, fustian, and consistently humane. It is his only major work on typography and remains indispensable for anyone interested in the art of letter forms and the presentation of graphic information.

This manifesto, however, is not only about letters their form, fit, and function but also about man's role in an industrial society. As Gill wrote later, it was his chief object "to describe two worlds that of industrialism and that of the human workman & to define their limits."

His thinking about type is still provocative. Here are the seeds of modern advertising unjustified lines, tight word and letter spacing, ample leading. Here, too, is vintage Gill, as polemical as he is practical, as much concerned about the soul of man as the work of man; as much obsessed by the ends as by the means. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 133 pages
• Publisher: David R. Godine Publisher (May 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879237627
• ISBN-13: 978-0879237622
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 4.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,415,761 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Typography and Other Apparently Related Issues, January 17, 1997

By A Customer

This multi-faceted book is a gem. It was written in a period when Industrialism was increasingly establishing itself over Craftsmanship. Gill starts by analyzing the clash between these two worlds, then goes on to situate typography in this melee. Most of the book concerns Gill's views on correct typography, some of which seem quirky. Gill is unique: his forward style and searing insight are inspiring and refreshing, even after six decades. The last section of the book is Gill's proposal to convert written English into phonetic writing, avoiding spelling/pronunciation inconsistencies and increasing efficiency. It makes great sense - typical Gill

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars brilliant, August 14, 2001

By	Sean J Wilkinson (Seattle, WA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Essay on Typography (Paperback)

I noticed few reviews for this book, so it had to be said. At once a historical view of typography as well as universal ideals still applicable to modern design. Eric Gill was a genius, and his timeless typefaces were the only window I knew him through before I read this book. This is the sort of book that you finish and then go look for more books like it; my favorite kind.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History by the man who made it, March 28, 2004

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

This review is from: An Essay on Typography (Paperback)

This essay on typography is actually an essay on far more. It goes well with William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement, in its nostalgia for the 'humane' individual craftsman over the commerce and industry. Gill comes back, again and again, to question the proper places of mass production and handwork with respect to each other. He was an idealistic, but still realized that industry was here to stay - it could not (and still can not) simply be wished away. The real goal is "an industrialism ... [with] many noble and admirable features."

Gill uses typography and printing as the vehicle for his social thoughts, and offers a good bit of advice on typography throughout. He discusses letter forms as ethetic, practical, and historical objects - especially interesting from a man who made so much typographic history himself.

I never did quite work my way through all of his social arguments, however. He seems to hold "engineers" as the opponents of art and perhaps creativity. I known that many engineers then and now lack training in esthetics and visual presentation. Anyone who's seen the Brooklyn Bridge or Eiffel Tower knows, however, that engineering is also a creative act. Gill ridiculed the practice of one worker designing a font, a second preparing it for transfer to metal, another cutting the master tools for each letter, and so on. I have to agree, the assembly line mentality is not suited to all tasks, especially when each product is as unique as a letter form. Still, among all arts, printing is perhaps the one most typified by team effort and division of labor. It would be a very rare individual who could create a text worth reading, create the font in which it is presented, set the type and run the press, and carry out all the other tasks needed to create a bound book. The question is not whether parts of a job should be handed to different specialists, but which jobs should be subdivided - a question I never saw answered.

This is a wonderful work by a man whose livelihood, art, and spiritual life all worked closely together. I recommend it to anyone who works in the arts, not just those with an interest in type.