Type: The Secret History of Letters (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "The story of type begins in the mid-fifteenth century..." (more)
Key Phrases: slab serif, specimen book, type founders, Eric Gill, David Kindersley, Stanley Morison (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Times Higher Education Supplement: "surely the perfect book book to spark an interest in type design among world-weary students." "potentially boring details...are made easily understandable and quite thrilling." Times Literary Supplement: "Simon Loxley's quirkily elegant Type: The secret history of letters follows hard on the heels of Lynne Truss's Eats, Shoots and Leaves. It is better designed and typeset than that unlikely bestseller, and its subject, type, is central to the experience of every reader..." "compelling romp...a heady mixture of intrigue, personal achievement and corporate greed." History Today: "Simon Loxley reads between the lines in Type...underscoring the passion and ambition of its designers and highlighting the role that business and technological breakthroughs have had on the way we print and read today." Boston Globe: "you'll never look at Renner's elegant circles-and-lines font Futura in the same way again." MEDIAEVISTIK 19 'Simon Loxley takes the reader on a fascinating journey peppered with anecdotes concerning type designers and their creations.'THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN PRINTING HISTORY ASSOCIATION'remarkably good'

Review

"A heady mixture of intrigue, personal achievement and corporate greed...Loxley offers an engaging, well-presented account of the more eccentric personalities in type design."--Times Literary Supplement
 "A funny, informative romp through typography."--BookPage
 "You'll never look at Renner's elegant circles-and-lines font Futura in the same way again."--Boston Globe "Simon Loxley takes the reader on a fascinating journey peppered with anecdotes concerning type designers and their creations." --Mediaevistik 19

"Remarkably good." - Journal of the American Printing History Association

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: I. B. Tauris (April 24, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1850433976
• ISBN-13: 978-1850433972
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,079,326 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ah, the poverty of Times New Roman . . ., October 8, 2005

By	Michael K. Smith (Gonzales, Louisiana) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Even though I'm not a typographer or type-designer, when I began engaging in desktop publishing a decade ago and sought out guidance for the decisions I suddenly had to make, I became interested in the history and minutiae of fonts and letterforms for their own sake. Also, in pursuit of a master's degree in library science more than thirty years ago, I took an elective in the "History of Books and Printing," so the background knowledge was already there. Loxley has produced a thoroughly fascinating social and philosophical history of the development of type, beginning with Gutenberg (who may or may not have been the inventor of moveable type) and following the development of words-in-print down through the centuries to the Nazi affection for Blackletter and the present-day democratization of the field via the personal computer. The author is very knowledgeable, especially about biographical details and personalities among western type designers. Illustrations and quotations are frequent and the book itself, naturally, is very nicely designed with footnotes and cut-lines set off in a one-third-size outside column. Though this is Loxley's first book, I hope it won't be his last.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars About the people, not about type itself, June 3, 2007

By	Michael Bishop (Alameda, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Type: The Secret History of Letters (Paperback)

I bought this book, thinking it would educate me about the different kinds of type and how the edesign of type evolved. This is an interesting book, but it's mostly a history book about the people who designed type and does not focus on their innovations. I'd recommend a book more focused on design "Elements of Typographic Style" if you are looking for a book about type itself.

I'd retitle it to "The Secret History of the people behind Letters"