The Solid Form Of Language: An Essay On Writing And Meaning (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Robert Bringhurst's seminal essay about the nature and classification of written language is now available, revised and updated, in the form of a small, well-made book … Get a copy, stick it in your pocket, and go off and contemplate all the forms the written language can take." John D. Berry for creativepro.com

“It takes a special kind of mind to worry over such issues; it also takes a special kind of writer to so clearly lay them out.” Carmine Starnino, Globe and Mail

“After reading ths impossibly exquisitely designed little treatise, one can never see or hear language again as a simple necessity, but as an element of life itself – like water.” George Elliott Clarke, Halifax Chronicle Herald

Product Description

"Drop a word in the ocean of meaning and concentric ripples form. To define a single word means to try to catch those ripples. No one’s hands are fast enough." With this concise and broadly informative essay, renowned poet, typographer and linguist Robert Bringhurst presents a brief history of writing and a new way of classifying and understanding the relationship between script and meaning.

Beginning with the original relationship between a language and its written script, Bringhurst takes us on a history of reading and writing that begins with the interpretation of animal tracks and fast-forwards up to the typographical abundance of more recent times. The first four sections of the essay describe the earliest creation of scripts, their movement across the globe and the typographic developments within and across languages.

In the fifth and final section of the essay, Bringhurst introduces his system of classifying scripts. Placing four established categories of written language – semographic, syllabic, alphabetic and prosodic – on a wheel adjacent to one another, he uses the location, size and shape of points on the wheel to show the degree to which individual world languages incorporate these aspects of recorded meaning. Bringhurst’s system is based on an appreciation that indeed no one’s hands are fast enough and that no single script adheres to or can be understood within the confines of a single method of transcription.

Readers will find this combination of anthropology, typography, literature, mathematics, music and linguistics surprisingly accessible and thought provoking. The text is accompanied by diagrams and typographic examples that make for an experiential study of the relationship between writing and meaning.

This book is a Smyth-sewn paperback with a letterpress printed jacket. The book was designed by Robert Bringhurst and Andrew Steeves, and printed on Zephyr Laid paper. The cover was hand-printed letterpress on St. Armand handmade paper.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 75 pages
• Publisher: Gaspereau Press (August 4, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1894031881
• ISBN-13: 978-1894031882
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #879,798 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Poetry and Typography, September 2, 2005

By	Type Girl (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

Typographically beautiful, lovely letterpress wrapper, Robert Bringhurst fans will definitely want to acquire this underpriced gem. Also highly recommended for fans of poetry, language and languages/linguistics.

5.0 out of 5 stars A new way of thinking typeforms, November 8, 2005

By	Maria Laura Garrido (Buenos Aires, Argentina) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The Solid Form of Language, helps me to know about how connected is the way we write with the way we think. How connected are the social, religious and political issues with the graphic way of our language. Typography is not only the visible form of our words, but the way "someone" decided how we have to articulate the sound of our thoughts and desires.
It is an excellent research of the history of the graphic form of language of almost the entire world.
I think every type-educator, type researcher or type fan has to read it.