Books on Type

The following is a partial listing of books on typography in general. Of these, Bringhurst seems to be the one most often recommended.

The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst (Hartley & Marks, 1992, ISBN-10 0-88179-033-8)
Finer Points in the Spacing & Arrangement of Type by Geoffrey Dowding (Hartley & Marks, 1996, ISBN-10 0-88179-119-9)
The Thames & Hudson Manual of Typography by Ruari McLean (Thames & Hudson, 1980, ISBN-10 0-500-68022-1)
The Form of the Book by Jan Tschichold (Lund Humphries, 1991, ISBN-10 0-85331-623-6)
Type & Layout by Colin Wheildon (Strathmore Press, 2006, ISBN-10 1-875750-22-3)
The Design of Books by Adrian Wilson (Chronicle Books, 1993, ISBN-10 0-8118-0304-X)
Optical Letter Spacing by David Kindersley and Lida Cardozo Kindersley (The Cardozo Kindersley Workshop 2001, ISBN-10 1-874426-139)

There are many catalogues of type specimens but the following books provide a more interesting overall view of types in general and some of their history.

Alphabets Old & New by Lewis F. Day (Senate, 1995, ISBN-10 1-85958-160-9)
An Introduction to the History of Printing Types by Geoffrey Dowding (British Library, 1998, UK ISBN-10 0-7123-4563-9; USA ISBN-10 1-884718-44-2)
The Alphabet Abecedarium by Richard A. Firmage (David R. Godine, 1993, ISBN-10 0-87923-998-0)
The Alphabet and Elements of Lettering by Frederick Goudy (Dover, 1963, ISBN-10 0-486-20792-7)
Anatomy of a Typeface by Alexander Lawson (David R. Godine, 1990, ISBN-10 0-87923-338-8)
A Tally of Types by Stanley Morison (David R. Godine, 1999, ISBN-10 1-56792-004-7)
Counterpunch by Fred Smeijers (Hyphen, 1996, ISBN-10 0-907259-06-5)
Treasury of Alphabets and Lettering by Jan Tschichold (W. W. Norton, 1992, ISBN-10 0-393-70197-2)
A Short History of the Printed Word by Warren Chappell and Robert Bringhurst (Hartley & Marks, 1999, ISBN-10 0-88179-154-7)

The above lists are limited to books published in English. Typographic styles are somewhat language-dependent, and similarly the ‘interesting’ fonts depend on the particular writing system involved.

FAQ ID: Q-type-books