Book Recommendations

By Dave Crossland | Published: 2 July, 2011

I often recommend a few books about typography, typeface design and font engineering during my workshops and lectures. Here are these lists:

Type Design:

  • While You’re Reading – Unger, Gerard. Mark Batty, 2007
  • Counterpunch: Making Type in the Sixteenth Century, Designing Typefaces Now – Smeijers, Fred. Hyphen Press, 1996
  • Anatomy of a Typeface – Lawson, Alexander. Godine, 1990
  • Letters of Credit: A View of Type Design – Tracy, Walter. Godine, 1986
  • The Stroke: Theory of Writing – Noordji, Gerrit. Hyphen, 2006

Typography:

  • Modern Typography: An Essay in Critical History – Kinross, Robin. Chronicle, 1996
  • Elements of Typographic Style – Bringhurst, Robert. Hartley & Marks, 1997.
  • The Non-Designer’s Type Book – Williams, Robin. Peachpit, 2005
  • Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors & Students – Lupton, Ellen. Princeton Architectural, 2010

(I especially love Modern Typography, because in the final pages it suggests that libre typography might be the next chapter in the history of Modern typography 🙂

Font Engineering:

  • Fontographer: Type by Design – Moye, Stephen. MIS, 1995
  • Learn FontLab Fast – Cabarga, Leslie. Iconoclassics, 2004.

Finally, I always recommend a small book to people wanting to teach themselves type design (or anything else 🙂

  • Mastery – Leonard, George. Plume, 1992
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    One Comment

    1. Sarah R.
      Posted 28 January, 2012 at 11:37 pm | Permalink

      Thanks a lot for sharing this list.

      Reply

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