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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