Core seminars: French Academy letters

Core texts: André Jammes, “Académisme et Typographie: the making of the romain du roi.” In Journal of the Printing Historical Society no 1, 1965 James Mosley, “French academicians and modern typography: designing new types in the 1690s.”

Items on handout bibliography

Andrew Boag, ‘Typographic measurement: a chronology’. In _ Typography Papers 1_, 1996

Harry Carter, Fournier on Typefounding: the text of the Manuel Typographique translated into English and edited with notes by Harry Carter. London, 1930. Reprinted: New York, 1973, Darmstadt, 1995

Pierre-Simon Fournier, Modèles de caractères de l’imprimerie. Facsimile edition, with an introduction by James Mosley. London, 1965

Fournier, Pierre-Simon, Manuel Typographique (Paris, 1764–[8]). Facsimile edition, 3 vols., Darmstadt, 1995 (vol.3 includes a facsimile reprint of Carter, Fournier on Typefounding, 1930), edited by James Mosley

Allen Hutt, Fournier, the compleat typographer. London, 1972

Imprimerie Royale, Les caractères de l’Imprimerie Nationale. Paris, Paris, 1990

André Jammes, La réforme de la typographie royale sous Louis XIV: Le Grandjean. Paris, 1961. Reprinted in a reduced format as La naissance d’un caractère: le Grandjean, Paris, 1985. Slightly abridged text published in English translation under the title ‘Académisme et Typographie: the making of the romain du roi’, in Journal of the Printing Historical Society, no 1, 1965

Robin Kinross, Modern typography: an essay in critical history. London, 1992

James Mosley, ‘French academicians and modern typography: designing new types in the 1690s’. In Typography Papers 2, 1997

James Mosley, ‘Illustrations of typefounding engraved for the Description des Arts e Métiers of the Académie Royale des Sciences, 1694 to c. 1700’. In Matrix, no 11, 1991

Joseph Moxon, Mechanick exercises on the whole art of printing. Herbert Davies & Harry Carter, Eds. 2nd ed, London, 1962

Fred Smeijers, Counterpunch: making type in the sixteenth century, designing typefaces now. London, 1992

Walter Tracy, Letters of credit: a view of type design. London, 1986

Items for discussion

F C Avis, Edward Philip Prince: type punchcutter. Glenview Press, 1967

H Daniel Caslon, Typefounding and type design. H W Caslon & Co Ltd, 1932

Denis Diderot & Jean le Rond d’Alembert (eds), “Imprimerie en caracteres: Contenant dix-neuf Planches.” In Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des artes et des métiers. André le Breton, 1751

André Jammes, La réforme de la typography royale sous Louis XIV le Grandjean: Étude accompagnée de CX cuivres originaux conservés à l’ Imprimerie Nationale. Librairie Paul Jammes, 1961

Peter Karow, Typeface statistics. URW Verlag, 1993

Donald E Knuth, “The letter S”. In The Mathematical Intelligencer vol 2 no 3, 1980

Christian Paput, La lettre: La gravure du poinçon typographique / The punchcutting. TVSO Éditions, 1998

Core seminars: Gerritt Noordzij (and approaches to describing typeforms)

Core texts: Gerritt Noordzij, The stroke of the pen, Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten, 1982  The stroke: theory of writing, Hyphen Press, 2005  GN-list archive 2003

Items on handout bibliography

Fernand Baudin and John Dreyfus (eds), Dossier a-z 73. Association Typographique Internationale, 1973

Eric van Blokland, Just van Rossum and Robin Kinross (eds), Gerrit Noordzij Index. On the Letterror site

David Cabianca, A study of Gerrit Noordzij. University of Reading, 2005

Robin Kinross, Modern typography: an essay in critical history. Hyphen Press 2004

––, “Type as critique”. In Typography Papers 2, 1997

Jan Middendorp, Dutch type. 010 Publishers, 2004

––, “Review of The stroke: theory of writing”. In Eye Magazine no 59, 2006

Gerrit Noordzij, Letterletter: an inconsistent collection of tentative theories that do not claim any other authority than that of common sense. Hartley & Marks, 2000

––, “Reply to Robin Kinross”. In Typography Papers 2, 1997

Items for discussion

Frank Blokland (ed.), Letters & techniek. Letters, 1990

Matthew Carter & Eiichi Kono, Rediscovered design: Phone directory. (Reprint), 1990

Wim Crouwel, New alphabet: an introduction for a programmed typography. Total Design, 1967

Sem Hartz, Essays. Serifpers, 1992

Donald E Knuth, Metafont: A system for alphabet design. Stanford University, 1979

Mathieu Lommen, Het promaat van de pen: Een workshop letterontwerpen met Gerritt Noordzij, Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten, 2001

Mathieu Lommen & Peter Verheul, Haagse letters. Uitgeverij de Buitenkant, 1996

Ladislas Mandel, Écritures: miroir des homes et des sociétés. Atelier Perrouseaux, 1998

Stanley Morison, Pacioli’s classic Roman alphabet. Grolier Club, 1933

Lynn Ruggles, Letterform design systems. Stanford University, 1983

Oskar Schlemmer, Man. Lund Humphries, 1971

Jan Tschichold, “Of what value is tradition in type design?” In Typographic opportunities in the computer age: Papers of the 11th Congress of the Association Typographique Internationale, John Dreyfus & René Murat (ads), 1969

Gerard Unger, Een tegenvoorstel / A counter-proposal / Une contreproposition / Ein Gegenvorschlag. Steendrukkerij de Jong en Co, n.d.

Hermann Zapf, Classical typography in the computer age. William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, 1991

Post-seminar discussion references on Michael Twyman

“A schema for the study of graphic language.” In Paul A. Kolers, Merald E. Wrolstad & Herman Bouma (eds), Processing of visible language 1, Plenum Press, 1979

“Articulating graphic language: A historical perspective.” In Merald E. Wrolstad & Dennis F. Fisher (eds), _Toward a new understanding of literacy.” Praeger, 1986

Printing 1770–1970: an illustrated history of its development and uses in England. Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970

“Using pictorial language: A discussion of the dimensions of the problem.” In Thomas M. Duffy & Robert Waller (ads), Designing usable texts. Academic Press, 1985

(MT items in the University Library and the Department Reading Room)

Core seminars: Lettering and tools 1

[Note: Every couple of weeks a student leads a seminar on a specific topic. The seminars take the form of reports on one or more items (usually a key text) and the discussion covers a range of related resources. Seminars roughly shadow the progress of issues raised by practical work, and other teaching. (So, this first seminar took place a week after an introductory session on lettercutting, James Mosley’s lectures on inscriptional lettering, and Richard Grasby’s guest lecture.) I’ll be posting the list of items we discuss for each of our core seminars over the coming months, but note that:

• no item is to be received uncritically — some are on the list precisely because they help illustrate the advance of scholarship, or the changing views in our field; and

• the list of items is scaled to fit within the time limits of the discussion — the list for each seminar is edited to support the points raised in the session.]  

Core text: Nicolete Gray, A history of lettering: creative experiment and letter identity Phaidon, 1986

  Items on handout bibliography

•   Michael Harvey, “Inscription and type design: an investigation.” In Type, Vol 2 , no 1. Association Typographique Internationale, 1998

•   Graily Hewitt, Lettering for students & craftsmen. The Pitman Press, 1976 (first ed. 1930)

•   James Hutchinson, Letters. Herbert Press, 1983

•   Frances Spalding, “‘A true statement of real thing’: Nicolete Gray’s promotionof modern art.” In Typography Papers 3, 1998

•   Jan Tschichold, An Illustrated history of writing and lettering. Zwemmer, 1946 Michael Twyman, “Nicolete Gray: a personal view of her contribution to the study of letterforms.” In Typography Papers 3, 1998  

Items for discussion

•   Martin Andersch, Symbols, signs, letters: About handwriting, experimenting with alphabets, and the interpretation of texts. Design Press, 1989

•   Donald M. Anderson, The art of written forms: The theory and practice of calligraphy. Holt, Rinehart and Winston Inc, 1969

•   Peter Bain & Paul Shaw (Eds), Blackletter: Type and national identity. Princeton Architectural Press, 1998

• Edward Catich, _The origin of the serif: Brush writing and Roman letters. 2nd ed, St Ambrose University, 1991 (first ed. 1968)

•   Hermann Degering, Lettering: Modes of writing in Western Europe from Antiquity to the Eighteenth century. Ernest Benn Ltd, 1965 (first ed. 1929)

•   Adrian Frutiger, Schriften des Abendlandes in Holztafeln geschnitten / Bois originaux illustrant l’évolution de l’ écriture en Occident / The development of Western type carved in wood plates. Syndor Press, 1996

•   Nicolete Gray, Lettering as drawing: the moving line. OUP, 1970

•   Michael Harvey, Carving letters in stone & wood. The Bodley Head, 1987

— Creative lettering: drawing & design. The Bodley Head, 1985

— Lettering design: Form & skill in the design & use of letters. There Bodley Head, 1975

— Letters into words. William Clowes & Sons Ltd, 1973

• Jost Hochuli, “Review of The origin of the serif.” In Visible Language, VII 1, 1973

•   Edward Johnston, Writing & illuminating & lettering. Pitman Publishing, 1906

•   Albert Kapr, The art of lettering: The history, anatomy, and aesthetics of Roman letterforms. K. G. Saur, 1983

•   Hans Eduard Meier, Die Schriftenwicklung / The development of script and type / Le développment des charactères. Syntax Press, 1994

• Stanley Morison, Politics and script: Aspects of authority and freedom in the development of Graeco-Latin script from the sixth-century BC. OUP, 2000 (first ed. 1972)

•   James Mosley, The nymph and the grot. Friends of the St Bride Library, 1999

•   Alexander Nesbitt, Lettering: There history and technique of lettering as design. Prentice-Hall, 1950

•   John Prestianni (Ed.), Calligraphic type design in the digital age: An exhibition in honor of the contributions of Hermann and Gudrun Zapf. Selected type designs and calligraphy by sixteen designers. Gingko Press, 2001

•   Jan Tschichold, Treasury of alphabets and lettering. Lund Humphries, 1992 (first ed. 1952)