 | The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst
Buy used from: $15.98 The most complete I know, from letterforms up through book design. Limited to books, though, does not discuss other uses of type.
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 | The Unicode Standard, Version 4.0 by The Unicode Consortium
Buy new: $74.99 / Used from: $8.99 Unicode is to computers what movable type is to letterpress. Maybe not typography itself, but the vehicle that carries modern typography.
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 | The New Typography (Weimar & Now: German Cultural Criticism) by Jan Tschichold
Buy used from: $13.25 The founding voice of the Swiss School. Interesting as history, interesting as a rant, and some good technical content.
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 | An Essay on Typography by Eric Gill
Buy used from: $4.00 Eric Gill in his own words. A brief essay on typography, society, and anything else that occurred to him.
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 | A Tally of Types: With Additions by Several Hands ; And With a New Introduction by Mike Parker by Stanley Morison; Brooke Crutchley (editor); Mike Parker (introduction)
Buy used from: $6.00 Stanley Morison, creator of Times Roman and influential in first half of 20th century. Includes comments on a few fonts, written in the fonts themselves.
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 | Letters of Credit: A View of Type Design by Walter Tracy
Buy used from: $67.50 Successor to Stanley Morison. Interesting history, good commentary on letterforms.
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 | Designing Books: Practice and Theory by Jost Hochuli
Buy new: $19.80 / Used from: $15.95 Shows evolution of the Swiss School into a more humane and versatile kind of practice.
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 | Design of Books by Adrian Wilson
Buy used from: $2.48 A good introduction to the full range of skills needed in book design. Somewhat dated and cursory, but very inclusive.
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 | A Short History of the Printed Word by Warren Chappell
Buy used from: $6.99 European history only, but an excellent summary. No real typography here, but the story of how we got here.
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 | Counterpunch: Making Type in the 16th Century, Designing Typefaces Now by Fred Smeijers
Buy used from: $55.00 Fascinating history of the original craft of type design. The original type designers didn't just draw letter forms, they carved their visions in solid steel - a craft that Smeijers reconstructs.
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 | Type Spaces by Peter Burnhill
Buy new: $26.60 / Used from: $19.39 An incredible excerise in reverse-engineering the art and technology of a classical printing shop. For the dedicated reader only, but fascinating.
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 | An Introduction to the History of Printing Types: An Illustrated Summary of the Main Stages in the Development of Type Design from 1440 Up to the Present Day : An Aid to Type Face Identification by Geoffrey Dowding
Buy used from: $28.95 Interesting when paired with "Type Space", this discusses and deomnstrates how to discuss the letterforms. The history seems shallow and spotty, but a good book anyway.
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 | Finer Points in the Spacing and Arrangement of Type by Geoffrey Dowding
Very narrow discussion, but good within its range: spacing of body text. Even discusses how spacing differs according to the font design.
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 | The Education of a Typographer
Buy new: $15.56 / Used from: $7.98 For educators in typographic design, not for practitioners. Interesting discussions.
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 | Anatomy of a Typeface by Alexander S. Lawson
Buy used from: $49.50 Historical development of 30 important typefaces, with lots of examples. No how-to information, but very enjoyable.
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 | Printing Types: An Introduction by Alexander S. Lawson
Buy used from: $0.01 Adequate "lite" intro to the history, description, and taxonomy of type. OK for beginners, but lacks depth. "Anatomy" is better, but dense.
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 | Letter Forms (Typophile Chap Books, 45.) by Stanley Morison
Buy new: $19.95 / Used from: $6.94 Best treated as an index to histories of typography, not a typographic resource in itself.
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 | Digital Typography (Center for the Study of Language and Information - Lecture Notes) by Donald E. Knuth
Buy new: $36.85 / Used from: $16.00 Knuth's lab seems to be where Scott Kim and Carol Twombly started. This is techie, but influential in science and math writing.
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 | Computers & Typesetting, Volumes A-E Boxed Set by Donald E. Knuth
Buy new: $159.96 / Used from: $239.55 Includes "Digital Typography." Overwhelming, even to programmers, but this is the definitive Metafont and TeX book.
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 | Type Now: A Manifesto by Fred Smeijers
Buy new: $27.50 / Used from: $6.28 Not really about typography, but about Smeijers the typographer. If you want to know more about the man, great, but you won't find much to develop your technical skills.
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 | The Pillow Book
Buy new: $22.49 / Used from: $4.75 Bear with me - it's a movie where the calligraphy is the core of the sensuality and of the revenge. Not for the squeamish.
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 | Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works (2nd Edition) by Erik Spiekermann
Buy new: $26.40 / Used from: $14.00 Heavy-handed. I like the way it points out some of the problems type can solve. Mostly, though, it's full of un-answered questions and bad examples. Not recommended.
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