So first of all I would like to apologize for not getting this post up yesterday. I can of had an emergency yesterday in which I got stuck on a cliff/mountain up Rock Canyon with my roommate and my cousin for the better portion of the day. Needless to say I forgot to bring my computer and the HBLL with me so I didn't get this post up yesterday.
It probably came to no ones surprise that I chose to do my bibliographical post on exploring the different typefaces and fonts that were popular between the years 1450-1700. I love everything design oriented and since interning at Vada Creative Studio I have come to really appreciate the beauty and intricacies of typography. Wikipedia defines typography as: [coming] (from the Greek words τύπος(typos) = form and γραφή(graphy) = writing) is the art and technique of arranging type in order to make language visible. The arrangement of type involves the selection of typefaces, point size, line length, leading (line spacing), adjusting the spaces between groups of letters (tracking) and adjusting the space between pairs of letters (kerning). Additionally, I must admit that this post really stretched me, I am much more comfortable to researching online. I read physical books, but mostly for pleasure. So, it was quite an experience to actually dust off the pages of some good ol regular books. It was also pretty distracting I found myself browsing through many books on typography even though I knew I wouldn't be able to use them in my post because they were too modern. I guess that is the beauty of self directed learning- getting lost in the knowledge of what you love...
Roberts, Raymond. Typographic Design. Ernest Benn Limited, 1966. Intended for the student of typography and/or graphic design, this book provides an overview and history of typography. It details the print making process as well as the print design process, providing a detailed history of both. It illustrated the transition of wood carving and the "Old Face" to the transitional Roman type that influenced many 17th century type designers. [I found this by stumbling on the periodical called Graphis after a Google search of Graphic Design. I found a copy of it in the HBLL here and then referenced it and found this book mentioned in a cover article]
Morrison, Stanley. First Principles of Typography. Cambridge: University Press, 1967. The title explains it all. This book highlights major typeface design principles and their historical origins. It interestingly traced back many modern typography techniques to the earlier wooden-mold days and then to Gutenburg's first presses all the way to (semi) modern techniques. [I referenced the Typography article found in the Encyclopedia Britannica in the HBLL. Stanley Morrison had his own article and was mentioned in the main typography section so I referenced his article and found this book]
Norton, F. J. Italian printers, 1501-1520. Bowes and Bowes, 1958. Examines the important historical influence that Italian type designers had on European typography in general. It specifically traces the influence of the Roman typefaces that aided the transition from older font designs to the more modern font collections we are accustomed to. French font designer Garamond would have been influenced by Italian font designers found in this book.
[I found this book in the bibliography of Typographic Design and then consulted it in the HBLL here]
Plomer, Henry R. English Printer's Ornaments. Burt Franklin, 1924. Entirely about the art of decorating a piece of text. Especially in the earlier days of print, ornamental decorations were very common. Provided examples with short historical explainations of different borders and decorations that could be found in older print mediums in Europe. [I found this browsing the shelves of the typography section on the 5th floor of the HBLL after being distracted in the modern typeface book called Typespecific, which was an interesting perusal]
Rehak, Theo. Practical Typecasting. Oak Knoll Books, 1993. Describes many different printing mechanisms including detailed descriptions and illustrations of printing machines
throughout history. I wanted to find the book Mechanick Exercises on the Whole Art of Printing, 1683 by Joseph Maxon which I found referenced in the foreword of this book but alas the HBLL did not have a copy. Maxon's book was the earliest practical manual on type founding. [I found this book browsing those shelves again in the Typography section of the 5th floor.]
Once I overcame the initial fear of the daunting task of finding books "the old school method" I realized it wasn't so bad. There were only a few hard obstacles and I learned some important pointers. The most important thing I learned about the research process of this assignment was that the only way to tackle a subject in the library is to pick a topic, go to that section and just dive into a lot of books. I imagined myself sifting gold nuggets as I skimmed the books, trying to grab the important and pertinent bits of knowledge, all the while not being distracted by interesting but irrelevant topics and books. This distraction element proved to be very difficult for me as I am a visual and tactile learner combined with the fact that I am really interested in this subject. Typespecific especially proved to be a distraction for me! It really helped to just jump into the texts because once there I discovered a wealth of information in the bibliographies and notes of certain books. I just grabbed a bunch of books that either looked interesting or relevant from the typography section and went to work skimming and sifting! I discovered there really isn't any secret to the utilizing the vast collection of knowledge at the Library besides find the section that covers the desired topic and dive right into the texts, skimming for relevant information.
How did I know you were going to do your bibliography on this. haha. You somehow found a way to make this interesting. good work. I was researching in the library today too and found it kind of fun. I pretty much felt the same way, a little intimidated for a bit until I figured out the way I needed to browse and as soon as I did it was pretty easy, almost like browsing the internet. I think there is more of a similarity than we think, when we are on the internet we use a search to get the right subject and then just click on things that look interesting. In the library we found a good section and just grabbed books that looked relevant. Books even had "links" in the footnotes at the bottom of the page.
ReplyDeleteThis is really cool, and good for you for facing your fears of the printed word on paper. :-) Nice bit about the Harry Potter books, because it made it relevant to me. I liked how you shared your process, and it really is just finding the shelf, and in my case, settling on the floor with the books spread around you and markers to put them back in order (the librarians never have to know) and occasionally taking home the ones you love best. And books are linked, like Mike said, by the notes and cross-references, because the authors learned from each other, and so you just follow that trail too, to learn what they did.
ReplyDeleteI guess I was the only one who actually did the browse method before. When I was in middle school I would go to the library with my mom and search for the books I wanted on the library computer. I would try to write down the exact call number and my mom would always stop me about 5 letters in. She is the one who showed me that if you just go to the general area all the books are on that topic and you can grab any that look interesting. Often the best most useful books for projects are the ones that were sitting next to the book I originally searched for, not the proud computer found book
ReplyDeleteDon't worry Alicia, I did that pretty much my whole life too, but I am being more accustomed to computer searches. Most of it is dramatic/artistic license in order to make posts more entertaining. My grandma always said: Never sacrifice a good story for the truth.
ReplyDeleteI never really thought about comparing bibliographies to links on the internet. I totally see how they are so similar though. Very interesting! I also wonder if typography changes based on who the writer is trying to appeal to. (Like using bigger font that is easily legible for older people and what not.)
ReplyDelete