This comprehensive collection offers a thorough overview of typeface design from 1628 to the mid-20th century. Derived from a distinguished Dutch collection, a series of exquisitely designed catalogues traces the evolution of the printed letter via specimens in roman, italic, bold, semibold, narrow, and broad fonts. Borders, ornaments, initial letters, and decorations are also included, along with lithographic examples, letters by sign writers, inscription carvers, and calligraphers. The first part of the book covers pre-20th-century typefaces, with texts by editor Cees de Jong and collector Jan Tholenaar. The second part deals with the period from 1900 to the mid-20th century, and contains a historical outline by Alston W. Purvis. Featured type designers include: William Caslon, Fritz Helmuth Ehmcke, Peter Behrens, Rudolf Koch, Eric Gill, Jan van Krimpen, Paul Renner, Jan Tschichold, A. M. Cassandre, Aldo Novarese, and Adrian Frutiger.

Few have left a deeper impression on the world of typography than Jan Tschichold (1902-74), one of the most outstanding and influential designers of the 20th century. Not only was he was a master in his field, but he wrote a number of highly influential books and became instrumental in promoting the modernist design strategy called the New Typography. This substantial volume covers Tschichold's life and career, placing the designer's vision firmly in the rich cultural and historical context of his era. Tschichold embraced avant-garde ideas from movements such as the Bauhaus and De Stijl and made them accessible to working designers and printers, stressing clarity in communication, with form and function going hand in hand. The contributing writers discuss the designer's major influences and the highlights of his varied career, including his seminal poster designs, his groundbreaking work with Penguin Books, and his creation of the classic typeface Sabon. Lavish illustrations - archive photographs, many published here for the first time, as well as copious examples of Tschichold's work - accompany the text, confirming that Tschichold's heritage lives on in the digital age, and proving that he is amongst the greatest typographic designers ever.

Jan Tschichold (1902-1974 ) was one of the most outstanding and influential graphic artists and typographers of the 20th century. Throughout his life he stood in the service of print and writing, first as a talented young calligrapher and designer of some 70 posters and then, later on, as a self-critical typographer and typeface designer. In his posters, he expresses the avant-garde ideas of the Neue Typografie, or New Typography, which were strongly influenced by the Bauhaus. Tschichold received many prizes for his work. For example, the Societe Typographique de France appointed him an honorary member in 1960, and he was named an honorary Royal Designer of Industry by the Royal Society of Arts in 1965.

This book is an analytical examination of Tschichold's posters. It contains his own collection of posters, with works by Hans Arp, El Lissitzky, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Oskar Schlemmer, and others, as well as the approximately 70 posters he designed himself.