Cover of Anatomy of a Typeface..

Anatomy of a Typeface is a book on typefaces written by Alexander Lawson and "First published in 1990 by David R. Godine, Publisher"^[1]. The book is notable for devoting entire chapters to the development and uses of individual or small groupings of typefaces. Beyond Anatomy of a Typeface Lawson has considered and discussed the classification of types. Within Anatomy, Lawson arranges the typefaces by classification. In his preface, Lawson qualifies his classification: "After using this system in the teaching of typography over a thirty-year period, I know that it is reasonably effective in the initial study of printing types. I am not disposed to consider it faultless by any means. A classification system, after all, is simply a tool ... Its primary purpose is to help people become familiar with these forms preparatory to putting them to effective and constructive typographic use."^[2] In typography, a typeface is a co-ordinated set of character designs, which usually comprises an alphabet of letters, a set of numerals and a set of punctuation marks. ...

Following are the thirty-one chapters of Anatomy of a Typeface: the Black-letter Types: Goudy Text and Hammer Uncial; Old Style Types: Cloister Old Style, Centaur, Bembo, Arrighi, Dante, Goudy Old Style, Palatino, Garamond, Galliard, Granjon, Sabon, Janson, Caslon, Baskerville, Bodoni, Bulmer, Bell, Oxford, Caledonia, Cheltenham, and Bookman; Newspaper Types: Times Roman; Twentieth-century Gothics: Franklin Gothic; Square-serif Revival: Clarendon; Humanist Sans-serif Types: Optima; Geometric Sans-serif Types; Futura; and Script, Cursive, and Decorated Types; Type Making from Punch to Computer.^[3] Centaur is an old style serif typeface originally drawn as titling capitals by Bruce Rogers in 1914 for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. ... Bembo was a Monotype “recutting” (in effect a revival and reworking) of type used by Aldus Manutius. ... Goudy Old Style, is an old style serif typefaces originally created by Frederic W. Goudy for American Type Founders (ATF) in 1916. ... A comparison of Linotype Palatino, Monotype Book Antiqua, and Unternehmensberatung Rubow Weber (URW) Palladio L. Palatino is an old style serif typeface designed by Hermann Zapf, and released in 1948 by the Linotype foundry. ... Various examples of Garamond There are several typefaces called Garamond. ... Sabon typeface designed by Tschichold, and jointly released in 1967 by the Linotype, Monotype, and Stempel type foundries. ... Janson is a common serif typeface. ... The typeface known as Caslon, (Englsih roman) designed by William Caslon I in 1734. ... Baskerville is a “transitional” typeface, designed by John Baskerville in England in the mid-18th century, revived in the early 20th century and widely used for books and other long texts. ... Bodoni is a typeface designed by Giambattista Bodoni (February 16, 1740 in Saluzzo – November 29, 1813 in Parma), an Italian engraver, publisher, printer and typographer of high repute. ... Bell is a family of typefaces designed for the Bell Telephone Company for use in telephone directories. ... Cheltenham is an American typeface. ... Bookman or Bookman Old Style is a serif typeface designed by Alexander Phemister in 1860. ... Times New Roman is a serif typeface commissioned by The Times (London) newspaper in 1931 and designed by Stanley Morison together with Starling Burgess and Victor Lardent. ... Designed in 1902 by Morris Fuller Benton for the American Type Founders company, Franklin gothic still reigns as one of the most-widely used sans serif typefaces. ... Slab-serif typeface created in England by Hermann Eidenbenz for the Fann Street Foundry in 1845. ... Optima is the name of a typeface designed by Hermann Zapf between 1952-1955. ... Promotional poster which uses the first edition of typeface Futura-late 1927. ...

The third printing of Anatomy appeared in 2002.

See also

• The Elements of Typographic Style

Robert Bringhurst authored three editions of a book entitled The Elements of Typographic Style. ...

Reference

• Anatomy of a Typeface, Alexander S. Lawson, Godine, 1990. (ISBN 978-0879233334)

Notes