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Texts on Type: Critical Writings on Typography | 
| Creators: Steven Heller, Philip B. Meggs
Publisher: Allworth Press
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
Buy New: $15.01
You Save: $4.94 (25%)
New (16) Used (10) from $11.37
Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 69368
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 9.7 x 6.3 x 0.7
ISBN: 1581150822
Dewey Decimal Number: 686.224
EAN: 9781581150827
ASIN: 1581150822
Publication Date: February 1, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Expedited shipping is not available for this item. Items are mailed via USPS media mail within 2 business days and should arrive 4-14 business days later.
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Product Description
When Transforming Words Into Print Becomes a Passion Color'em, distort'em, move'em: changing fonts on a computer screen is almost as easy and fun as playing with a set of rubber stamps. And yet, creating and choosing type is an art that not only requires artistic skills, but a deep understanding of the many ways type is rooted in the communication patterns of our times. In "Texts on Type: Critical Writings on Typography," acclaimed design authors Steven Heller and Philip B. Meggs open a window into the secret universe of present and past typography. "Texts on Type" is an unprecedented opportunity to discover some of the most brilliant and sparkling minds of 20th century type design and typography. In fifty thought-provoking essays, readers encounter the evangelists and critics of a craft whose aesthetic frontiers have always been negotiated with unsurpassed fervor, from W.A. Dwiggins, Herman Zapf, and Paul Rand to the front-runners of contemporary typography. Practitioners of type and typophiles will perceive this craft with new eyes as they learn about the groundbreaking technological, aesthetic, and cultural changes that have propelled typography from a rarified, secluded craft into a dynamic activity practiced by millions. The fifty essays cover topics such as * Principals of designing and choosing the right typeface
* The Modernism versus Tradition debate
* The relationship between type form and expression
* The anatomy of typefaces across the 20th century
* Aesthetical reflections from classics to electronic and dynamic typography
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| Customer Reviews:
 Delightful June 29, 2008
I loaned out my first copy and never got it back. No surprise; this books is like a box of specialty chocolates. Each essay is a savory morsel leaves the reader anticipating the next confection. It's just packed with little gems; a delicious assortment of pieces from the legendary figures of Graphic Design and Typography. Despite its rather bland (pink?!?) package, the book is a pure delight.
Interesting book for those into typography June 13, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
On first examination, this book looks very dry. There aren't any pictures or examples to go with the articles, and overall the book just isn't "designed" to any extent. That being said, the articles themselves are very entertaining and interesting for those in the typographic field.
 don't judge a book by its cover, design, or content March 26, 2005
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
This hilarious mess manages to belie almost every principle of design espoused within its pages, with its frankly ugly, workmanlike design, errors in proofreading, and strange choices in content. The layout is slapdash and the printing quality is dodgy-anyone wanting typography to match the content of the book should be looking at Robert Bringhurst's essential Elements of Typographic Style, or any other Hartley&Marks book on typography, instead. If typography is the art of overweening attention to minute details, this book is certainly a betrayal of that art.
Keeping that in mind, several of the essays contained within are classic (anything Beatrice Warde or Stanley Morison has to say about type is essential reading), and Heller has done his usual job of hitting the high points, without going into any great depth. His own contribution to the volume is typical of the limited attention span he brings to a lot of his editing projects: a thinly-researched polemic on blackletter type and fascism that manages to omit some key details that would totally change the thrust of his argument were they to be acknowledged. I have, and like, other Heller books, and he's a charismatic public speaker, but this is not his finest effort.
Heller Is Prolific August 14, 2001
8 out of 11 found this review helpful
Steven Heller puts the "Good Graphics Seal of Approval" on any graphic design book, in my opinion. The essays in "Texts on Type: Critical Writings on Typography" is no exception. Together with Philip B. Meggs, Heller pulls together over fifty essays on the history, aesthetics and practice of type design and typography. You'll find essays in this anthology penned by the likes of Goudy, Zapf, Rand, Ogilvy, and other huge names in the arena of graphic design. This is just another Heller book to have to back up the rest of your everyday knowledge. After all, if you know more than the next guy, you'll get the job. My only complaint is that - for such an excellent book on typography - the typeface in the body copy is smaller than the norm. If you're over 40, pull out the reading glasses.
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