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\title{Book reviews}
\author[Malcolm Clark]{Malcolm
Clark\\\texttt{m.clark@warwick.ac.uk}}
\begin{Article}
\subsection{Writing \& Illuminating \& Lettering, by Edward Johnston}
This is an interesting book, not least since it is said to have been
continuously in print since 1906. My edition is from 1946 (published
by Pitman), but I note that it is now available from A\&C Black. In
essence this is an account of Calligraphy. What has this to do with
printing, you may ask? A number of typographers would argue that
calligraphic skills are a necessary prerequisite for the adequate
understanding of type. But more than this, I have a soft spot for
Johnston. He taught at the Central School of Arts and Crafts,
alongside Eric Gill (who had been his pupil, and with whom he later
shared rooms). Johnston went on to create the typeface which was used
by London Underground\footnote{at this point I have to say `Frank
Pick'. Frank Pick was the driving force behind the corporate
identity of London Underground, all those years ago -- a corporate
identity which has, up to now, managed to survive.}, and in a
digital form still is used by them. Gill of course created {\em Gill
Sans} (among others), which bears some similarities (well, it's a
sans serif) to {\em Johnston}. The similarity was great enough to lead
one correspondent on {\tt comp.fonts} to consider {\em Johnston} a
derivative of {\em Gill Sans}. Neither are derivatives of the other,
but stemmed from some common beliefs and skills. The really
interesting thing is that Johnston was a calligrapher, while Gill was
a stone cutter. The requirements of the two crafts are rather
different -- and different again from type. {\em Johnston} was
intended as a `signing' face: it was not intended for continuous text
(unlike {\em Gill Sans}). I have however seen the modern variant ({\em
New Johnston}) which was redesigned by Banks\&Miles used for
continuous text. It works up to a point. Of course other signing fonts
have become used for continuous text -- most notably Helvetica
(designed for signs at Swiss airports).
Obviously the book is primarily about hand lettering: Johnston was
writing to encapsulate the craft, and to encourage others to develop
their skills. It is therefore a rather detailed manual which leads you
through all the practical aspects of the craft. There is an underlying
theme, which may be made explicit from this quote: `The first general
virtue of lettering is {\sl readableness}, the second, {\em fitness}
for a given Use.' Almost everything else stems from this belief. Given
our concern with typography it is arresting to read that `to arrange
letters well requires no great art, but it requires a working
knowledge of letter-forms and of the reasonable methods of grouping
those forms'. So there.
Given the title, which included `illuminating' it is hardly surprising
that Johnston includes the use of colour. Traditionally, rubrication
(\ie `adding of `Red, or other coloured letters\dots to a MS.~or
Book') was used for title pages, for prefaces and notes, for headings
of columns and pages, for initials, marking stanzas, colophons, and so
on. Johnston seems to have had an especial liking for gold, either
matt or burnished. This is one feature which is unlikely to transfer
to electronic publications. Elsewhere he notes `use a limited number
of pure, bright colours'.
It may also be interesting that Johnston is quite happy to
`letter-space' in some
circumstances, although the example he gives is upper case and he makes no
obvious linking to letter spacing lower case.
It is an interesting read: it is very practical and straightforward. He
advises, recommends, but seldom pontificates. He makes it all so reasonable
that I might just sign up for a calligraphy class next term.
Copies may be obtained from Typobooks, {\sc freepost}, Colchester, Essex
CO3~4JH, for a mere \pounds14.99. This new edition has the advantage that the
plates have been re-originated. Those in my copy lack definition.
\subsection{Modern Typography, by Robin Kinross}
This is a rather fine volume. It discusses the history of typography since
`Modern' times. That is, since about 1700. This is essentially the same meaning
for `modern' as is found in `Computer Modern'. Kinross chooses this date
since it is around then that there emerges a `readiness to articulate
knowledge and consciousness' (of printing). The book will not tell you how to
create typography. What it discusses are the influences which created the
movements in typography. It does so in a considered and careful way which
was dismissed
as `dry' by one {\tt comp.fonts} correspondent; on the other hand, I found it
erudite and entertaining.
Kinross describes it as `typographic history', a field he criticizes in general
for its absence of historical skills, superficial notions of design, and ritual
statements of admiration or distaste. He also notes that much previous work
along these lines (citing Stanley Morison) has made the assumption that all
typography is book typography. Adopting this iconoclastic approach, he gives
short shrift to, for example, Baskerville, Bodoni, the Bauhaus, the more
precious private presses and `fine printing'.
As he wends his way from Moxton to the present day, he throws some light on one
of the ironies of rationality: the standardisation of the point system predated
metrication by only a few years, and a proposal to create a metric point (from
Firmin Didot) failed to be accepted. It is also to France that the origin of
paper sizes in the ratio $1\colon\sqrt2$ belongs, although this did not achieve
prominence until it was adopted in Germany early this century. Kinross has
little time for the argument that greater mechanization in printing led to a
decline in standards. On the contrary, he argues that `standards of press-work
only improved with powered printing'. We are taken through a well-documented
account of printing in England from the times of William Morris, and similarly
shown the influences which crossed the Atlantic, as well as the more
or less autonomous developments taking place in the United States. In the early
years of this century, German typography was a force to be reckoned with.
Within it were debates which hardly affected the english-speaking world,
notably that of the place of `blackletter'. Kinross summarises this crudely
(his own term) as `to prefer roman over blackletter was to be modern\dots to
prefer sanserif roman letters to those with serifs was to be more modern
still'. His background references and discussion shows how much more complex
the question was, placing the debate firmly in its political and social context.
It is perhaps with the `new typography' that Kinross is at his most excited.
This `movement' is most clearly given form by Jan Tschichold's {\em Die neue
Typographie} published in 1928. Kinross links back to a statement by Lissitzky
in 1923 which might be felt to be prophetic: `The printed surface transcends
space and time. The printed surface, the infinity of books, must be
transcended. The electro-library.' Make of that what we will. Perhaps the
strongest principle of this new typography was that it was related to purpose;
this therefore helped determine the details of the designed object, as well as
placing it in its wider context. It is intriguing that one consequence of this
new typography was `the cult of spiral binding', as well as a tendency towards
unjustified setting -- `more proper to machine composition'. In the midst of
this Kinross deals with the Bauhaus, pointing out that there were never any
fully-fledged typographers there. Later he goes on to suggest that the
reputation of the Bauhaus rested for many years on the exhibition about it held
in New York in 1938, accompanied by the book accompanying the show. In a sense
the Bauhaus reinterpreted itself, at a time when it could be seen as another
symbol of hope crushed under the heel of the oppressive dictator.
After the war came the rise or identification of `Swiss typography'. One
element of this was the application of `the grid' (possibly partly a result of
the need to accommodate the three official Swiss languages -- they could be
fairly conveniently given three columns on the grid: another consequence was
the tendency to produce square formats). One interesting feature of Kinross's
book is the extent to which he reveals the internal tensions within the
typographic world: tensions which are seldom evident from the outside.
Developments do not end here, and in his final chapter Kinross does touch on
digital processes, even going so far as to spend some time on \MF, and more
significantly, on PostScript. Post-modernism does appear, but curiously, its
practitioners are not named: I had rather expected to see something about
Spiekermann and Brody, or at least Emigre, but although clearly quite aware of
them, he remains relatively silent. However, an example of Spiekermann's work
does appear in the illustrations. The thirty or so illustrations enlarge and
expand the text, and often represent items other\-wise hard to find (for example
a German book of 1935 where blackletter text is printed in a surprisingly
`modern' form).
The form of the book is itself interesting. Each page has a wide left
margin and is set ragged right. I was surprised how comfortable I
found this. The wide margin is used for `footnotes'. There is very
little use of type differentiation to denote special features. In
fact, each section starts with a heading in the body type, but offset
by 20 pt or so (and a bigskip). Running heads are in small capitals. I
think I object to the running heads being set to the right on each
page, since they include the page number. I really don't find page
numbers next to the binding edge very useful. Footnotes are in a
slightly smaller face, while chapter titles are slightly larger than
the body type. Apart from that, the only variation is in the
occasional use of italic. This is nicely minimalist. It echoes Richard
Southall's short article many years ago in \TUB\ 5(2), `{\em First
principles of typographic design for document production}'. It will
come as no great surprise that Kinross also came through Reading
University's Department of Typography.
This is a book I will recommend. I felt much better informed from having read
it, with a better understanding of the movements in typography, and a better
feeling for their limitations. Although it does concentrate
mainly on `bookish' matters to the exclusion of the world of
magazines, newspapers and journals, it does provide useful insights
and provoking conclusions. It is published by Hyphen Press at about
\pounds15.
\end{Article}
\endinput
|
