A book that moves in towards an investigation into the technics of making metal type by hand, and then out towards a discussion of designing digital type now. In the course of the discussion, Smeijers takes in the fundamentals of designing and making letters, so that he can be read as a guide to type and font construction in any medium. Lively, pointed drawings and photographs complement an equally fresh text.
| availability | out of print |
| published | 1996.12.05 |
| extent | 192 pp |
| dimensions | 216 × 137 mm |
| illustrations | b & w pictures |
| binding | sewn & flapped paperback |
| ISBN13 | 978-0-907259-06-0 |
| price | £22.50 |
Fundamental factors
Why this book?
Terminology
The three ways of making letters
Type: what it is and how it works
Comparing typefaces
Punchcutting in its contexts
Letters and the Italian intellect
The place of the punch in type production
The punchcutter and the historians
Where does the punchcutter come from?
The rise and fall of the punchcutter
Punchcutting in the sixteenth century
Punching and digging
The delights of steel
Fournier on punchcutting
How did they really do it?
Fixing the image
Sequence of design and production
One punch a day?
Where are the counterpunches
Hendrik van den Keere and outlines
Linearity
Punchcutting and the working of type
Does technique influence form?
The unconscious eye
To the future
Punchcutting in the digital age
Type design and language
The limits of roman
Openings and changes
Hendrik van den Keere
Renard
Illustration sources
Index
