Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Hartley & Marks Publishers (2002), Paperback, 350 pages
Description
Renowned typographer and poet Robert Bringhurst brings clarity to the art of typography with this masterful style guide. Combining the practical, theoretical, and historical, this edition is completely updated, with a thorough revision and updating of the longest chapter, "Prowling the Specimen Books," and many other small but important updates based on things that are continually changing in the field.
Media reviews
Journal of Scholarly Publishing
[T]here can be no last word about typography and Bringhurst himself still has a lot more to say.
Library Journal
The author's prose is sometimes flowery, and some of his strongly expressed opinions are questionable. Nonetheless, there's a wealth of sound advice and instruction here.
Library Journal
Bringhurst has created a work that deserves to become a classic in the field and belongs in any collection with an interest in the graphic arts.
User reviews
LibraryThing member tikitu-reviews
Bringhurst's manual is the first reference for the aspiring typographer. It's full of pithy wisdom, and obviously written to be quoted:
“Letterforms that honour and eluciate what humans see and say deserve to be honored in their turn. Well-chosen words deserve well-chosen letters; these in their
There's an awful lot of much more specific advice and analysis, but the overwhelming impression is of the passion Bringhurst has for the craft of typography, and which he communicates to the reader at every turn.
As one would expect, Elements is beautifully designed and typeset, and indeed showcases many of the techniques Bringhurst argues for or suggests as possibilities. Variations are usually shown by altering the design of the main text, as are some of the bad habits that he argues against; this destroys the unified vision of some pages, but it's very helpful to see the examples in real text which you're reading, rather than lorem ipsum or endless repeats of the same advertising copy.
The design has very generous outer margins, which are used for example images, (literal) asides and references, and running section heads. My only quibble here is that the running heads are dropped below the head of the text block by about one fifth of its height, where they are most naturally interpreted as relating to whatever text they are adjacent to instead of to the page as a whole. I'd call this a case of the conscious design getting in the way of clear communication, while Bringhurst's main thesis is that typographic design should support communication. Such a minor slip is pretty forgivable, especially when you realise that the manual really has to stand out in terms of design, in order to sell its content.
The first 200 pages are given to advice and general analysis, from book design and page layout through choice of font and use of symbols to the minutiae of font management and optical corrections for badly-kerned fonts. This is followed by 80 pages of typeface samples, each with a single-line large sample and a paragraph or two of history and description. Unfortunately this explanatory text is all set in the same text face, so you don't get to see how the typeface handles at text size in running text. For the display and script faces this was obviously the right choice, but it's rather a shame for the faces designed for text. Still this is a fantastic resource for browsing through, with a single letter sample in the margin at about 70 pt to give the character of each typeface at a glance.
The trailing sixty pages are given over to appendices, probably the least useful part of the book for most readers. We are given a list of over a thousand named letters (“e-circumflex-grave…e-circumflex-caron…e-underdot…”), as well as a list of commonly-used symbols. Likely to be more useful are the lists of type designers and foundries; there is an extensive list of further reading, with some items flagged as essential or benchmark but without explanation beyond the bibliographical information.
Apart from these slightly excessive encyclopaedic listings, Elements is accessible and written in an engaging style, and packed with historical information, design principles and technical detail. It's an introduction to the field, so you'll want more detail eventually, but as an introduction it comes highly recommended.
(I haven't made any inroads yet in the related reading list, if anyone wants to recommend me a starting point or their own personal favourite I'd be delighted.)
“Letterforms that honour and eluciate what humans see and say deserve to be honored in their turn. Well-chosen words deserve well-chosen letters; these in their
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turn deserve to be set with affection, intelligence, knowledge and skill. Typography is a link, and it ought, as a matter of honor, courtesy and pure delight, to be as strong as the others in the chain.” (Pg. 18)There's an awful lot of much more specific advice and analysis, but the overwhelming impression is of the passion Bringhurst has for the craft of typography, and which he communicates to the reader at every turn.
As one would expect, Elements is beautifully designed and typeset, and indeed showcases many of the techniques Bringhurst argues for or suggests as possibilities. Variations are usually shown by altering the design of the main text, as are some of the bad habits that he argues against; this destroys the unified vision of some pages, but it's very helpful to see the examples in real text which you're reading, rather than lorem ipsum or endless repeats of the same advertising copy.
The design has very generous outer margins, which are used for example images, (literal) asides and references, and running section heads. My only quibble here is that the running heads are dropped below the head of the text block by about one fifth of its height, where they are most naturally interpreted as relating to whatever text they are adjacent to instead of to the page as a whole. I'd call this a case of the conscious design getting in the way of clear communication, while Bringhurst's main thesis is that typographic design should support communication. Such a minor slip is pretty forgivable, especially when you realise that the manual really has to stand out in terms of design, in order to sell its content.
The first 200 pages are given to advice and general analysis, from book design and page layout through choice of font and use of symbols to the minutiae of font management and optical corrections for badly-kerned fonts. This is followed by 80 pages of typeface samples, each with a single-line large sample and a paragraph or two of history and description. Unfortunately this explanatory text is all set in the same text face, so you don't get to see how the typeface handles at text size in running text. For the display and script faces this was obviously the right choice, but it's rather a shame for the faces designed for text. Still this is a fantastic resource for browsing through, with a single letter sample in the margin at about 70 pt to give the character of each typeface at a glance.
The trailing sixty pages are given over to appendices, probably the least useful part of the book for most readers. We are given a list of over a thousand named letters (“e-circumflex-grave…e-circumflex-caron…e-underdot…”), as well as a list of commonly-used symbols. Likely to be more useful are the lists of type designers and foundries; there is an extensive list of further reading, with some items flagged as essential or benchmark but without explanation beyond the bibliographical information.
Apart from these slightly excessive encyclopaedic listings, Elements is accessible and written in an engaging style, and packed with historical information, design principles and technical detail. It's an introduction to the field, so you'll want more detail eventually, but as an introduction it comes highly recommended.
(I haven't made any inroads yet in the related reading list, if anyone wants to recommend me a starting point or their own personal favourite I'd be delighted.)
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LibraryThing member adzebill
The best work on type that I know. Bringhurst is the typographer's typographer, and writes like the poet he is. Possibly my favorite book.
LibraryThing member lyzadanger
I've read this twice now, and twice I have thought it amazing that there are people who have not heard about this book. I suppose this is because I am buried in my own perspective: former college graphic design major and current amateur letterpress printer.
The re-read was prompted by my recent work
Bringhurst isn't just a type expert; he's also a poet. As such, the tone is master-crafted and evocative. He speaks of motion and negative space and the moods of the printed word. All this while dosing you with history and the occasional barbed interjection (Mr. Bringhurst is not a fan of Helvetica or Cheltenham, for example).
The first half a dozen chapters focus on type in a pan-technological study. The foundations laid here are relevant both to setting type by hand as well as kerning in Adobe Illustrator. Then there are a few chapters on layout--which manage to integrate proportion, mathematics, musical harmonies, the Golden Mean and a certain amount of mysticism and reverence. Toward the end of the book, there is more detail on digital typography (which I must admit I skimmed because of my current focus).
If you do anything with type, read this book. It is required.
The re-read was prompted by my recent work
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of rehabilitating my old Chandler & Price press, and trying to learn everything about this elegant art. Bringhurst's brilliant book is both reference and narrative, something to keep at hand when setting type and trying to remember average letters per 20-pica line in 10-point fonts, but also something to curl up with. What a peculiar balance!Bringhurst isn't just a type expert; he's also a poet. As such, the tone is master-crafted and evocative. He speaks of motion and negative space and the moods of the printed word. All this while dosing you with history and the occasional barbed interjection (Mr. Bringhurst is not a fan of Helvetica or Cheltenham, for example).
The first half a dozen chapters focus on type in a pan-technological study. The foundations laid here are relevant both to setting type by hand as well as kerning in Adobe Illustrator. Then there are a few chapters on layout--which manage to integrate proportion, mathematics, musical harmonies, the Golden Mean and a certain amount of mysticism and reverence. Toward the end of the book, there is more detail on digital typography (which I must admit I skimmed because of my current focus).
If you do anything with type, read this book. It is required.
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LibraryThing member lukeasrodgers
Yes, typography can be interesting. This seminal book both provides a good introduction to a beginner and a good base for the expert.
LibraryThing member Katya0133
An excellent reference and an interesting read. I especially love the appendix of special characters.
LibraryThing member cdp02005
The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst (2004)
LibraryThing member Murdocke23
A beautiful book the practices what it preaches. Sometimes called the 'typographer's bible', this book looks at the history of the printed word, breaks down the letterform and layouts. The last half is a detailed reference of faces, characters, a glossary of terms, and popular typographers.
LibraryThing member Pondlife
I bought this book to help me understand font selection, and ended up learning a whole lot more. It's a great book, and surprisingly readable for a textbook. It's obvious that a lot of effort has been put into the presentation as it's very nicely laid out, indeed just looking at the layout can be
I can't really find much wrong with this book. If I were forced to find fault, it would be that the author is sometimes a little opinionated, and could occasionally accept that there are multiple acceptable ways to do something.
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instructive.I can't really find much wrong with this book. If I were forced to find fault, it would be that the author is sometimes a little opinionated, and could occasionally accept that there are multiple acceptable ways to do something.
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LibraryThing member llasram
Fascinating. Quite a lot to digest, especially for the amateur typographer, and doubly so for one working purely in reflowable digital text. Everyone I've mentioned this book to has assumed it to be about "fonts," but only a third or so of this book deals with issues connected to type face design
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and selection, even counting issues of kerning etc. A rich field well introduced. Show Less
LibraryThing member sben
Read this if you care at all about how your writing is presented, or how other peoples' writing is presented, or if you're interested in alphabets, or the history of printing, or how many different diacritics are used when writing Vietnamese with the Latin alphabet.
LibraryThing member NaleagDeco
I'm sure it's only the tip of the iceberg, but the book is engrossing enough that I now cast my amateur eye at any piece of text that floats my way. The author knows his stuff; better yet, he weaves humour and passion into what could have been a very dry introductory text.
Although there is a
Other than that, I highly recommend this book for someone with a little bit of patience and a lot of tolerance towards never being able to look at text the same way again.
Although there is a
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glossary in the back, I would have appreciated more graceful (read: the existence of) introductions to many of the technical terms. There were a few that weren't defined in the glossary and I had to go hunting for the meanings myself.Other than that, I highly recommend this book for someone with a little bit of patience and a lot of tolerance towards never being able to look at text the same way again.
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LibraryThing member emilymcmc
The other bible.
Subjects
Language
Pages
350
Original publication date
1992
ISBN
0881791326 / 9780881791327
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