Typography Fundamentals

By Stephen Coles’ Type & Lettering Recommendations

Some primers for using type, and a few for lettering and type design. Unfortunately, many of my most recommended titles are out of print. Visit Typographica for that list and links to used copies.

Inside Paragraphs: Typographic Fundamentals

Cyrus Highsmith

$19.95

The first book I recommend to anyone who sets type — and that’s everyone these days, as we have all become typesetters.

Shaping Text

Jan Middendorp

$45.00

Thinking with type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students (Revised, Expanded)

Ellen Lupton

$27.95 $25.99

From Ricardo Cordoba’s review in Typographica: “This is a rewarding and recommendable guide, all the more so because of Lupton’s gifts as an educator and critic. Her expositional style is sophisticated yet approachable, and her analyses refuse to take anything for granted. By taking apart even the oldest of typographic conventions, Lupton casts them in a new light, bridging the gap between type’s long-standing traditions and its newest, most up-to-date practices.”

The Elements of Typographic Style: Version 4.0

Robert Bringhurst

$29.95 $27.85

From Maurice Meilleur’s review on Typographica: “What accounts for the lasting influence and popularity of Bringhurst’s book? Besides the handsomeness of the book itself — Bringhurst continues to enjoy the support of his publisher, Hartley & Marks, with his standards of book design and production — there are three reasons: the range and depth of his treatment, the quality of his writing, and the confidence and generosity of his tone.”