The Visual History of Type: A visual survey of 320 typefaces

If you are into Typefaces just buy this book. It is stunning. Perfectly designed and superbly crafted, this huuuuge book will gratify any typeface lover. The chronological presentation is so simple and yet so effective: more than 300 typefaces presented in their original specimens or early applications. The notes that present each typeface are quite succinct – too short, perhaps? – but highly informative. A synoptical chart alongside the glossary is the only thing that I missed in this absolutely monumental opus. There is little question on the fact that this publication will get reference status pretty soon. An absolute must-have for anyone with a love for typefaces. I wish I could have an extra star.

I've had an interest in type and typography for more than three decades, and I wish something like this had been available when I was younger. The book deserves every bit of the praise it gets here. The writer of the worst review ("Yes, it has classic fonts in it like Garamond, but it lacks anything new and exciting. The fonts are also not shown with interesting examples. Each page is pretty boring.") simply does not understand the book's purpose. If you're interested in the history of type, as 99% of the readers of a "Visual History of Type" would likely be, you're going to be absolutely fascinated by the fonts and carefully selected historic samples. Another reviewer lowered his favorable rating a star because of a perceived ghosting or fuzziness around the blacks in the color illustrations of the samples used, which he speculated might be caused by "misaligned toner," although he concedes the monochrome printing of the text itself on the same pages is very crisp and high quality. I kept that criticism in mind when I read the book, but as a former proofreader in a printing plant I got the impression that the occasional scant fuzziness in the photographic illustrations existed as artifacts from the original printing of the samples (with a variety of processes over the course of five centuries). I'll concede I didn't inspect each page with a magnifying glass, but I didn't see anything I thought was caused by a registration error in the printing of the present volume.

Excellent guide and reference for myself and students.

The evolution of typography is critically important to who we are and where we came from. This is the most extensive, and downright wonderful, book on the evolution of the process: the art of designing fonts, and delivering all forms of printed communications. It also offers younger people a look at the printing processes (letterpress, offset, etc.) who may never see them actually operating again...short of a museum. It is beautifully printed. As we increasingly lose sight of printed type variations and quality, relying on computer typography solely for communication, "The Visual History of Type" will be a reminder of how important printed type was as it slowly disappears, replaced by the expedience of poor computer fonts and inkjet printers. Like so many things that are happening, the value of this art is being lost for more expedient approaches.

It's exactly what the title says. sumptuous, beautiful production. Informative well reproduced examples. If you're a type nerd, this is a great reference to have.

Really amazing coffee table book. Great for anyone who loves design and is nerdy about fonts.

The book, as other reviewers pointed out, is amazing. It is of value both to experts and novices, who can really gain an appreciation of this subtle art form. It is just an awesome historical survey of (Anglo Saxon) type history. By the way, it might've been appropriate to add that little qualification, because there are very rich histories of type in other language groups (East Asian, Semitic, etc.) and they are barely touched upon in this book (which makes sense - it would be a sprawling mess if it covered all languages). So this book deals strictly with the type history of Latin alphabets by Western European foundries and designers. In any case, my only problem with the book is that although the monochrome printing (all the text and recreated specimens set by McNeal) is very crisp and high quality, the historical specimens (usually scans of books and catalogs) are fuzzy and often have ghosting around blacks (red bleeding on one side of a black patch of ink and/or blue bleeding on the other side - this is sometimes a result of using a CMYK black that is too rich and thus overloaded with C,M,&Y inks, although I don't know enough about printing to determine if that is the cause of the ghosting in this case - it could just be a misaligned toner in some copies and not others). If the color specimen reproductions were sharper this book would've been perfect. It is a real masterpiece.

If you love type you will love this book. It is a great resource. The book is coffee-table size with a sturdy binding. The book includes a spread for each typeface with the full alphabet and any related symbols as well as an image of the type in use. Newer trendy fonts are not included.

El libro es excelente. Es una pieza fundamental que debe estar en tu biblioteca si te dedicas a cualquier área relacionada con el diseño gráfico. El autor hace una recopilación de las tipografías más importantes a lo largo de la historia, las define y las relaciona entre ellas. Aprenderás mucho acerca de los tipos de letras y sus familias, pero además te resultará muy útil para decidir qué tipo de letra encaja mejor en este proyecto que tienes entre manos. La encuadernación también merece una mención por su magnífica calidad, lo mismo que ocurre con la impresión y la calidad del papel. Por lo que respecta al envío del libro, lamentablemente, hay que destacar lo descuidado que ha sido. Como consecuencia de un embalaje negligente, el libro ha llegado marcado en su portada y manchado en la parte inferior de las páginas. Afortunadamente, el contenido está indemne.

I've wanted this book for a long time, I finally managed to get it! It doesn't disappoint, excellent quality! Book to have on your side.

Sto libro è un vero e proprio gigante della tipografia! Nel senso che è veramente grosso: 3 chili e 600+ pagine. Ma io adoro i libroni giganti che per sfogliare devi far posto sulla scrivania, sono l'unico? E questo, con oltre 320 tipi di carattere presentati nel dettaglio, questo è davvero una festa per gli occhi. È una risorsa indispensabile per chiunque sia appassionato di design, storia o semplicemente della bellezza dei caratteri tipografici. Su Instagram mi hanno chiesto di consigliare un libro sui caratteri tipografici e questo è sicuramente la mia prima scelta.

O livro é enorme, com acabamento excelente. Em cada família tipográfica temos uma grande imagem com um uso real. É possível entender a evolução e as peculiaridades das letras. Um ótimo livro para quem quer se aprofundar em tipografia e desenho de letras.

I'll keep it brief: this is one of the most beautiful *and* interesting books I've ever bought. I'm relatively new to typography, but this book would make a wonderful gift for anyone interested in the history of books as physical objects. The illustrations are lavish, full-size, and beautifully reproduced in colour. The text is neat, highly informative, and expertly researched; and the history contained within these pages, coupled with the experience of reading from them, is quite simply magical.