Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

""Good typography should be invisible"", so goes the old maxim--the typeface should carry the message, but not distract with its own personality. But if you've ever wondered how type was developed, exactly what a Goudy Friar is, or if Baskerville has anything to do with Sherlock Holmes, then Type will answer these questions and more. This is the story of the faces behind type, letters and typography: it tells of the passions and obsessions of its creators, of war, persecution and political upheaval, of business and technological breakthrough, of rivalry, death and disinterment. With the skill of a novelist, Simon Loxley weaves the story of letters through the history of our time. From Gutenberg's first moveable type to the internet, type has grown out of ambition, jealousy, desire, treachery and love. Never again will you look at your letters, your bank statements or your books in the same way.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Sine qua non
• The Nakes Letter: the Anatomy of Type
• Introduction
• The Adventure and the Art
• Dynasty
• Garamuddle
• The Maverick Tendency
• Detour/ meltdown
• 'Hideous Italians'
• American Spring
• An Awful Beauty
• Under Fire
• Detour/ typecast
• Going Underground
• The Doves and the Serpent
• Dangerous Passions
• Leper Messiah
• Europe after the Rain
• Detour/ Portable Serenity
• Two Ghosts
• Motorway Madness
• A Company Man
• The Twenty-Six Soldiers
• New Gods
• Revolution Again
• Detour/ Inside the Micro-Foundry
• Typocalypse
• Bibliography
• General Index
• Typeface Index
• Sine qua non
• The Nakes Letter: the Anatomy of Type
• Introduction
• The Adventure and the Art
• Dynasty
• Garamuddle
• The Maverick Tendency
• Detour/ meltdown
• 'Hideous Italians'
• American Spring
• An Awful Beauty
• Under Fire
• Detour/ typecast
• Going Underground
• The Doves and the Serpent
• Dangerous Passions
• Leper Messiah
• Europe after the Rain
• Detour/ Portable Serenity
• Two Ghosts
• Motorway Madness
• A Company Man
• The Twenty-Six Soldiers
• New Gods
• Revolution Again
• Detour/ Inside the Micro-Foundry
• Typocalypse
• Bibliography
• General Index
• Typeface Index

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Typographer and designer Loxley's aim in this history is to show how the "human baggage of ambitiontreachery and love" affected the development of Western typefaces. Thus, we get the well-known story of the legal machinations Gutenberg used to try to retain exclusive rights to his printing methods as well as stories of such lesser figures as the eccentric Eric Gill, who was, according to Loxley, perhaps "the most complex figure in the whole history of type design." We find unexpected incursions into the art of road signs and the possibility (rejected) that the computer might render type design itself obsolete ("typocalypse"). Loxley's style and approach is sprightly and generally nontechnical, so even readers without much knowledge of his subject will find his popular treatment of type history easy to read and, for the most part, not deadened by the weight of names, dates, and typefaces typical of such primary standard histories as Daniel Updike's Printing Types. An excellent choice for collections that stress printing, communications, and the arts. Peter Dollard, Mt. Pleasant, MI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Simon Loxley is a practicing typographer, designer and teacher.