Albertus cover art

Albertus

The Biography of a Typeface (The ABC of Fonts)

Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Albertus

By: Simon Garfield
Narrated by: David Thorpe
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

LIMITED TIME OFFER | £0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Premium Plus auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Terms apply.

About this listen

One of the most beautiful handcrafted typefaces in the world, Albertus is also one of the most enduring.

The face of thousands of book jackets, and the chosen look for David Bowie, Coldplay, Star Wars and London street signs, Albertus is as as warmly enticing on film posters as it is on memorial plaques.

The story of the font is one displacement (its designer Berthold Wolpe was a German Jewish refugee who went on to design the masthead for The Times), but also one of permanence, for it has proved a fresh, vibrant and indestructible face for almost a century. In this unique celebration, the designer's children reveal the history of its creation and the erratic brilliance of their father, while the book grapples with one of the fundamental artistic questions: what makes great art not only survive but flourish in each new age and medium?

©2023 Simon Garfield (P)2023 Orion Publishing Group Limited
Art

Listeners also enjoyed...

Behind the Scenes at the Museum of Baked Beans cover art
Becoming Dr. Seuss cover art
Just My Type cover art
Devotion cover art
Her Brilliant Career cover art
The One-Cent Magenta cover art
Knight: Yorkshireman, Storyteller, Spy cover art
Austin Osman Spare (Revised & Expanded Edition) cover art
Lives in Architecture: Peter Cook cover art
Antiques Roadshow: 40 Years of Great Finds cover art
Long Drawn Out Trip cover art
The Great British Dream Factory cover art
Between the Stops cover art
Haywire: The Best of Craig Brown cover art
Boy in a China Shop cover art
The Face Pressed Against a Window cover art
No reviews yet