Showing results by author "Simon Garfield" in Arts & Entertainment

A delightfully inquisitive tour that explores the rich history and the subtle powers of fonts. Fonts surround us every day, on street signs and buildings, on movie posters and books, and on just about every product that we buy. But where do fonts come from and why do we need so many? Who is...

The story of Albertus is one of displacement (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 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?

This quirky and unique book examines how the computer transformed type into something that anyone could use and have an opinion on; how a typeface, correctly used, may sell us almost anything; and how new types with names such as Sunday Flicker, Pinky Stone and Irongate (to name but three out of the hundreds issued this year) each attempt to keep the alphabet exciting and new.

John Baskerville was a maverick lacquer maker and printer in Birmingham, a flamboyant dresser, a key figure in the enlightenment. Though it earned him little money, he was obsessive about both his typeface and its appearance on the page, using a new form of paper to show it at its best. His perfection culminated in his Bible, acclaimed as the finest ever made. The story encompasses one of the first women of typography, his wife Sarah Baskerville, and the many typefaces the Baskervilles inspired.

Bestselling, award-winning writer Simon Garfield returns with an enthralling investigation of humans’ peculiar fascination with small things—and what small things tell us about our larger world. “[Simon Garfield is] an exuberant truffle-hound of the recondite and delightful factoid.”...