William Adams - Lettering Art - Bibliography

William Adams - Lettering Art - Bibliography - Free Type Books

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B O O K S

Free e-texts on typography

including publishing, research, standards, and T_EX

This is a collection of links to some of the significant free electronic texts on typography which are freely available on-line which I have found or been told of. There are additional pages of free texts for certain topics, e.g., texts on TeX---a few of general interest are listed below and there is an additional page of free texts for that system.
..... Topic dividers are links to more complete pages which typically include traditional books (ob. discl. I am an Amazon Associate and there are some purchase links). Many of these texts can be found in the wonderful Online Books Page maintained by John Mark Ockerbloom. My thanks and appreciation to Stephen Coles, Gary Munch and Jef Tombeur for suggestions and comments.
..... Additions and corrections are welcome.

Calligraphy

La Operina by Ludovico Vicentino degli Arrighi

The first writing book. It was written by a scribe in the Papal Chancery in 1522 (some say 1524) and cut in wood blocks for printing by Ugo da Carpi. Page images w/ translation and commentary by Gunnlaugur SE Briem.

Printing

Cover art Typographia: or the printer's instructor

a brief sketch of the origin, rise, and progress of the typographic art, with practical directions for conducting every department in an office, hints to authors, publishers, &c.
..... Written by Thomas F. Adams and published by L. Johnson in Philadelphia in 1854 (4th edition). SGML format served up with page images or as OCR text.

Cover art Wood Engraving

By R. J. Beedham, London, Ditchling Press, 1921. With an introduction and appendix by Eric Gill.

Colour

Cover art Cantor Lectures: Colour Block Prints

Given by Mr Hesketh Hubbard. G. Bell & Sons, Ltd., London, 1934.
..... History and description of colour printing with woodblocks.

Style Manuals

The United States Government Printing Office Style Manual 2000

PDF and HTML versions made available as part of GPO Access. Topics range from general advice to authors and editors through rules for capitalization and compounding, and of course, how to typeset the Congressional Record.

Hart's Rules for Compositors and Readers at the University Press, Oxford

fifteenth edition, March 1904.
..... Partial HTML with complete (small) page images.

Typography

Giambattista Bodoni of Parma

By T. M. Cleland, The Society of Printers, Boston, 1916.
..... Biographical sketch of the Italian printer.

Human Factors of Flight-Deck Checklists: The Normal Checklist

On the Typography of Flight-Deck Documentation

On the Design of Flight-Deck Procedures

By Dr. Asaf Degani and Earl L. Wiener, NASA Contractor Reports 177549, May 1990, 177642, June 1994 and 177605, December 1992.
..... A series of in-depth examinations of specific and practical aspects of typography.

The Memoir Class for Configurable Typesetting User Guide

By Peter Wilson, The Herries Press, 5th edition, August 2002.
..... Memoir is a new documentclass for LaTeX intended for typesetting books. The first half of this wonderful text covers basic design and page layout concepts every graphic designer and typographer should know. There is also an Addendum.

Technical Reference

Thinking in PostScript

By Glenn Reid, .pdf at www.rightbrain.com and mirrors.

T_EX

The Font Installation Guide

using postscript fonts to their full potential with latex
..... By Philipp Lehman, .pdf at www.ctan.org.

The TeXbook

Classic by Dr. Donald E. Knuth, .tex source (may not be processed without permission) at www.ctan.org.

The METAFONTbook

Classic by Dr. Donald E. Knuth, .tex source (may not be processed without permission) at www.ctan.org.

Making TeX Work

Norman Walsh's ``global guide'', .html and source at www.sourceforge.net.