TYPOLOGY - TYPE DESIGN FROM THE VICTORIAN ERA TO THE DIGITAL AGE

Readers familiar with Heller and Fili's numerous books for Chronicle, particularly in the Art Deco Series, may be worried that this latest book covers the same material. In fact, it is much larger in scope (as well as in size), covering commercial type designs, especially display type, form the last 100 years. As the authors state, Typology is not so much a formal history as a visual survey, and yet it is more than just a type timeline; each section has a brief essay that places the typefaces of that period within the contest of cultural, societal, economic and technological forces. Also, each period is subdivided by country; it is very useful in educating one's eye to be able to flip back-and-forth between, for example, Art Nouveau types in France and those in Germany (or The Netherlands or Austria). Typology certainly delivers its promise of visuals; there's an abundance of type specimens, broadsheets, catalogs and posters, most of which will be new to the reader, and all of which are beautifully reproduced and identified by year and designer. One would have to doggedly scour the used bookstalls of the world to accumulate this amount of material. Aren't we all lucky that we have Heller and Fili to do it for us?