Do Typefaces Matter?

From bbc.co.uk/news/magazine

The BBC News Magazine has an article on the importance of typefaces. With thanks to a tip from the Typo-L listserv.

"To most people, typefaces are pretty insignificant. Yet to their devotees, they are the most important feature of text, giving subliminal messages that can either entice or revolt readers, says Tom de Castella.

When Avatar, the biggest grossing movie of all time was released, one section of the audience was immediately outraged . . ."

You Will Not Be Taken Seriously If You Use Comic Sans

Here is further proof. Really. For the sake of one's dignity, some fonts are best avoided.

Volvelles

Volvelles are paper wheel charts with rotating parts. The modern ones, such as those reproduced in Jessica Helfand's Reinventing the Wheel, are enjoyable. But there's something so captivating about the ones from previous centuries that were incorporated into books. These were used for serious stuff like astronomy, medicine and fortune-telling. They were computing devices in their day. To think that the modern movable book has such exalted ancestry.

When I posted a picture recently of a volvelle from Petrus Apianus's 1529 Cosmographia, it whetted my appetite for more. Here are a couple of other examples from the Cosmographia.

From the Lambeth Palace Library Exhibition catalogue.

A spread from the Library of Congress website, showing the positions of the sun, moon and planets.

According to the Lambeth Palace Library Exhibition catalogue, Petrus Apianus (1495-1552) was a mathematician and a pioneer in astronomical and geographical instrumentation. The Cosmosgraphia was a European best-seller. It appeared over the next century in as many as 45 editions in 4 languages, printed in 7 cities by at least 18 printers. It contained four volvelles.

Here are a few links to historical volvelles:

Robert Sabuda has a brief history, with pictures. An early one, pictured below, was made by a Benedictine monk in 1250 and was used to determine when to observe holidays. Some say it is the earliest known example of a volvelle.

A few reproductions from the 1552 Astronomicon Caesareum, which contained 35 volvelles, can be found here. The following image from it is thanks to the Wikipedia page on Volvelles:

This page also has a brief history of volvelles and some more pictures from the Astronomicon C., among others, but be warned that several of the links here no longer work.

The following is a "cipher encoding machine" from around 1600, from an exhibition of manuscripts that was at the Getty:

Doesn't it just make you want to start cutting and assembling circles?

Tasteful Letterpress

"The sweetness of the melting ABC on your tongue" in 48 point chocolate FagoMo Bold font sounds rather appealing as I sit here with a sweet tooth. Typolade Text aus Schokolade is in Stuttgart. 

What sort of ink is compatible, I wonder. Chocolate sauce?

Lambeth Surprise

A good friend recently went to Wales and England for a visit. The Lambeth Palace Library was on her itinerary. This is the historic library and record office of the Archbishops of Canterbury and is the principal repository of Church of England historical documents. It's one of the earliest public libraries in England. It was founded in 1610.

They are currently having an exhibition of rare manuscripts and documents in celebration of the library's 400th anniversary. It sounded like a stroll in paradise for book lovers.

Today I got an unexpected box in the mail. Nestled inside among all sorts of wonderful books and ephemera from the UK was a shrink-wrapped copy of the lushly illustrated Lambeth Palace Library Exhibition catalogue. Oh my!

Thanks K!

This is a spread from Petrus Apianus's Cosmographia from 1529, which shows a movable volvelle that could be used to tell the time in any latitude.

Books as Comfort Food

I've been rereading one of my favorite art books, Drawing the Landscape by Chip Sullivan. Its intended audience, I believe, is aspiring landscape designers and architects who want to learn to draw, which wouldn't include me. But I love street views and maps, and this book is so quirky and full of good advice. It's hard not to like an art book—one meant to be used as a textbook, no less—that tells you that a proper art studio needs to include a comfortable place for reading or napping. "Perhaps a couch with a bookshelf nearby." He then goes on to describe napping and reading as essential parts of the creative process. I hadn't looked at it in a long while, and was surprised to realize it even included a few examples of book art at the end. He cites his earliest artistic influence as Mad Magazine.

I've been going through one of those physical periods of frustration where I haven't been able to do much. Rereading a favorite old book like this has been like comfort food.

From the section on the creative process:

"There is a certain degree of magic and mystery to creativity, but if you understand the process, it may come easier. First, you must be open and receptive to your imagination. Creativity is not one of those things that comes effortlessly; it is not instantaneous. It takes a lot of work, and artists strive for it constantly. Creativity is 90 percent hard work and intense preparation. Ideas implanted in your mind linger for a long time; they're nurtured, then explode into a burst of creative energy. . . The creative flow is very much intertwined with perseverance." (My artist friend Joan also blogged about this very thing a while back.)

A practical consideration is how does an artist persevere to create when lacking in physical stamina and fighting off other forms of physical limitation? But I keep trying to actively feed my head with ideas. Favorite books are good nourishment.

Pictured: The couch in my studio, which is actually a covered plastic love seat. The framed print above the road sign pillows is an example of Joan's artwork. The deer crossing sign next to them is papier maché.

Maps Cut in Paper

These all-white layered cut paper maps of rivers by Lauren Rosenthal are amazing (if you follow the link, click under projects to see more).

Detail from Upper Delaware River Watershed, 

2008 (c) Lauren Rosenthal, hand-cut watercolor paper.