TYPE DESIGN INFORMATION PAGE last updated on Fri Dec 13 00:46:22 EST 2024

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ABOUT

Robert Bringhurst

Author of The Elements of Typographic Style (1992), by many considered as the best book in typography ever written. Revisions were done in 1996, 2004, 2005 and 2008 [review, web, lecture]. Interview with Delve Withrington. He is also a prize-winning poet.

Other books by him include A Short History of the Printed Word (1999, with Warren Chappell).

Biography, from which I quote: Robert Bringhurst was born in Los Angeles in October 16, 1946 and spent his years growing up in the border provinces and states between Western Canada and the United States. He acquired a BA from Indiana University in 1973 and an MFA from the creative writing program at UBC in 1975, where he later taught. Bringhurst collaborated with West Coast artist Bill Reid on a book of Raven Myths, and Bringhurst later wrote a book about Reid's sculpture. Bringhurst is known not only as a poet but also in the fields of typography, linguistics, art history and Native studies. He received the Macmillan Prize for Poetry in 1975 and currently resides in Vancouver. He has some memorable type quotes, such as this one: By all means break the rules, and break them beautifully, deliberately, and well. That is one of the ends for which they exist.

Discussions of The Elements of Typographic Style: The typophiles [John Savard: Sounds like The Elements of Typographic Style is the masterwork it was acknowledged to be, but one that has to be taken with a grain of salt. It is a rich mine of information, but it does not set the bounds for all that can be done in typography], Sam Potts [ETS's position on typography after all isn't so different from saying the best movies were made in the 40s in Hollywood and so we, today, should be making black and white movies to uphold the tradition. Imagine a filmmaking manual that argued for this.], Mark Simonson, Maurce Meilleur.

In 2016, he published Palatino: The Natural History of a Typeface: This book provides a detailed and sumptuously illustrated history of the evolution of all members of the Palatino tribe: foundry Palatino, Linotype Palatino, Michelangelo, Sistina, Aldus, Heraklit, Phidias, American Palatino, Enge Aldus, Linofilm Palatino, Zapf Renaissance, PostScript Palatino, Palatino Nova, Aldus Nova, and Palatino Sans. It includes new specimens of the foundry and Linotype faces printed by hand directly from the metal, as well as hundreds of color illustrations documenting the artistry and care expended in creating these components of our typographic heritage.

He spoke at ATypI 2008 in St. Petersburg and at ATypI 2010 in Dublin.

EXTERNAL LINKS
Robert Bringhurst
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INTERNAL LINKS
Books on type design ⦿ The Canadian type scene ⦿ Type scene in California ⦿ Type scene in Indiana ⦿ Type personalities ⦿