The Elements of Typographic Style - 20th Anniversary Edition

Typophiles will eat this book up; however beginning and even seasoned designers might have troubles with this book. For one, it's all text. Hardly any diagrams or visual examples to be had. Are you kidding me? One of my crazy design teachers once said "If a book doesn't have pictures then don't read it!". I'm beginning to believe her. It's like reading the directions for the VCR and just as dry. If you've read any of Ellen Lupton's DIY books, then "The Elements of Typographic Style" has to be the anti-thesis.

But like most things that are good for you (spinach, brushing your teeth, exercising) it's hard to get through at first. After a couple reads I imagine this book to be more useful. For now I'll keep it in my "to-finish" pile. Check out the "Elements" website to see if this book is for you.

I bought this book because it was required for school. Classes just started a few weeks ago and I've read a few chapters already. It is mixed with great information as well as a little humor. It reads easily.

This book is very heavy on detailed information about typefaces, their history, and their usage. I appreciated that the author took the time to make such a detailed treatise. However, some parts really rubbed me the wrong way--for instance, the sniffy dismissal of the ASCII tilde, straight quotes, and other characters, as "having no typographic purpose". Excuse me, but I use those characters every day. They seem to serve my typographic purposes just fine. Also, in the relatively short section on sans-serif typefaces (named by this author as "unserifed" faces, a term I'd not heard before, and which seems to indicate that serifed fonts are the Real Thing--everything else being derivative and somewhat Less Proper), Helvetica and Franklin Gothic are contemptuously tossed aside as "dark, coarse, and tightly closed ... cultural souvenirs of some of the bleakest days of the Industrial Revolution." (p. 255) Um, yeah. No bias showing there. I think I'll go on using my cultural souvenirs and enjoying them as the well-crafted, light and refined pieces of Modernism that they are, despite this aristocratic dismissal. I think this author is knowledgeable, but thankfully his kind of pedantic snobbery is on the decline in the world of design.

Serious designers who are beginning their trade, or old hats who might need to be refreshed in typography can benefit from Robert Bringhurst's "The Elements of Typographic Style."
Bringhurst has brought us a thrifty tome of typography. Succinct, he isn't bound to entertain the reader, but educate him.
His glossary of typographic terms will bring you into the know about apertures, dot leaders, nuts and muttons.
Just as useful is his thorough appendix of sorts and characters. With an image of the characters, he explains in a few sentences what characters is when it is to be used properly. He distinguishes acutes from graves from primes from hois from apostrophes. Adjacent to this lexicon is a quick visual index of alphabetic character. This section alone was worth the price for me.
The real science of "The Elements of Typographic Style" is in Bringhurst's bulk of explanations of letter construction, page composition, defining and given shorts histories of classic fonts as seen in specimen books, a great chapter on analphabetic symbols.
I fully recommend this book. Artists, designers, illustrators all should have a copy of this. It reads easier than you might suspect, and would serve as a fine textbook. Writers should read it for no other reason than it is interesting, but to also have pity on our poor designers who must make our words look nice.
Anthony Trendl

With the accessibility of word processing programs, there is a lot of really poor quality documents regularly created that have lowered the standards for acceptable print materials. This book is like a 'Miss Manners' of Typography, and is the absolute definitive authority on typographic styling.

It's very well written (and even humorous), with lots of good and bad examples. Bringhurst's philosophy is to make sure that typography doesn't get in the way of the text. For him, it's all about ease of legibility for the reader. It's akin to a 'Manual of Style' for typographers. He also considers each letter design to be a miniature work of art, which is completely accurate.

The book includes tons useful information that will give your documents a professional polish such as: how to choose matching typefaces, when to use old face numbers, setting up information tables and lists properly, etc.

There's also a huge amount of historical background information on typefaces and typographers.

Serious designers who are beginning their trade, or old hats who might need to be refreshed in typography can benefit from Robert Bringhurst's "The Elements of Typographic Style."
Bringhurst has brought us a thrifty tome of typography. Succinct, he isn't bound to entertain the reader, but educate him.
His glossary of typographic terms will bring you into the know about apertures, dot leaders, nuts and muttons.
Just as useful is his thorough appendix of sorts and characters. With an image of the characters, he explains in a few sentences what characters is when it is to be used properly. He distinguishes acutes from graves from primes from hois from apostrophes. Adjacent to this lexicon is a quick visual index of alphabetic character. This section alone was worth the price for me.
The real science of "The Elements of Typographic Style" is in Bringhurst's bulk of explanations of letter construction, page composition, defining and given shorts histories of classic fonts as seen in specimen books, a great chapter on analphabetic symbols.
I fully recommend this book. Artists, designers, illustrators all should have a copy of this. It reads easier than you might suspect, and would serve as a fine textbook. Writers should read it for no other reason than it is interesting, but to also have pity on our poor designers who must make our words look nice.
Anthony Trendl

If you were allowed only one book on typography, it should be this one. Bringhurst is a poet. He loves language, written language, and all its parts. That love comes through in the text and the visual presentation of every page.
Bringhurst advocates a subdued typographic style. This makes good sense in the vast majority of cases, since typography is the servant of the text that it carries. Like any good servant, it should be unobtrusive, well dressed, and competent to handle every task it is given, quietly and promptly. Bringhurst demonstrates nearly everything he says, starting first with this book itself.
The book is a beautiful artifact, with an elegant and informative page layout. Body text, side- and foot-notes, references, running titles, and more - they all fit together well on the page. Each kind of information is set off only slightly, but clearly and predictably. The content is well organized: prose in the early chapters, reference material in the later chapters and appendices, and all the intermediates in the middle of the book. Diagrams and tables are minimalist and communicative.
The text spans centuries, from ancient Egyptian page layouts to the rationale behind Unicode. Bringhurst is passionate about typography's history, and insists that it inform every modern decision about print and printing. He embraces the new just as much, and is careful to note the strengths and weaknesses of each typographic technology.
Bringhurst discusses far too many topics to touch on here. In every case, though, he brings his poet's sense to all of the writing, using witty, descriptive language for even the most mundane of technical issues. The one weakness I saw was in the geometry of page layouts. I like his mathematical rigor and esthetic practicality. Still, I think that the number of different constructions was more a tribute to what can be done than to what serves a real need.
This is the best, most complete text I know on book design. As Bringhurst points out, there are lots of other uses for type than books, but he chose books as his subject - I have no problem with that limitation. The only problem I saw, and not really a problem with the book itself, is its subtlety. The nuances (well, most of the nuances) he discusses are important. Beginners, however, may not see the significance of small matters. Once a reader's eye it tuned to the fine detail, however, this book is the most helpful I know.

Serious designers who are beginning their trade, or old hats who might need to be refreshed in typography can benefit from Robert Bringhurst's "The Elements of Typographic Style."
Bringhurst has brought us a thrifty tome of typography. Succinct, he isn't bound to entertain the reader, but educate him.
His glossary of typographic terms will bring you into the know about apertures, dot leaders, nuts and muttons.
Just as useful is his thorough appendix of sorts and characters. With an image of the characters, he explains in a few sentences what characters is when it is to be used properly. He distinguishes acutes from graves from primes from hois from apostrophes. Adjacent to this lexicon is a quick visual index of alphabetic character. This section alone was worth the price for me.
The real science of "The Elements of Typographic Style" is in Bringhurst's bulk of explanations of letter construction, page composition, defining and given shorts histories of classic fonts as seen in specimen books, a great chapter on analphabetic symbols.
I fully recommend this book. Artists, designers, illustrators all should have a copy of this. It reads easier than you might suspect, and would serve as a fine textbook. Writers should read it for no other reason than it is interesting, but to also have pity on our poor designers who must make our words look nice.
Anthony Trendl

An excellent book; extremely densely written. Everything you wanted to know about typography: rules, opinions and explanations of good typesetting, spacing, design, structure of the book, creating the page (with mathematical structural references and histories). There is a chapter on analphabetical symbols. Appendices A through E cover extensively the working alphabet (international)- including the alphabets of many type faces; characters; terms; type designers; and typefoundries. His first rule: respect the text.

In this book, Robert Bringhurst welcomes us into his world of typography, gently showing us how to approach typesetting problems, how to select fonts, how to conceive of a page and the like. He also describes how historical reality should be taken into account in the design, as well as giving a detailed description of the history and style of many, many typefaces. The book is written with great passion, and contains very sound advice. This book is a must for anyone seriously trying to create a beautiful, readable book.

»The Elements Of Typographic Style« is a very very interesting book. Robert Bringhurst is a very good writer, with an unusually wide knowledge of not only typograpy, and therefore the book becomes extremely very relevant and not at all overspecialized.
Mr Bringhurst's writing skills and knowledge have also succeeded in creating what is rare among reference books: A reference book that you can actually read from one end to the other, which is what I did myself. Without getting bored, no, in fact it was hard for me to put »The Elements Of Typographic Style« down!
The only drawback is that, sometimes, Mr Bringhurst tends to make statements which he makes look like the only truth, despite his amazing knowledge of the subject. His solutions are often, but not always, discussed - and especially when they are not, it seems annoying to read about what is his personal taste and preferences.
But »The Elements Of Typographic Style« seems to me like a Bible of typography! An extremely relevant book that will open not only typographers', printers' and authors' eyes and make them at the very least a little more aware of what makes a written medium inviting and worth reading. Of course, this book itself is a beautiful example of well-taken care of typography and layout!

I can see that there are plenty of reviews telling why this book is essential to any typographer or typographic designer, so I won't bother repeating. however, I also noticed one particular person who gave rather misleading criticism, so I will offer a rebuttal of his points.
Lamberti-Mershon from Evanston, Illinois USA, pointed out that Bringhurst's book "bugged" him for the following reasons:
1) i hate books that are organized like, 3.2.1, 3.4.6, for points. It totally breaks up a narrative flow, and it looks ugly.
the section numbering system, in this case, makes the book an amazingly simple thing to navigate. this is one of the finest points of Mr. Bringhurst's structure.
2) the type is small, my wife saw that right away.
certainly this is a subjective matter, but I can think of no more readable book. if I remember correctly, the text (Minion) is set 10/12. are there any typographers out there who wish to question the functionality of those numbers?
3) he uses a wide border from text to page, so that I have to yank and pull and stretch the book wide open in order to see the text towards the binding. [...] My point is, the book is hard to read! Go figure.
like I said before, this is subjective, but this really is quite a readable book. the borders this reviewer speaks of are of the Renaissance sort, large outer borders for the placement of the thumbs. I don't remember a time when I felt the need to "strech" the book, the spine of my copy is in beautiful conidtion. carrying his thought one further, the overall proportions of text area to page are historically well established. to me, the structure of such a system is unquestionably comfortable.

Actually, I think the audience for this book is the layman with interest in good typography. I think this book might be a little lacking for a graphics/type professional, but I it fills a void for the layman with an interest in the layout & typography of the printed word.
Bringhust deals with the classic elements of typography, so you will find no mention of poster typography, "modern" movements & the like... He gives great detail in laying out pages, dimensions of pages & font selection. His review of fonts (Prowling the Specimen Books) is worth the price of the book alone.
I really appreciated the "grammar for typographers" he covers (using dashes, etc.) I would love to see a full grammar book written from the book designer/typographers point of view.

After quickly scanning the reviews of this book, I was under quite a different assumption about what this book would explain and teach. I read that 'this should be required reading', but it's so boring I haven't gotten past a few pages. I'm going to try and pick it up again and get into it, but for a book on typography, it's not really what I expected. I'm dissappointed.

While many of the reviews here mention the fine and useful contents of this book, none seem to mention the incredible design of the book itself. It is an unusual shape, with the text blocks positioned on the page with rare elegance. It is well bound and sturdy.
Before reading this book, I had a vague idea that it was wrong to double-space after a period in a proportional font. After reading, I have the backing of an authority on the subject. My documents are prettier, and I have an appreciation for the typographer's art that I simply hadn't before. There is a good deal of content dealing with proper typography in non-English languages also, which may prove useful to you.
Well worth the money.

I used this book extensively when designing my own book, Treasure of Shabbat: An Illuminated Guide to the Shabbat Table Experience. It was very helpful.

This book seems to be recommended by every graphic designer in the world as THE book on typography. After buying it, I found it to be not exactly what was promised. As previous reviewers have noted, the layout is a bit eccentric--elegant but hard to use (maybe). Those in love with the possibilities of book design will no doubt like it, but those readers more concerned with readability may find the layout distracting. For me, the book's strongest feature was the listing and descriptions of Bingham's favorite fonts. I found that section very illuminating and inspirational. As for the remainder of the book, the so called "rules" of typography are considered but not exhaustively so by any means. Bingham is more interested in writing about his own perspectives. Beginners will probably be bored by this material. For them, better books on the rules of type exist. For the more advanced user and for those studying graphic design, this book is a must read. However, be aware this is not a "how to" kind of book.

Bringhurst is individual genius who has synthesized the fragmentary knowledge about typography into a singular vision not seen since Tschichold's Die Neue Typographie. Bringhust's list of glyphs is indispensible; it has helped answer that qustion, "What is that puctuation mark called and is this how it should be used?" many times. His method of organizing type faces is historical, reflecting his romantic nature. Catherin Dixon's method of organizing and describing type faces is more practical, but does not offer the thrill that you have joined the ancient society of typographers.

Good craft teachers are able to teach their students all the skills it takes for their professional life. Great teachers go beyond that: they try to make their students Understand the craft. By telling them about its historical development, by developing their taste instead of just giving good recipes, by showing the inside. In The Elements of Typographic Style, Robert Bringhurst puts the why before the how. His work is a mix of a very elaborate history of typography, a wealth of discussions on all kinds of big and little subjects any typographer wants or forgets to consider - and yes, also practical advice. For instance, Bringhurst first makes clear why with some fonts, it is inappropriate to use bold - and then he goes on showing how to create up to six visually different levels of subheads without using bold once. Even in such cases, Bringhurst stays far away from soothing his readers with quick and dirty advices. As he explained after finishing the book, he wanted nothing more or less than simply to write a book about typography as good as he could - a truly genuine approach in an age where customer orientation is often taken to the extremes. No wonder Bringhurst values timeless typographical virtues higher than the fashions of the day. Some readers may find the result of this approach a bit too academical or lyrical. For them, other excellent books on typography are waiting on the shelf. For me, Bringhurst is a great teacher.

This book should be required reading for every graphic designer, book designer, typographer and certainly anyone directly or indirectly responsible for unleashing the current wave of awful typography on an unsuspecting public. Bringhurst covers everything from the basics of type styles to advanced kerning principles to the finer points of page proportions, all in a succint yet engaging way.
Bringhurst does an excellent job of laying out a series of rules and guidelines, while making it clear that these are a starting point, a foundation for good type design, not a set of limitations. He is a poet as well as a typographer, and his eloquence pays tribute to the field as no one else has.
The book features a good deal on the evolution of typography and includes great side-by-side comparisons of typefaces to illustrate specific points. He also deals extensively with punctuation marks, diacritics and the duty/joy of designing type with languages other than English in mind. I find myself returning again and again to the section on the subtleties of page proportions. He also achieves the nearly impossible balance of singing the praises of the old masters while not being afraid of the best of what's new and experimental.

Even before I concluded my reading of Robert Bringhurst's "The Elements of Typographic Style" I wanted to write to the author. I hoped to thank him. Yet I was too embarrassed to appear overly sentimental and so, I wrote this wanna-be review, hoping it is less so. As well, I kept reprimanding myself for not reading this book earlier, while I was in school, apprenticing in the art of type and skills of graphic design. This is mostly because the book provides a somewhat historical overview of good typographic practices with not only practical guidelines and rules but, even more importantly, their contexts too.

Eloquently written (after all, Bringhurst is at least as careful with his words as he is with his type), "The Elements of Typographic Style" provides insight into the practice of typography, crucial to a novice who is only stepping into the world where language has a shape and an invaluable resource to an established practitioner who can already appreciate intricacies of both language and type. In fact, for Bringhurst, letter-forms, type and language are inseparable in the context of western civilization. Hence, it is not a surprise that through his written words, we realize that this is a personal book also, in which the author shares his views on language, type, and the importance and the tradition of a well written word (after all, aside from possibly the phone book, all books are personal; this one is just a bit more honest about it).

This is not a complete book of typography, nor does the book claim that (to ask such a thing from a single book is both foolish & bound to fail - like most things, language and its visual forms are not static). Yet, if someone is to read one book on type, I would suggest "The Elements of Typographic Style" (but please, please do read plenty of others too). Fortunately, while reading, I was reminded that the learning and apprenticeship continue for as long as we want it to continue. "The Elements of Typographic Style" is generous enough to provide guidance to comprehend typography, rules to give handsome shape to a written text and encouragement to break those same rules, or to explore and experiment further.

An excellent book on typography. Very technical, but has lots of detailed, precise and concise tips on how to make typographic choices. Also includes plenty of examples and historical commentary. I will definitely revisit this book again.

A beautifully structured and clearly written book about high-level concepts of typography and the finest nuances as well. My design students buy this because it is required for my class then soon discover it is a pleasure to read. They come to class excited about the readings and delve beyond what is required. I am grateful for such passion as Bringhurst brings to this field and shares poetically with us all.

The review above describes the highlights of this book more elegantly than this author could hope to do. One section of the book that I particularly enjoyed was Appendix A which discusses: "Sorts and Characters." It explains the origin and use of all of those funny little characters in your fonts, such as the acute, guillemets, and the glottal stop. Appendix B contains a wonderful glossary of typographical terms. P.S. Buy the hardcover edition. It's a book that won't go out of style and you'll want to keep it.

Bringhurst both demonstrates and describes typography with style and wit. This book is considered the most authoritative by those who know typography. But the man can write. He dismisses _The Chicago Manual of Style_ on the subject of the ellipsis as indulging in "...a Victorian eccentricity." Typographers and publishers should start with this book, and then consider lesser works.
John Culleton
Able Indexers and Typesetters

This perfect book explores "classical" typography and page layout issues so deeply you won't have to ask more. Very interesting historic backgrounds, especially about font families and styles, absolutely rigorous definitions about page layout and line formatting. As a graphic designer, mainly for multimedia, I found this book a little frightening for his level of detail. Really A MUST for everyone into graphics design.

The Elements of Typographic Style sets the standard for what a type book should be. The single best type book on the market, a total joy to look at as it is to read. Offers an unequalled amount of information in a concise, easy-to-read fashion. The offers knowledge and love of his subject comes through every page. I've purchased fifty and seventy dollar type books that don't offer ten per cent of what this book offers.

Others have said almost everything that needs saying. I just wanted to get my five stars in because few books deserve them more. This book isn't hands on practical and it isn't a work of art like Manuale Typographicum, but it's perfectly in between with the basics of good typography. If you own (and you do want to own this one) one book on typography, this should be it.

I loved the book -- even though I disagree with many of his positions. For my positions, see "Introduction to Digital Publishing" (by me) which is a more practical book for day to day working. Bringhurst is very conservative -- retro is a huge understatement.
Robert's book is an amazing resource for typographic trivia. It is gorgeously typeset. His basic design decisions are a little anal, but solid. It is exclusively about typesetting for non-graphic books. It is a must read for all typesetters and desktop publishers.

This book is a treasure for anyone who loves beautiful, readable text; you need not be a professional typographer to enjoy and benefit from it. Though I rate as an amateur (in the sense of one who does a thing for the love of it, rather than for pay) in document design and calligraphy, I design software and web content for a living. I found Bringhurst's book to be a thoroughly useful and inspiring source and resource, and can recommend it without qualification to all my IT and web design collegues.

I've been interested in typography for as long as I've been interested in design, but I struggled with some of the terminology, definitions, what to do where and how to do it. I've read countless books on it, hoping to glean some sort of insight into the magic of the typographic page. And then my lecturer recommended this book.

It's wonderful - easy and entertaining to read, Bringhurst offers suggestions rather than commandments. Each time he does so it is explained clearly and thoroughly.

I highly recommend this book to all typography students, to those who love type but just don't where to start, and to those who have years of experience with type: this book will be worth your while.

Probably the most insightful piece of litterature on typography in the 21st century -- a classic. With this book, Bringhurst shares all of his sound advice, great tips and knowledge. If I had to take one book to a desert island, this would be the one -- even if there was nothing to write on there.

If there would be any cons to this book, it would probably have to be that the book may be a bit academic and dry to some. If you want an exciting tale of mystery and murder, go get yourself one of Jeffrey Deaver's books. If you want an equally fascinating tale of the battle for the slanted hyphen, however. This is the book for you.

Along with the later book by James Felici, called "The Complete Manual of Typography" from Adobe Press, Bringhurst's book is a landmark work in English for any level of typgographic study.
Read it slowly and carefully for all the nuggets he leaves in a trail for us to follow. An amazing, brilliant effort no graphic design person should omit from his or her typographic education.

Probably the best book on typography. Packed with useful information written in a clear flowing style. If you are involved in type design, typesetting or web page design, then this book should be on your shelf. Even the paper the book is printed on is beautiful quality stuff! ;-)

This is one of the most beautiful mass-produced books I own, an oasis in my noisy typographical world. The content helped me, but I admit that I enjoyed it more for because of what it is rather than what he wrote. This isn't a how-to book: it's a discussion and example of a typographical belief system.

From the elegant black cover and quality paper to the superbly clean and balanced layout, the book itself stands as physical proof of Bringhurst's skill and credibility in all matters typographical. The content is interesting, highly informative, and extremely comprehensive. It focuses primarily, but not exclusively, on classical typographic style, but the reader is given the reasoning behind everything, and given the knowledge needed to make informed decisions and conscious departures from the 'rules'. This book has done more for my web design skills than any number of 'web design' manuals. I cannot recommend it enough to anyone working with any form of text in any medium.

Robert Bringhurst's book must be the first word on typography and deserves to be the last. He writes with a humanist's sensitivity to history, a mathematician's devotion to order and number, and an artist's love of beauty. I cannot imagine a better book.

Good information but rather a long text for what I got out of it. Gives much positioning/spacing information that I do intuitively anyway. The industry seems to love this book but I think that it could be better with a rewrite to make it shorter and give clearer headings and divisions. For an industry person fascinated by typefaces it does include comments on many different typeface origins.

An excellent book; extremely densely written. Everything you wanted to know about typography: rules, opinions and explanations of good typesetting, spacing, design, structure of the book, creating the page (with mathematical structural references and histories). There is a chapter on analphabetical symbols. Appendices A through E cover extensively the working alphabet (international)- including the alphabets of many type faces; characters; terms; type designers; and typefoundries. His first rule: respect the text.

The book is an excellent, not-too-basic review of most important topics in typhography. The writing is very clear and entertaining, the printing and design from the book itself is superb, as it should be expected, given the author's expertise in the matter.
I liked the thorough description of serifed, unserifed and greek fonts towards the end of the book, and the glossary of typographical signs at the end.
This book is a must for people interested in the subject!

I learned that bad typography is like starving horses standing in a field. And that typography is a slow art that should be given the same respect that we some times give to musical compositions. Typography nourishes the soul.

Just from perusing parts of this book, my level of typographic style, awareness, and confidence was elevated over the course of a single project. And as a publication designer, I actually felt remiss about not having known or used many of the classic style elements covered in Bringhurst's book. Every design student and professional should own this, and live by it. Just as editors live and die by "Web 10."

A great reference book to have for any designer, although a little tedious at times a solid read with a great historical overview of the subject. I would definitely recommend to any enthusiastic designer with a thirst for knowledge on things Typographical.

Since reading, I have become more critical of Typography in general and it works as a great guide when in doubt.

Great reference manual for years to come. I REALLY don't like the design of the cover, though; it was the weakest design out of everything else in the book. Far weaker than the perfect layout of every page inside - even the paper is top notch. GET THIS BOOK. I've yet to come across another so well put together, and such a joy to read.

Bringhurst gets at the heart of typography as an expressive medium. The work does not focus right or wrong, but poses reasons why one might make one choice over another.
I think this may be the best book for someone just learning about typography to start with. At the same time, it is insightful for those with more experience.

If you are into typography and care about little details when laying out a design, this book is perfect for you. The author clearly explains, down to the finest details, the use of typographic elements. The tone of the author might sound somewhat strict and commanding, but the knowledge that Bringhurst has to share is with no doubt classic, and leads to great typographic solutions.

Typography is often ignored by page designers, many of whom seem to be the under the impression that text is the "Lorem ipsum" way to fill space between graphic elements. Robert Bringhurst's Element of Typographic Style not only provides all required information for a typographer and a designer, but also is a model for the principles he preaches. [I have with me a well-thumbed 2004 edition for which I would gladly give more than 5 stars. I am sure the 2013 revised edition will contain all required information about the new open type fonts with their 26,000 glyphs.

I had read a couple of books concerning fonts and typography, and was looking for a book that would take me through the next step. This one fit the bill perfectly. Very detailed, but beautifully written. I'm taking it slow, and learning a lot. Definitely worth the money.

As a beginning typographer in art school, this book is invaluable to me. Everytime I have a question about something typographic I can refer to the book for an answer and reasoning. Anyone from a beginner to an expert typographer should own a copy of this book. Bringhurst creates a lucid world of typography that makes it easy to read while having layers of information. A great buy.

Everyone (including me) presents this book as the standard, and it is for a reference of special characters and basic font knowledge. His design opinions are seriously flawed in my opinion, but then that is merely my opinion. His explanation of orphans & widows is poetic, for example, but he completely ignores the definition of widows that really matters - those short line fragments at the end of a paragraph. In fact, his book is littered with them.

I had to purchase this book for my typography class. I am a student at Pratt Institute. Though the book is great in terms of learning the formal "rules" of design it can get a little dry at points. The book is a wonderful example of "good" formal design. But maybe its me...sometimes I think some of the great design isnt with how well you adhere to the rules but how well you can fail with them. Its beautiful to take all the wonderful formal characteristics that are listed here and throw them out the window and let intution play a rule let this book influence you but dont let it hinder you