Typographica

Typographica was the name of a journal of typography and visual arts founded and edited by Herbert Spencer from 1949 to 1967. Spencer was just 25 years old when the first Typographica was issued.

Typographica was produced in two series: the "Old Series" and the "New Series". Each series was published in sixteen issues.

Old Series

• Typographica 1, 1949 (24 pages). Contents: Magic and the art of writing; The integration of photo and type; The use of space in typography.
• Typographica 2, 1950 (38 pages). Contents: Copper-plate scripts; Political typography; The ornamental lettering of Imre Reiner; Visual aids.
• Typographica 3, 1950 (38 pages). Contents: Function and design in business printing; The possibilities of the photogram; Central School experiments with photograms; Modern French book illustration
• Typographica 4, 1951 (48 pages). Contents: Type faces: a plea for rational terminology; First principles and last hopes; Music engraving; Chastel's illustrations for ‘Le Bestiare’.
• Typographica 5: Purpose and Pleasure, 1952 (40 pages). Contents: Is there a 'new' style of typography?; Illustration versus typography; Modern typography in the modern world (by Paul Rand); Typography to-day (by Max Bill); Must line weight be uniform?
• Typographica 6, 1952 (44 pages). Contents: Printers’ and founders’ type specimens; The liberation of the letter; Title on the spine: the case for standardisation; Arguments against standardisation (by Peter Ray and Max Bill).
• Typographica 7, 1953 (48 pages). Contents: Newspaper typography; Max Bill; Artist and newspaper; A note on early race programmes.
• Typographica 8, 1953 (44 pages). Contents: A show of hands; Dick Elffers; The autobiography of the wooden press; University magazines; Designing ‘Perspectives USA’ (by Alvin Lustig).
• Typographica 9, 1954 (40 pages). Contents: Publishers’ colophons; The machine-set advertisement; Pattern, sound, and motion (Central School type experiments); Recent typography in France; Trends in abstract painting in France.
• Typographica 10, 1955 (36 pages). Contents: Stedelijk Museum catalogues; The training of typographers; French lithographic illustration.
• Typographica 11, 1955 (36 pages). Contents: The tower of Babel; International publishing; H. N. Werkman, printer-painter.
• Typographica 12, 1956 (44 pages). Contents: Letters in steel; Additions and revivals; Clavé’s Gargantua; The development of Mistral.
• Typographica 13, 1957 (40 pages). Contents: French book clubs; Locomotive lettering; The arrow in the road; The illustrations of Avigdor Arikha.
• Typographica 14, 1958 (40 pages). Contents: The publications of Gaberbocchus Press; Two German presses; Sandberg's Experimenta Typographica; Old-fashioned types and new-fangled typography.
• Typographica 15, 1958 (40 pages). Contents: Telephone directories; Lunch-hour photograms; Büchergilde Gutenberg; Dutch chocolate letters.
• Typographica 16, 1959 (44 pages). Contents: Modern Hebrew typefaces; Capitals, twin- and multi-print (with red/green paper spectacles inserted); El Lissitzky: typographer.

New Series

• Typographica 1, 1960 (64 pages). Contents: Britain's Royal Arms; Five Polish photographers; Yosl Bergner’s drawings to Kafka; The work of Franco Grignani; The history of numerals; Photograms by Anne Hickmott.
• Typographica 2, 1960 (60 pages). Contents: de Jong, Hilversum; BCG (Brownjohn, Chermayeff and Geismar; The books of Abram Krol; Max Huber in Italy; A humanized alphabet.
• Typographica 3, 1961 (76 pages). Contents: Typophoto; The books of Diter Rot; National Zeitung; The drawings of Alcopley; From painting to photography: experiments of the 1920s.
• Typographica 4, 1961 (78 pages). Contents: Mile-a-minute typography?; Road signs in Holland; Street level (by Robert Brownjohn; The Civic Trust and lettering: a visit to Epping.
• Typographica 5, 1962 (68 pages). Contents: Reading by machine; Penguins on the march; DIN–a new, old cause; A case for auto-letterpress.
• Typographica 6, 1962 (68 pages). Contents: Reading by touch; Pat McAuliffe of Listowel; Lettering in Coventry Cathedral; Typewriter type faces; Watching words move (a booklet insert by Brownjohn, Chermayeff and Geismar

).

• Typographica 7: Typography in Britain, 1963 (72 pages). Contents: Piet Zwart; Design underfoot; Thematic photography (booklet insert); Education and the child; This is my private world.
• Typographica 8, 1963 (70 pages). Contents: Josua Reichert: typography as visual poetry; Chance; Art and writing; A rich man's guide to bingo; Paul Schuitema; Concrete poetry and Ian Hamilton Finlay.
• Typographica 9, 1964 (64 pages). Contents: Avant garde graphics in Poland between the two worlds wars; Henryk Berlewi and Mechano-faktura; Sunday photography; Crowns.
• Typographica 10, 1964 (64 pages). Contents: Newspaper seals; The compass rose; The emergence of the printer's stock block; Sex and typography (by Robert Brownjohn).
• Typographica 11, 1965 (52 pages). Contents: Alexander Rodchenko: a Constructivist designer; Poems/Prints; Massin; Herbert Bayer's photographic experiments; Words and images; At Remaurian (booklet insert).
• Typographica 12, 1965 (76 pages). Contents: The nymph and the grot: the revival of the sanserif letter; Fishing figures; The living symbol; Art on the assembly line; Emphatic fist, informative arrow; The arrow in China.
• Typographica 13, 1966 (62 pages). Contents: Tombstone lettering on slate; Hong Kong signs; Aesthetic pattern programmes; Type size: a system of dimensional references.
• Typographica 14, 1966 (58 pages). Contents: Idéogrammes lyriques; A book of matches (by Crosby/Fletcher/Forbes); Protest by design.
• Typographica 15, 1967 (56 pages). Contents: Paul van Ostaijen; Paul van Ostaijen: Lyric poetry–instructions for use; Objects count (by Crosby/Fletcher/Forbes); Spanish street lettering.
• Typographica 16, 1967 (52 pages). Contents: Typographica 1949–67; John Heartfield; The word as ikon; Kurt Schwitters on a time-chart.

See also

• Watching Words Move, by Ivan Chermayeff and Tom Geismar, Chronicle Books, 2006. (ISBN 978-0-8118-5214-2) – This book was developed from the insert in Typographica 6 (New Series).

References

• Typographica, by Rick Poynor, Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 2002. (ISBN 978-1-56898-298-4)
• The Liberated Page: An Anthology of Major Typographic Experiments of This Century as Recorded in Typographica Magazine, by Herbert Spencer, Lund Humphries. (ISBN 978-0-85331-578-0)
• Eye, No. 31, Vol. 8, edited by Max Bruinsma, Quantum Publishing, London, Spring 1999.
• Typographica, Rick Poynor, Baseline 35, edited by Mike Daines & Hans Dieter Reichert, Bradbourne Publishing, 2001.