Printing Types: Their History, Forms and Use. Vol. I - II [complete set]

Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1937 2 volumes 8vo (24 cm), XL, 292 pp, 192 illustrations (one folding); xix, 326 pp, ill. 193-367 (one folding). Publisher's cloth (first volume slightly sunned). An extensively revised second edition of the classic study on the art of typography, spanning from the invention of printing to the 20th century, authored by Daniel Berkeley Updike (1860-1941), an American printer and historian of typography. Originally published in 1922, this seminal work played a pivotal role in elevating typographical standards. Volume I delves into the inception of printing, the evolution of typefaces in the 15th century, and examines German, Italian, and French typographies from 1500 to 1800. In Volume II, Updike further explores Dutch, Spanish, and English typographies from the same period, elucidating on 19th-century "classical" typefaces such as those of Bodoni and Didot, as well as English types from 1800 to 1844 and American typographical developments. Additionally, practical considerations such as selecting typefaces for a composing room and historical industrial conditions are analyzed in their relevance to contemporary printing challenges. Second edition, second printing.