An Essay on Typography

by Eric Gill, Christopher Skelton (Introduction)

Born in 1882, Eric Gill was an artist, letter carver, polemicist, and social reformer. In 1925, he had started drawing alphabets and printing books, and in 1931, this plainspoken little book was a fustian and forceful argument for common sense in design, composed for anyone remotely interested in the subtle and evolving challenge of the typographic arts. Set rag right, with tight word spacing, it is a model of composition. The text, like most of Gill's, is exasperating, exorbitant, and exciting. But Gill was, above all, a craftsman, whose work always reflected his philosophy and whose hand always followed his moral convictions.

Genres: Design, Nonfiction, Art, History, Essays, Writing, Art Design

133 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1931

About the author

Arthur Eric Rowton Gill ARA was an English sculptor, typeface designer, and printmaker, who was associated with the Arts and Crafts movement.

Reviews

[Leonard Houx · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you, like me, expected this little book to provide an extended meditation on typography, you'd be disappointed.

Rather, 3/4ths of Eric Gill's On Typography comprises an empty, monotonous homily on the relationship between industry and craft. I patiently waited for Gill to say something interesting, at least, about the relationship between industry and craft or, perhaps, meaningfully connect the topic into his discussion about typography, but no.

In the smaller part where Gill does discuss typography, there were some interesting tidbits, like when Gill describes the relationship between majuscule and minuscule letters (many Roman miniscules are stolen from majuscules) and I enjoyed his pitch for a shorthand type in the end. But this short book's tiny glimmers of non-tiresomeness are not enough to recommend it.

[Kaat Vandenbroeck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heel erg getekend door de tijd waarin het geschreven is, enerzijds interessant om te spiegelen aan de eigen tijd, anderzijds wel gewoon achterhaald intussen. Gill heeft ook veel meningen waar ik het niet per sé mee eens ben, maar het zet een mens aan het denken…

[Pat McGroin · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a book that was supposed to be about fonts, there’s a lot of interesting commentary on the political and economic state of Britain in the 30s which was probably more interesting than the in depth description of how new printing presses work. Nonetheless good read

[Mind the Book · Rating 4 out of 5]

Någonsin satt något i Gill Sans? Eric Gill. Från Brighton.

Först oväntat politisk ton, som en nutida Maker Movement-Chomsky! I kommande kapitel tänker jag på Rilkes ord "I am learning to see." Till slut talar Herr Gill om det jag trodde att hela manifestet handlade om, typsnitt:

"There are now about as many different varieties of letters as there are different kind of fools. I myself am responsible for designing five different sorts of sans-serif letters - each one thicker and fatter than the last because every advertisement has to try and shout down its neighbours."

[M. Azhaari Shah Sulaiman · Rating 4 out of 5]

a brief history of typography from ancient times to current days. The author did mention about the lost of art in typography and strokes because of mass production which I beg to differ.

[Bram van der Heijde · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a book on typography, I found this essay surprisingly badly typeset... interesting read, but I thought it was not really to the point.

[Antonia Faccini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Del creador de la fuente tipográfica Gill Sans, un ensayo que intenta abordar el problema de la industrialización a través de la construcción de la tipografía en Inglaterra. Realmente lúcido, muy ambicioso y, en ocasiones, disperso.

[Kushev · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is a snapshot of the state of typography in England in 1931 - as the book states on its first page, much of the information and debate in it may seem outdated. While that’s true, Eric Gill shares some universally applicable thoughts regarding the relation between man and machine.

“By their fruits men know one another, but by their sufferings they are what they are. And suffering is not merely the endurance of physical or mental anguish, but of joy also. A rabbit caught in a trap may be supposed to suffer physical anguish: but it suffers nothing else. The man crucified may be supposed to suffer physical & mental anguish, but he suffers also intense happiness and joy. The industrialist workman is often simply as a rabbit in a trap; the artist is often as a man nailed to a cross.” (84, Gill)

Gill argues that man is inherently irrational, and would search for the irrational no matter the precise, but seemingly soulless, offer by industry.

[Isabella Madarász · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book give us an interesting perspective on the typography from the 1930.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting little time capsule revealing the tension between industrialisation and the 'humane' (as Gill calls it) of the 1930s. Gill, being of the arts and crafts movement, lands on the side of the humane, but still allows for mechanical forms (he was the designer of Gill Sans, afterall). Some of these thoughts are still relevant to us of course, and his philosophical asides and general comments are fascinating. The typesetting of the book (set in Gill's own Joanna type) is a design artifact in itself. The 'essay' goes here there and everywhere, loosely tied together by the subject of type and lettering. Then, at the end, Gill - one of the most famous names in typography - goes on a rant against Roman type, out of the blue, and out of left field, strongly suggesting that we should abandon our current alphabet and writing system in favour of shorthand... It's almost as if in this last movement of the book, the modernist in him bursts out in this arch-modernist gesture. But if the biography of the man is anything to go by, he always was a ball of conflicts and tensions erupting in various directions. A sudden outburst in favour of modernism is the least of it.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

not quite the typographical romp i was guessing at when i decided to read it. this book was a real object of desire from the moment i saw a poster of a quote from it: IF YOU LOOK AFTER GOODNESS AND TRUTH BEAUTY WILL TAKE CARE OF ITSELF. but gill is petty, odd, a little paranoid (or maybe just realistic) about the advent of machine-generated printing, and above all exacting.

most fascinating in the perspective it gives (from the 1930s forward) on the changing ways we spend our time, our changing relationship with the act of creation, and what technology gives us and costs us.

totally random chapter at the end about dispensing with letter-type completely in favour of an official shorthand. manifestos are always a little funny and heartbreaking after eighty+ years.

[Pinar Emirdag · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about much more than typography - first published in 1931.

[Chris Powers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gill Sans is the official font at my workplace, and I am the person responsible for enforcing its use by all the staff. It’s a beautiful modernist font which I love seeing, second only in my heart to Futura, the story of which is fascinating!

It is with that then that after months of passing by this essay in Waterstones I finally succumbed and bought it. I’ve still yet to read about the controversies of Eric Gill’s life, but one thing is clear from this essay and that is how catty and disdainful he can be - to the point that you can laugh out loud reading it.

His essay has already made me look at the world in a different way, seeing and perceiving writing with more understanding than before. In the church in Saffron Walden, I marvelled at a recently carved C and its rendering in Times New Roman, while criticising the medieval writer font used on a stained glass window which was barely legible. Gill has given me the insight and some of the vocabulary to be able to judge writing on its style and form, not just its content.

There are some beautiful quotes on beauty, and on story telling which will stick with me. And the essay ends with a provocative suggestion regarding the future of lettering and the use of shorthand, which I seem to find myself broadly in agreement with!

I recommend the read. It doesn’t take long, there’s a laugh to be had here and there, and guaranteed you’ll look at the world around you a little differently afterwards.

[ik.ben.henri · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I had read this during my Visual Design studies.

Many reviews on Goodreads complain that this book is too broad and criticize the relationship it draws between industrialization and art, or craft. The essay, they say, focuses too much on the industrialization of the 19th and early 20th centuries and the rise of the machine and the modern factory, straying from the subject of “typography.” But precisely by placing everything in relation to one another, the author conveys, clearly and concisely, why letters are shaped the way they are and what those shapes are meant to serve.

The book is not a time capsule, as some reviewers here say. Despite the connections it makes and the spirit of the age in which it was written, it carries a timeless message. Replace the theme factory and industry with IT and artificial intelligence, and you arrive at a similar analogy—but the message about art, skill, craft, and the design of letters remains timelessly the same.

[Costaches · Rating 4 out of 5]

Эссе — срез метафорического грунта истории. Мы читаем мысли человека определённого времени, в определённой экономической и социальной среде, поэтому его размышления как-то даже документальны. Конечно же, лучше сначала подготовиться, просмотреть, прочитать, понять время, в котором писал Гилл. Я, к сожалению, не успел и прочитал его без подготовки, благо, что были дополнительные статьи, которые дополняли и объясняли мне непонятое.

Книга свёрстана до слёз в глазах аккуратно и с душой, что неимоверно помогает чтению. Задумываешся, что, из-за печати 90-х уже как-то отвык от добротной вёрстки.

[Daniel Zonneveld · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uma boa forma de acompanhar a visão de um grande Tipógrafo do início do século XX. 100 anos desde então e observar que muito do que ele criticava à época, contra o excessivo industrialismo, observa-se sob postura similar em relação à excessiva digitalização. Mais do que abolir o status quo, refletir porque chegamos a esta percepção de arte, e se vale a pena continuar por esse caminho. Isso e muitas dicas valiosas na composição de livros.

[Andrew Iyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first two or three chapters are an excellent discussion on the modernisation of design, and interesting for, at least this layperson. The remaining chapters, say 70% of the book, are very much focused on typography and at best, very boring.
Oddly, Gill puts forward requirements for margins and page sizes that are completely ignored in this books layout.
The first third or so is beautifully, furiously written however, to the point of being enlightening. Worth it for that, and that alone.

[JoAnna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Three-line review: Written in 1931, this extended essay explains and defends the nuances of typography in the face of industrialization. I most enjoyed the sections discussing what constitutes a letter and how letters come to be symbols that eventually become words with meaning. Unfortunately, despite my interest in the topic, I found most of the piece to be fairly boring.

[Ray LaManna · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are ever interested in how letters and laid out on a page and the history of printmaking, this classic essay is the book for you. It is very easy to read with many good illustrations from a master printer. A bit dated in spots since it was written in 1931... but still enlightening.

[Fred Collman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The more the human race is degraded by industrialism, the larger is the market for inferior articles; in order to reach a larger and still larger number of buyers you produce a lower and still lower quality of goods.

[JASON LEMPIERI · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s a lot of ranting and not much on the state of actual typography. Although, it does cover the art form from all angles-historically, the letters, the paper, the printers, Etc. Gill was an odd character-see Just my Type for more on that.

[Msr2d2 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ewidentnie niedzisiejsze.

Esej o typografii niemal już wiekowy. Co widać na każdej prawie stronie i w niejednym poglądzie autora. Przeczytać się da, ale jedynie jako ciekawostkę z historii o technicznych zabawach tekstem.

[Sally Kintz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This little book is well written and filled with gems about printing and typography. I highly recommend it to graphic designers and typographers. You'll enjoy Gill's quirkyness and thoughtful ideas about layout and type.

[Jono · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some super thought provoking and entertaining stuff and some dry repetition. But definitely worth it for half of the chapters and the final one. I learned some things.

[Akshat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Monotonous! Probably you can skip.

[Joseph Pearce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting, short but thought provoking read. Probably important to keep in mind the time it was written.

[Alana · Rating 1 out of 5]

What can I say I have never read something more boring hahaha

[Krollo · Rating 3 out of 5]

First section is interesting, but the actual technicalities are unsurprisingly a little more dull. (Read off a phone-screen by a lake in Southern France, at the height of the dog days.)

[Saprila · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’t just wow. I was so captivated with every chapter, with every first sentences starts, it’s already blew my mind.

[Kate McGhee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Baffling and pedantic ravings.