The Typographic Desk Reference

by Theodore Rosendorf, Ellen Lupton (Foreword)

First edition. The Typographic Desk Reference (aka TDR) is comprised of a thousand facts on the form of Latin-based writing systems. The book includes the following four main Terms - Definitions of format, measurements, practice, standards, tools, and industry lingo; Glyphs -The list of standard ISO and extended Latin characters, symbols, diacritics, marks, and various forms of typographic furniture; Anatomy & Form - Letter stroke parts and the variations of impression and space used in Latin-based writing systems; and Classification & Specimens - An historical line with examples of form from blackletter to contemporary sans serif types. Designed for quick consultation, entries are concise and factual, making it handy for the desk. Its foreword is written by Ellen Lupton.

Genres: Design, Reference, Nonfiction, Art Design

152 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2008

Reviews

[H James · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is largely a glossary, with terms and their definitions provided in alphabetical order, but it’s unnecessarily difficult to navigate because it’s also divided by concept into less‐than‐intuitive sections, one of which is the catchall “Terms”. Even if the reader knows which section a term is likely to be found in, it could be listed under a synonym and there will be no way to find it without the index because Mr Rosendorf has not seen fit to offer redirects. If an alphabetically ordered book is impossible to navigate without the index, something has gone very wrong.

Those willing to use the index liberally will likely find the terminology they seek, but they may come no closer to understanding. Similar terms like ‘drop cap’ and ‘versal’ are impossible to differentiate with the definitions provided, and conceptually related words like ‘denominator’, ‘fraction’, ‘numerator’, ‘solidus’, and ‘virgule’—scattered as they are through the alphabet—are difficult to assemble into a coherent picture. Free online resources will prove to be as reliable as and much less frustrating than Mr Rosendorf’s TDR.