An Essay on Typography

Published in 1931, An Essay on Typography has been recognized as a classic and long out of print. It was Gill's only major work on typography, and it remains indispensable for anyone interested in letter forms. This manifesto is not only about letters—their form, fit, and function—it's also about man's role in an industrial society. As Gill wrote later, it was his chief object to describe two worlds: that of industrialism and that of the human workman. His thinking about type is still provocative today; here are the seeds of modern advertising—justified lines, tight word spacing, ample leading. Here too are vintage Gill—polemical as he is practical; just as obsessed by the ends as by the means.