Calligraphy

This elegantly produced exhibition catalog presents their letter-art from Pen & Graver (1939-41) to designs for digital versions of Diotima (2008); pieces done with broad edge pen as well as ballpoint pen alphabets; manuscript books and book design for print; screen-printed and one-off works; and sketches, specimen sheets, and proofs for metal and digital typefaces (Diotima, Colombine, Optima, and Zapfino). English text. Some introductory text also in Japanese. 

Now Available! 

This book, a companion volume to the Typophile Chapbook About Alphabets (1960, updated 1970), describes Zapf's post-1970 type designs and provides new research on many of the earlier types. In this volume, Jerry Kelly describes the origins and history of numerous Hermann Zapf typefaces including Marconi, ITC Zapf International, Linotype Zapfino, and Zapf Civilité. Kelly also includes new information on the Palatino nova and Optima nova families.

This book rediscovers an important contribution to a popular field of graphic design and suggests that Ismar David's calligraphic book jackets present a viable alternative to the current design approach.

Manuale Zapficum, the new limited edition book, commemorates the ninetieth birthdays of typographers Hermann Zapf and Gudrun Zapf von Hesse through beautiful typeface specimens set in homage to the classic design of Hermann Zapf's masterpiece, his 1968 Manuale Typographicum. The 20 specimen designs in the book are based upon quotes about the couple's oeuvre, each typeset in Zapf faces and letterpress printed by several of the Zapfs' colleagues.

"Spend Your Alphabets Lavishly,"—a quote from Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables—aptly describes the lifework of two principal figures in contemporary graphic arts: Hermann and Gudrun Zapf. The Zapfs' 50-year relationship with Rochester Institute of Technology is feted in this exhibition and catalogue, sponsored by RIT’s Melbert B. Cary, Jr. Graphic Arts Collection. The show presents rare holdings of Zapf materials held at the Cary Collection—the foremost Zapf archive outside of Germany.

Ismar David made his career over a broad spectrum of applied art. His work is exciting, not merely because of its technical excellence, but because it resonates with clarity and color of a distinct and distinctive artistic voice.

Paul Standard named Edward Johnston as "The great exemplar of modern calligraphy, the link between all scribes living and departed." With this auspicious introduction, it is no wonder that Standard became Johnston’s chief benefactor in later years, heading a fund drive to save Johnston from destitution in his infirmity.

All of the short texts, or quotations, reproduced in this book were originally calligraphic embellishments that appeared at the heads of letters written by Hermann Zapf to Paul Standard in the 1940s and '50s. Fifteen such decorations are carefully printed here, accompanied by translations (where necessary) and Zapf's gracious tribute essay to Standard.