TYPOGRAPHY 2
Spring 1937
Robert Harling [Editor] with James Shand and Ellic Howe
Robert Harling [Editor] with James Shand and Ellic Howe: TYPOGRAPHY 2. London: The Shenval Press, 1937. Original Quarterly Spring 1937 issue. Published in an edition of 1,200 copies. A very good or better softcover magazine with original publishers plasti-coil (ie. revolutionary French Plastoic) binding: the Plastoic binding is soiled and upper corner bumped. A truly rare publication, seldom offered.
9 x 11 softcover book with plasti-coil binding and 48 pages of avant-garde typographic design from England, circa 1937. The good folks at Bloomsbury's Shenval Press were fighting to bring the international revolution in New Typography to England's sheltered shores in the 1930s. An excellent keepsake and snapshot from the trenches in the battle between Art and Trade in the typsetting industry.
This edition of Typography includes maximum-quality letterpress printing on a variety of paper stocks, as well as tipped-in plates of museum exhibitions, slug printing and uncut sheets of Tram tickets. A phenomenal production that comes with my highest recommendation.
- Shell Guide to Typography by John Betjeman with 2-tipped in samples
- Typefounding and Typsetting by Ellic Howe
- Features for Two Millions by John Rayner with bound-in newspaper apges
- The Honour of Your Company... by Anthony Bellarticle on the design of invitations to art exhibits with tipped-in examples for shows by Edvard Munch, Francisco Bores, Pablo Picasso, and Man Ray.
- Slug by James Shand 4 tipped-in examples
- Tram Ticket Typography by J. C. Allsop with bound-in sheets of tram tickets.
- The Work of Feliks Topolski by Molly Fordham
- Typographical Inset, Specimens and Reviews
Here is the Publisher's Manifesto for Typography " The Sponsors of Typography believe that fine book production is not the only means of typographical expression or excitement. We believe, in fact, that a bill-head can be as aesthetically pleasing as a Bible, that a newspaper can be as typographically arresting as a Nonesuch." Sounds good to me.
According to Rick Poynor, Herbert Spencer often spoke of the importance of Harling and Shand's Typography -- Jan Tschichold's article on Type Mixtures in the third issue had a decisive influence on his eventual direction (Poynor: TYPOGRAPHICA. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2002. page 15.)