One of the most peculiar classes of lierature in the 19th century was the specimen book, issued by typefounders to show the styles of type available for sale. This entertaining survey combines typographic scholarship and literary criticism to discuss hundreds of examples of text, from the arcane to the mundane and the texts can be read with a poetic as well as a typographic sensibility.

Alphabets to Order: The Literature of Nineteenth-Century Typefounders' Specimens

Literature & Fiction

Johnston, Alastair

Literary

British Library Board

A Bibliography of the White Rabbit Press

Reference

Writing, Research & Publishing Guides

Poltroon Pr

Musing on the Vernacular

Cultural Writing. This bibliography tells the story of ZEPHYRUS IMAGE, a Northern California press operated through the nineteen-seventies that was the brainchild of Holbrook Teter and Michael Myers. With their own idiosyncratic methods they produced subversive, anarchic works of great wit and elegance that lampooned the foolish. Poets Ed Dorn and Tom Raworth were strongly allied with them, and they published a varied and eclectic range of work from such authors as Robert Creely, Joanne Kyger, Fielding Dawson, Robert Bly, Lucia Berlin, Gary Snyder, Stan Brakhage and William T. Wiley.

Zephyrus Image: A Bibliography

Biographies & Memoirs

Poltroon Press

Cultural Writing. Essays. "This is the book I've been waiting for. I've spent years tracking down Johnston's essays, photocopying them from magazines, stapling, stacking, and unstacking. Now, here they are. [ELLIPSIS] ... is drawn from a variety of ephemeral publications on subjects dear to the heart and concerns of Johnston. Where else can you find a collection that thoughtfully reflects on an ensemble as eclectic as Basil Bunting, Joanne Kyger, Lucia Berlin, Bob Grenier, Darrell Gray, H.N. Werkman, W.A. Dwiggins, Wallace Berman, Asa Benveniste, and Jack Kerouac?"--Kyle Schlesinger.

... (Ellipsis)

History & Criticism

Literary Nonfiction. Book Arts. Poetry History &amp; Criticism. Conducted over the course of four decades, HANGING QUOTES is a landmark oral history project comprised of nineteen interviews with pioneer book artists, typographers, and poets. Alastair Johnston's thoughtful questions evoke fascinating new stories and information from luminaries as diverse as Nicolas Barker and Robert Creeley. He discusses the transition from cast metal to digital type with the prime movers in the field: Matthew Carter, Sumner Stone, and Fred Smeijers; and he takes stock of the field of artists' books in wide-ranging conversations with Sandra Kirshenbaum and Joan and Nathan Lyons, while his groundbreaking interviews with Dave Haselwood, Holbrook Teter, Bob Hawley, Walter Hamady, and Graham Mackintosh shed new light on the history of the book in the 20th century.

Hanging Quotes: Talking Book Arts, Typography and Poetry

Poetry

Cuneiform Press

Specimen books issued by typefounders to show their styles of type available for sale also revealed a lot about the reading habits, politics, amusements, and whimsies of the British and North American founders in the nineteenth century. Combining typographic scholarship and literary criticism, Alastair Johnston presents and discusses hundreds of examples of texts that show the founders' interests and preoccupations, from the arcane to the mundane. Co-published with The British Library.

Computers & Technology

Graphics & Design

Oak Knoll Pr

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Johnston, Alastair. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Johnston, Alastair