A Tally of Types, with Additions by Several Hands

by Stanley Morison, Brooke Crutchley (Editor)

The Tally of Types was first circulated in a privately printed edition in 1953, achieving a fame and influence wholly disproportionate to the comparatively small number of copies in existence. In 1973 Cambridge University Press published a version edited and expanded by Brooke Crutchley and others, making this classic of typographical history and practice available to a wider readership; it is this edition we have reprinted here. Stanley Morison provided the impetus and judgement behind the programme of typographical revival carried through by the Monotype Corporation in the 1920s and early 1930s. The Tally is an account, historical, critical and functional, of the types cut under Morison's direction during this period. It is an impressive performance: a fine example of what is now recognised as Morison's characteristic blend of erudition and insight. What started as no more than an attempt to record the facts developed, under his hand, into one of the major statements of typographical practice of its time.

150 pages, Paperback

First published June 7, 1973

Reviews

[spoko · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides a great insight into the history and design of type, and quite a bit of the commentary is useful even today. Morison is well known, of course, for the Times New Roman face - and there is a section in the book on that face. But his commentary on the designing of faces like Plantin and Bembo is much more interesting, if you ask me. Also, if you are at all a fan of Eric Gill, you will like the section on Perpetua and Felicity. Anyone interested in the history of type should have this book, that much is certain.