Five Hundred Years of Book Design

by Alan Bartram

What decisions lie behind the way a book is designed? How are readers of books helped or hindered by the choices that a designer, publisher, or printer has made in presenting an author's text to its intended audience? Are there any lessons we can learn from a study of the books that have been produced in previous centuries?
In this illustrated volume, Alan Bartram, a distinguished book designer and typographer, answers many of these questions and provides his personal view of some of the successes and failures of his predecessors. He looks with fresh eyes at a varied range of books published in western Europe and America in the last half-millennium, concerning himself in particular with readability, function, and clarification of meaning. He also discusses how different elements of text, decoration, and illustration were combined in the layout of the printed page, and he comments on whether the resultant design is successful.
Concisely written and handsomely produced, this visual history of book design and production is intended for a wide audience - students of graphic design and the history of the book, bibliophiles, collectors, and all who are interested in the visual communication of ideas.

Genres: Design, Books About Books, Nonfiction, History

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Sharon Barrow Wilfong · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought the descriptions were too critical and after a while I stopped reading them and just enjoyed looking at the scripts. There are a couple hundred pages of various printing fonts and scripts starting from when books first went to press with several examples from each century. The last part shows various book covers and title pages.

[Wendelle]

An exhibition and evaluation of book pages demonstrating how design has evolved over 500 years of print, in terms of selections in ornamental borders, headings, flowery titles, margin sizes, woodcut fonts, spacing, etc. The author has bold opinions and does not hold back from proclaiming his aversions to some pages, with verdicts of running insults such as 'awkward', 'disconcerting', 'unattractive', 'neurotically placed' and 'follows a dying formula without understanding or conviction'

[Derek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! The author looks at book designs that have been considered landmarks of the past and reconsiders them through a contemporary point of view. The writing style was always engaging and entertaining, even though he managed to successfully slaughter some of my design heroes, most notably William Morris and Bruce Rogers. I didn't always agree with the author's assessments, but mostly I thought he had well-thought-out analysis and I admired that he wasn't afraid to kill some sacred cows.

[H James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apparently the secret title is Five Hundred Years of Book Design; or, Hanging in the British Library Archives with Your Most Delightfully Judgemental Friend. Even when Mr Bartram (may I call him Alan after all the fun we had together?) can’t stop griping about every single unnecessary full stop in pre-nineteenth-century running heads, it’s never annoying—just increasing hilarious.

Monotype’s miskerned ‘f’ severely blemishes the overall æsthetic, but the book is beautifully designed otherwise.

[Ania Gaska · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best way to learn something visual is by having a look at it and talking about why it's good and bad, and it's especially fun when the teacher talking about it is as opinionated as this one. I am glad I read an introduction to the history of book making before I read this because I would have been confused without that background. There are some gorgeous books in here, and some baffling ones. It is very fun reading along with Bartram as he doles out all that sass.

[Evan · Rating 3 out of 5]

a great selection of designs partially ruined by the author's opinions, needless tirades against william morris among others.

[Abrahamus · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't exactly read this one cover-to-cover, but probably got most of it. Interesting and amusing deconstructionist take on revered printers and book designers from the Renaissance up through the 20th century. I found myself by turns agreeing and disagreeing with his various potshots.