Watching words mo v e / 1962

This little book is now half a century old and I’m surprised it’s still in reasonable condition. I bought a copy of Typographica in 1962 and the book was attached to the magazine by some cord. Five and a half by four and a half inches, printed on an ordinary bond (the show-through is free) in black and using Standard Medium in lots of fun ways.

    The idea started in 1959 with New York designers Robert Brownjohn, Ivan Chermayeff and Tom Geismar (it was actually Brownjohn's idea) compiling a notebook of words that could express their meaning graphically by making small changes to the letters. The book was created using repros of lead set type and probably set by The Composing Room. I always thought it was a clever idea that didn’t need color or lots of typefaces though if the production was more ambitious various printing techniques could have been used: die-cuts, folding, embossing, thermo-glazing, tints of black et cetera.
    Look through the pages and if it grabs you scroll down to the bottom to see how you can get your copy of a recent Chronicle Books reprint.

ISBN 978 0811852142 (originally $10)