ABZ: More Alphabets and Other Signs

By Julian Rothenstein

Book Overview

Delightfully unpredictable, ABZ is a wonderbook of typography, graphics, and symbols. Julian Rothenstein (creator of our Gift divisions popular Redstone line of cards and calendars) turns his idiosyncratic eye towards eccentric alphabets, emblems, and logos discovered in avant-garde modernist publications and other curious sources. Hundreds of examples of graphic ephemera sit side-by-side in inimitable Redstone fashion, mixing peculiar charm with useful reference in one stunning package. Special features include an amazing alphabet, circa 1926, created from photographs of a dancing woman; original test-types for opticians charts; pages from sign artists manuals; and coolly elegant designs from fin de sicle French, German, Italian, and Czech journals. Nearly all of this rare and beautiful material is reproduced here for the first time since its original publication. An art book like no other, ABZ is a collection of typographic oddities taken to thenext level of appreciation.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0811839818
• ISBN13: 9780811839815
• Release Date: July 2003
• Publisher: Chronicle Books
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 2.29 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 1.0" x 1.0"

Customer Reviews

A magnificent look at history of typography

This is not a book on modern typography, or on modern ad campaigns; it is a wonderful review on the use of typography through the first 50 years of the 20th century.Best of all is that the book itself has a beautiful design and concept, as if it were a book from that era: rounded corners, washed away colours... Therefore, in brief, it is more a book to look at, admire, and enjoy, than a book to work with and get ideas from on a usual basis, as it would happen with other kinds of publications. Me, as a lover of typography, strongly recommend it.