Alphabet
Subtitle: the history, evolution, and design of the letters we use today
By: Allan Haley.
Publisher: Watson-Guptill Publications; Watson-Guptill
Published: 1995
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 127
Subjects: Type and type-founding -- History.; Alphabet -- History.; Calligraphy.
First sentence: Most text typefaces can be classified into one of two groups: those with serifs and those without.
Description: In Alphabet, noted author and typographer Allan Haley presents a lively overview of the history and graphic evolution of the Latin alphabet. Within the context of how ancient writing systems dramatically influenced the societies that conceived and adopted them, Haley examines the development of each character from a simple image representing a word or concept to an elegant graphic symbol signifying an individual sound.

Haley then explores how the expressive wealth of contemporary type design reflects the complex history of each letterform. Fascinating accounts of the design development of the ampersand, the Arabic numerals, and punctuation are also included.
Notes: Includes index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction
pagenum: 9; title: A System of Classification
pagenum: 10; title: Typographic Terminology
pagenum: 14; title: The Capital Letters
pagenum: 16; title: The Lowercase Letters
pagenum: 64; title: The Ampersand
pagenum: 102; title: The Numerals
pagenum: 104; title: Punctuation
pagenum: 116; title: Subject Index
pagenum: 124; title: Index to Typefaces
pagenum: 125