Studio Books, London, 1963 | Softcover, 96pp | 16.5 x 19.5 cm | First Edition
One of the essential mid-century surveys of typographic form and its evolution from the co-founder of Studio International. Written at a moment when modernist principles had fully entered British graphic design, the book explores the origins of typographic communication in the 19th century, the shifting influences of the early 20th-century avant-garde and the breaking of traditional rules in postwar design.
Illustrated with examples ranging from Victorian display types to Constructivist and De Stijl experiments, from Kurt Schwitters' collages to contemporary exercises by students at the Royal College of Art and Plymouth College of Art, the book is both history and manifesto. Lewis frames typography not as static craft but as an expressive system, shaped by social change and technical innovation.
Good vintage condition: Mild surface and edge wear to laminated softovers. Internally clean, unmarked and tightly bound. Pages a little age-tanned. Slight creasing to corners. No inscriptions.
