Book Hunting

This weekend I enjoyed one of my favorite pastimes--book hunting! I'm constantly on the lookout for inspiring printed material and books are the best source for a quick fix. Chamblin's Book Mine here in Jacksonville has tons to peruse. This time I picked up four great books--Packaging Source Book from Robert Opie, Dover's Pictorial Archive of Printer's Ornaments as well as Modern Monograms, and Typology from Stephen Heller and Louise Fili.

Packaging Source Book is a visual guide to a century of packaging design and has a multitude of examples dating as far back as the 1800's. Nothing gets me going like antique graphic design. Color schemes and typography from previous eras are really something to be admired. I recommend picking this book up if you have a soft spot for anything vintage or antique.

Dover's Pictorial Archive books are always fun to look at. They have collections of differently styled alphabets, calligraphic ornaments, borders, numbers, and anything else a person interested in print design would be interested in. Their Pictorial Archive of Printers Ornaments from the Renaissance to the 20th Century doesn't disappoint. It's full of beautiful scratchboard illustrations and detailed borders, headers, floral arrangements, and various other decorative elements, to be very broad about its contents. It's a great source of inspiration and useful for appropriation since its all royalty-free!

Modern Monograms is full of beautiful letterforms, ligatures and symbols. It will be a book I turn to, I'm sure, when struggling to create a new identity or type style.

Typology takes you through the history of type design from the Victorian Era to the Digital Age. Another great look-book, but also informative in content, it guides you through the evolution of type as it pertains to the art movement of the time. So many influential examples from well-known designers from each period. Even quickly flipping through the pages gives you a pretty good overview of type's progression. An appreciable book for the type-lover.