The Elements of Typographic Style

Robert Bringhurst's masterpiece! Searches for introductory typography texts will find suggestions for Elements. I'm not qualified to review these texts broadly or in comparison to one another but would like to share those points that I particularly enjoyed.

First, the format, the page composition and the typesetting is, of course, wonderful. The book can be read straight through paragraph by paragraph, front to end.. or can be opened randomly and scanned from corner to corner. The sidebars, insets, graphics, tables all stand on the page, balanced with one another, asking to be read.

Second, the writing is clear, succinct, unpretentious and informative. Bringhurst explains the physical and historical elements of type. Definitions are presented in text and also through plentiful examples and diagrams.

Finally, the book, it's full of letters! If you enjoy looking at the night sky to see stars or like looking at words to see letters - Elements is a portable marvel waiting for you.

Elements has the same charm of opinion as the title it riffs on, Strunk and White's "The Elements of Style," and exudes a passion for its topic - an intimacy of the author's long inspection.