84 Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada 396I for Which Sole Credit Is Granted to Claire Prieto

84 Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada 396I for Which Sole Credit Is Granted to Claire Prieto

84 Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada 396I for which sole credit is granted to Claire Prieto. Sylvia Hamilton has made three documentaries, but Francis lists only one. The only African-Canadianfeature film directors, Clement Virgo and Stephen Williams, are absented here, as is Indie filmmaker, Colina Philips. F'ields ofEndless Day, a film written by Frederick Ward, is listed, but not Train ofDreams, which he also penned. The massive Oscar Peterson jazz piano catalogue is reduced here to just four citations, while the slimmer oeuvre of jazz guitarist Nelson Symonds is expunged completely. Ultimately, the "Audio and Visual Material" list is just as patchy and peculiar and Toronto-centric as the "Printed Matter"> catalogue. A former reference librarian at Massey College Library, Ontario Agricultural College, and at the University of Guelph (I959-I994), and now retired and living in Guelph, Ontario, Flora Francis has given her bibliographical career two major "bookends": her twlo lists of works by "West Indians" and "Black" Canadians. Her 1970 compilation is a careful assembly of all then known; the 2000 version constitutes grabs at whatever was at hand. While Francis's first bibliography was an essential research tool, this follow-up is an eccentric one, although fascinating for its insights into one thinker's impressions of the field of African-Canadian materials. Truly, the fundamental benefit ofA Black CanadianBibliography (which Cox calls, rightly, "a labour of love"), is that it highlights the need for comprehensive bibliographies of African-Canadian journalism, dissertations, theses, biographies, art, music, film, et cetera. GEORGE ELLIOTT CLARKE University of Toronto Robert Bringhurst. The Elements of Typographic Style. Second edition. Vancouver: Hartley & Marks, I3999. 350 pp.; $34-95 (paper). ISBN 0-88I79-I32-6. Warren Chappell. A Short History ofthe PrintedWord. Second edition, revised and updated by Robert Bringhurst. Vancouver: Hartley & Marks, I3999. xx, 33 pp.; 932.95 (paper). ISBN 0-88179-I94-7. Robert Bringhurst's Elements ofTypographic Style was first published in 1992 and appeared in a revised and expanded edition in I996. Combining the practical with the philosophical, it has provided a 85 Books in Review / Comptes rendus sound historical basis for designers working in the ever-changing world of digital technology. Not surprisingly, it has become a standard reference work in the field of typographic design. It has been translated into several languages and has been reprinted several times. The current reprint serves as a companion volume to Bringhurst's revision of Warren Chappell's Short History ofthe PrintedWord. Warren Chappellwas born in Richmond, Virginia, in I904. Upon completion of his undergraduate degree at the University of Richmond, he continued his professional studies at the Art Students League of New York and the Colorado Springs Fine Art Center. He also studied in Germany, working with Rudolph Koch in Offenbach and at the Bauer Type Foundry in Frankfurt. Chappell established his own studio, working in New York City for fifteen years and in Norwalk, Connecticut, for another twenty-five years. During these years, he devoted himself to the design and illustration of books, as well as the design of two families of typefaces: Lydian and Trajanus. He wrote and illustrated several books for children, and produced two other books on typographic matters: The Anatomy ofLettering (1935) and The Living Alphabet (1975). In 1978 Chappell moved to Charlottesville, Virginia, as the University of Virginia's artist-in- residence where he died in 3991. The first edition of A Short History of the P)rinted Word was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1970. Chappell had undertaken the project at the instance of several colleagues and had originally expected to work in collaboration with Oscar Ogg. In the event, Ogg had had to withdraw due to other commitments, and the book was written by Chappell alone. The work was intended to provide a recapitulation of the story of Western calligraphy and printing for a lay audience. The text ranged from the formation of the roman alphabet in antiquity to the developments in printing technology in the second half of the twentieth century. Chappell included over zoo illustrations which he considered integral to the text they elucidated. Consequently, the book was printed by offset, so that the illustrations could be shown at the appropriate point in the text. Chappell designed the book, including its cover and dust jacket. In the first edition, it had ample margins and opened readily. It was an attractive and readable book that was reprinted several times. At the time he was writing this book, Chappell recognized that a real revolution in printing in the twentieth century was being brought about by the application of electronic technology. Bringhurst brings the volume up to date by including a chapter on the digital revolution 86 Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada 39hI and the final decades of the twentieth century. But he goes much further than this in his "collaboration" (as he sees it). Bringhurst states that Chappell's "plain elucidations of the complex interactions between humans and materials brought his story of the printed word alive," yet those elucidations have been altered throughout by Bringhurst. In addition, although he claims the design is Chappell's own, the margins are reduced enough to make pages feel cramped. Text and illustrations are often lost in the gutters. The page layouts and openings that Chappell had so carefully crafted are altered. Bringhurst states that he disapproves, in principle, with the practice of revising books of the deceased rather than writing new ones. One wishes he had not broken his rule here. However, copies of the first edition still can be found in the second-hand book market for those who want to appreciate Chappell's text and design as he had intended it to be. MARIE ELENA KOREY Ma;rssey College, University of Toronto John Williams, ed. Irnaging the Early MedievalBible. The Penn S tate Series in the History of the Book. University Park, Penn.: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999. 227 PP-' $75.oo US (hardcover). ISBN 0-27I-01768-6. The relatively fresh source of this book-edited and introduced by John Williams-was a conference entitled "Imaging the Early Medieval Bible" held in I994 at the Department of the History of Art and Architecture at the University of Pittsburgh. Whereas the text is superb and noteworthy, to say the least, the appearance of the book is rather mediocre considering the few (not very convincing) colour plates and mostly black-and-white images of rather poor quality. There is, to be sure, a gap between the quality of text and image, dissimilar to the issues dealt with in the book. Certainly its looks and the hefty price tag of $75 US do not serve to proliferate the splendid contents of this book. Five authors tackle thorny and complex issues which are marked by the authoritative research of most eminent scholars such as Anton Springer, Josef Strzygowski, Charles Rufus Morey, Wilhelm Koehler, and, above all Kurt Weitzmann-encompassing more than one.

View Full Text

Details

  • File Type
    pdf
  • Upload Time
    -
  • Content Languages
    English
  • Upload User
    Anonymous/Not logged-in
  • File Pages
    3 Page
  • File Size
    -

Download

Channel Download Status
Express Download Enable

Copyright

We respect the copyrights and intellectual property rights of all users. All uploaded documents are either original works of the uploader or authorized works of the rightful owners.

  • Not to be reproduced or distributed without explicit permission.
  • Not used for commercial purposes outside of approved use cases.
  • Not used to infringe on the rights of the original creators.
  • If you believe any content infringes your copyright, please contact us immediately.

Support

For help with questions, suggestions, or problems, please contact us