New Book on Herman Zapf
“Alphabet Stories” are precisely what Hermann Zapf tells best. Through his 89 years, Zapf has designed over 25 typefaces, including the ubiquitous “Palatino” and “Zapf Dingbats” digital fonts that are included on most computer operating systems; he has illustrated and designed myriad books, and has traveled the world educating calligraphers and graphic designers. RIT Cary Graphic Arts Press of Rochester, New York and Linotype GmbH of Bad Homburg, Germany have now co-published Alphabet Stories — a comprehensive look at Zapf’s accomplishments in the graphic arts.
This book is the first Hermann Zapf monograph to be typeset in the new “Palatino Nova” and “Palatino Sans” digital typefaces issued by Linotype. Written as an anecdotal first-person account, the reader is treated to Zapf’s personal recollections of technical breakthroughs. Zapf reveals milestones tracing his education in 1930s Germany, to his work on forefront of computer-aided typesetting in the 1970s, to the tour de force design of a complex calligraphic font — Zapfino in the late ’90s. Vivid reproductions of Zapf’s calligraphy, production proofs, typographic specimens, and photographs complete the portrait of one of the most prolific designers of our time.
Alphabet Stories, masterfully printed in color on an uncoated cream-colored paper, includes the illustrated narrative, a plate section, a selected bibliography, and a postscript by David Pankow, curator of the Melbert B. Cary, Jr. Graphic Arts Collection, which maintains one of the most comprehensive American archives of Zapf’s work. The English language edition of Alphabet Stories is limited to 300 copies, and is available at https://library.rit.edu/carypress.
Alphabet Stories: A Chronicle of Technical Developments
By Hermann Zapf
RIT Cary Graphic Arts Press, 2007
Case-bound in cloth with foil-stamping, 150 pages; 96 color illustrations, 7.25 x 11 in.
Limited edition, 300 copies
ISBN 978-1-933360-22-5, $50.00
https://library.rit.edu/cary/CP_publications/CP_Zapf.html
