The Natural History of Palatino ⇥ letterology.com

Jennifer Kennard (via Coudal Partners):

The Book Club of California has announced the release of a definitive account of Herman Zapf’s enduring typeface Palatino, written and designed by Canadian poet, historian, linguist, typographer, and book designer, Robert Bringhurst. Published nearly a year after Zapf’s death at age 96, Palatino, The Natural History of a Typeface, explores the evolution of his most ambitious design project; from his original sketches in 1948, to the first trial cutting of Palatino roman at the Stempel Foundry in 1949, and to the last authentic digitally drawn members of the family which Zapf himself carefully supervised just ten years ago.

Palatino is one of my favourite type families; I even used it on this very website at one point. The book isn’t inexpensive, as you can imagine, but it looks absolutely tremendous. It’s going on my wish list.