Books & Publications - Canadian Typography Archives

A Colonial Advocate

The Launching of his Newspaper and the Queenston Career of William Lyon MacKenzie

On May 18, 1824 a ‘grocer, druggist and haberdasher,’ William Lyon MacKenzie, launched the Colonial Advocate in Queenston, Ontario. Little more than a decade la...

1999

Chris Raible

A Dictionary of Toronto Printers, Publishers, Booksellers and the Allied Trades, 1798—1900

A bibliographic record of 19th-century Toronto printers, publishers, and booksellers. Includes a chronology of key events, a bibliography, and illustrated refer...

1982

Elizabeth Hulse

A Lettering Text

Author Sydney H. Watson (1911–1981) joined the Ontario College of Art (OCA) in 1946 and became its principal in 1955. This book is the culmination of his many y...

1960

Sydney H. Watson, R.C.A.

A Typographic Quest, Number 1

In 1964 Carl Dair began a new series of booklets for Westvaco called A Typographic Quest. The title of the first issue became the name of the series – and it al...

1964

Carl Dair

A Typographic Quest, Number 2, Display Types

In the second issue of the A Typographic Quest series, Carl Dair examines display types – the typefaces that, arguably, are the first to catch a reader’s eye. B...

1965

Carl Dair

A Typographic Quest, Number 3, Type to be Read

Carl Dair argued that style is not always the most important factor when choosing a text face. Instead, it is the way the type is set and arranged on the page t...

1965

Carl Dair

A Typographic Quest, Number 4, The Organization of Space

For Carl Dair, the choice of typeface, its size, and even its colour can all be compromised if these elements are not properly placed within the space we call a...

1966

Carl Dair

A Typographic Quest, Number 5, Typographic Contrast

In the fifth booklet of the A Typographic Quest series, Carl Dair explores the various forms of contrast in typography. He begins by drawing a parallel between ...

1967

Carl Dair

A Typographic Quest, Number 6, Etcetera

Etcetera simply means ‘and the rest’– a phrase used to indicate additional items too numerous to mention. Carl Dair likely chose this title because, in this fin...

1968

Carl Dair

Advanced Typography

From Knowledge to Mastery

This book takes a practical approach to typography, integrating visual, linguistic, historical, and psychological principles and applying them across the broad ...

2020

Richard Hunt

Atlantic Canadian Imprints, 1801–1820: A Bibliography

The first comprehensive analytical bibliography of Atlantic Canadian imprints, this volume documents approximately 320 books, pamphlets, broadsides, government ...

1991

Patricia Lockhart Fleming

Canadian Book of Printing

How printing came to Canada and the story of the graphic arts, told mainly in pictures

Toronto Public Libraries and The 500th Anniversary Committee Commemorating the Invention of the Art of Printing from Movable Types. Chapters include: Printing C...

1940

Carl Dair & the Cartier Typeface

Selected correspondence

This collection assembles all the known correspondence of Canadian typographer and type designer Carl Dair (1912–67) concerning the conception, development and ...

2017

Carl Dair

DA 62, A Journal of the Printing Arts

Allan Fleming’s Many Worlds

DA 62 focuses on the design career of Allan Fleming. The articles include Allan Fleming’s Many Worlds: Making Design History in Canada by Martha Fleming, A Brie...

2008

DA 63, A Journal of the Printing Arts

In Allan Fleming’s Archive

DA 63 articles include: Allan Fleming at Home: A Partial Reconstruction by Martha Fleming. Nine Months to Make or Break Canadian Magazine Design: Allan Fleming ...

2008

Design for Printing

A guide to typographic design

The second in Carl Dair’s series for E.B. Eddy Company. In eight chapters, it summarizes fundamental typography design principles with practical examples, aimed...

1947

Carl Dair

Design with Type, first edition

Design with Type was the first book in English to deal with type as a design material. It was also the first book to discuss typographic design in a contemporar...

1952

Carl Dair

Design with Type, second edition

The second, and best-known, edition of Design with Type remains an essential resource for students of typography. Dair guides the reader through a structured st...

1967

Carl Dair

Drawing on Type

Drawing on Type tells the life story of one of Canada’s most colourful typographic characters – Frank Newfeld (1928–2021), a designer, illustrator and storytell...

2008

Frank Newfeld

Epistles to the Torontonians

With articles from Canadian Printer & Publisher

In 1956, Carl Dair received a grant to apprentice at the Dutch type foundry Enschedé under master letter engraver Paul Rädisch. During his time in Europe, Dair ...

2015

Carl Dair

Great Canadian Posters

Selected by Theo Dimson

This book showcases forty Canadian posters personally selected by graphic designer Theo Dimson as his favourites. Spanning more than a century, the collection p...

1979

History of the Book in Canada, Volume 1, Beginnings to 1840

In 1997, a team of historians, librarians, and literary scholars from across Canada joined the growing global movement to study print culture on a national scal...

2004

History of the Book in Canada, Volume 2, 1840-1918

Volume Two of The History of the Book in Canada continues the landmark study of Canadian book and print culture, covering the period from 1840 to the end of the...

2005

History of the Book in Canada, Volume 3, 1918-1980

The third and final volume of The History of the Book in Canada traces the evolution of book history and print culture from the end of the First World War to 19...

2007

Howarth & Smith’s New Standards for the Printed Word

A guide to better typographic communication

Advertising agencies, large corporations, and design studios maintained their own style guides for setting type. Major type shops also had their own standards, ...

1968

Carl Brett

Ink, Paper, Lead, Board, Leather, Thread

An exhibition of hand-printed books and fine bindings

A catalogue for an exhibition showcasing the work of eleven Ontario artists, artisans, and designers working in the book arts. The Loving Society of Letterpress...

2002

The Loving Society of Letterpress Printers and The Binders of Infinite Love

J. E. H. MacDonald: Designer

The design work of Group of Seven painter J.E.H. MacDonald was not only central to his artistic development but also deeply intertwined with Toronto’s graphic d...

1996

Robert Stacey and Hunter Bishop

Lettering manual

The Shaw Correspondence School’s Commercial Design booklet, Lesson VI

The Shaw Correspondence School taught commercial art and lettering by mail in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Notable staff included Group of Seven co-f...

1913

J. E. H. MacDonald

Ocean, Paper, Stone

The catalogue of an exhibition of 100 years of literary publishing in British Columbia

A catalogue chronicling 100+ years of literary publishing in British Columbia, compiled by Robert Bringhurst and published by William Hoffer. It documents liter...

1984

Robert Bringhurst

Pen, Paper & Printing Ink

Andrew King (1885–1981) founded King Show Print in Rouleau, Saskatchewan, in 1915. This book serves, in part, as a tribute to the remarkable individuals who bec...

1970

Andrew King

Reader, Lover of Books, Lover of Heaven

A 1978 catalogue from North York Public Library documenting Ontario private presses, bookbinding, and papermaking. Lists over 100 works, offering a detailed rec...

1978

David B. Kotin, Marilyn Rueter

Spacing

The fourth E. B. Eddy booklet on type and paper, Carl Dair explores how space shapes letters and meaning. He shows how spacing is as vital as stems and strokes ...

1954

Carl Dair

Specimen of Printing Types and Ornaments in use at the Printing Office of Lovell & Gibson

St. Nicholas Street, Montreal

Nineteenth-century Canadian type specimen books are rare, as few printers of the time had a sufficient variety of typefaces to justify printing more than a sing...

1847

Technology and Canadian Printing: A History from Lead Type to Lasers

Transformation Series 3

This book is divided into four sections, reflecting four major periods of technological change: From Workshop to Factory, 1751–1880; Hand and Craft, 1880–1920; ...

1995

Bryan Dewalt

The Art of the Printer

Being a collection of random notes & observations on the art & practice of typography as set down by Carl Dair

The Art of the Printer, the final booklet in Carl Dair’s series for E.B. Eddy, highlights the evolving role of printers as designers. Features innovative foldou...

1956

Carl Dair

The Canadian Poster Book

100 years of the poster in Canada

The first full-length examination of Canadian poster art. The Canadian Poster Book grew out of Robert Stacey’s experience as manager of a Toronto poster gallery...

1978

Robert Stacey

The E. B. Eddy Handbook of Printing Production

A significant update to the 1952 edition, this volume focused on phototypesetting and offset printing, as well as alternative printing methods such as silk-scre...

1967

The E. B. Eddy Handbook of Printing Production

(second revised edition)

This volume is a comprehensive revision of the 1944 Handbook of Production. Paper companies produced these handbooks as practical guides for printers and design...

1952

Carl Dair

The Elements of Typographic Style

Typographer and poet Robert Bringhurst brings clarity to the art of typography in this masterful style guide. Combining practical, theoretical, and historical p...

1992

Robert Bringhurst

The Gutenberg Galaxy

The Making of Typographic Man

First published in 1962, The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man is Marshall McLuhan’s influential analysis of mass media’s impact – particularly th...

1967

Marshall McLuhan

The Use of Grayscale for Improved Character Presentation

A thesis submitted for the degree of doctor of philosophy in the Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto, March 1991. To measure character quality...

1991

Avi C. Naiman

The measure of typography

A reprint of a previous issue from Provincial Paper based on a series of lectures held at The Ontario College of Art during 1957–58. The lectures covered variou...

1965

Type & Paper

A handbook of contemporary type on contemporary paper

The first in Carl Dair’s five-booklet series for E.B. Eddy Paper. Covers five key typeface classifications—Old Style, Modern, Sans Serif, Square Serif, and Call...

1946

Carl Dair

Type Book

Type Specimen Book of Cooper & Beatty

The first Cooper & Beatty type specimen book was issued while they were still operating out of Noble Scott Printers. Buyers of typesetting required good specime...

1927

Cooper & Beatty, Limited

Type Talks

A handbook of typography

After WWII, Canadians sought a better future, needing the right tools. In this 24-page booklet, Carl Dair explains typefaces and typography, covering classifica...

1948

Carl Dair

A Colonial Advocate

A Dictionary of Toronto Printers, Publishers, Booksellers and the Allied Trades, 1798—1900

A Lettering Text

A Typographic Quest, Number 1

A Typographic Quest, Number 2, Display Types

A Typographic Quest, Number 3, Type to be Read

A Typographic Quest, Number 4, The Organization of Space

A Typographic Quest, Number 5, Typographic Contrast

A Typographic Quest, Number 6, Etcetera

Advanced Typography

Atlantic Canadian Imprints, 1801–1820: A Bibliography

Canadian Book of Printing

Carl Dair & the Cartier Typeface

DA 62, A Journal of the Printing Arts

DA 63, A Journal of the Printing Arts

Design for Printing

Design with Type, first edition

Design with Type, second edition

Drawing on Type

Epistles to the Torontonians

Great Canadian Posters

History of the Book in Canada, Volume 1, Beginnings to 1840

History of the Book in Canada, Volume 2, 1840-1918

History of the Book in Canada, Volume 3, 1918-1980

Howarth & Smith’s New Standards for the Printed Word

Ink, Paper, Lead, Board, Leather, Thread

J. E. H. MacDonald: Designer

Lettering manual

Ocean, Paper, Stone

Pen, Paper & Printing Ink

Reader, Lover of Books, Lover of Heaven

Spacing

Specimen of Printing Types and Ornaments in use at the Printing Office of Lovell & Gibson

Technology and Canadian Printing: A History from Lead Type to Lasers

The Art of the Printer

The Canadian Poster Book

The E. B. Eddy Handbook of Printing Production

The E. B. Eddy Handbook of Printing Production

The Elements of Typographic Style

The Gutenberg Galaxy

The Use of Grayscale for Improved Character Presentation

The measure of typography

Type & Paper

Type Book

Type Talks

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