Alphabet Stories

This book is the first Hermann Zapf monograph to be typeset in 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 and he reveals milestones tracing his education in 1930s Germany, his work on forefront of computer-aided typesetting in the 1970s, and 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. We remember reading our copy in bed, staying up all night to finish. (We didn’t have a TV and streaming shows and movies didn’t really work well back when this book came out.)