A bibliography for people who set type
Six books, and the order to read them in. Two are about printing rather than type, and they are the two that change how you work.
Six books, and an argument about the order.
Start with the one about the tool
Writing and Illuminating and Lettering, Edward Johnston, 1906. Everything since is a footnote to it, and it is the only one on the list that will have you holding a pen by the end of chapter two.
Then the one about the page
The Elements of Typographic Style, Robert Bringhurst. Read the chapter on the measure, then stop and set something, then read the rest.
Then the two about printing
An Introduction to Bookbinding, and any decent trade guide to imposition. Neither is about type at all, and between them they explain more about why books look the way they do than the type books manage.
And two to argue with
The Crystal Goblet, Beatrice Warde — the case for invisible typography, made better than anyone has made it since, and wrong in interesting ways.
Detail in Typography, Jost Hochuli. Short, and about the things this blog is mostly about: the space between letters and the space between lines.