Typography papers was conceived and developed by Paul Stiff at the Department of Typography & Graphic Communication. He edited all the volumes up to 8, apart from volume 3 (edited by Christopher Burke and Sue Walker) and volume 4 (edited by Robin Kinross and Sue Walker). Paul died in 2011. Volume 9 was edited by Eric Kindel and Paul Luna. The Department published volumes 1 to 5 between 1996 and 2003. In 2004 Hyphen Press took over as publisher and issued volumes 6 to 9 between 2005 and 2013. Editing and production remained in the hands of the Department throughout.

Paul Stiff launched Typography papers with his editorial introduction to volume 1 (1996), in which he declared, ‘Whatever else it is claimed to be, typography is design for reading.’ In doing so, he sought to position Typography papers within then-current discussions and debates about cultures of reading, design, and typography, which, as he described them, ranged from the self-satisfied comfortable kind to the self-inflated nouvelle. Typography papers, in its contribution, would instead make a virtue of plainness both in writing and production. And at the risk of ‘interdisciplinary messiness’, it would welcome a ‘variety of positions’ and take a ‘generous view of typographic designing both as a social activity and as a subject of critical enquiry’.

Later, in 2005, with five volumes of Typography papers completed, Paul reflected on the venture in a short text that appeared in Progetto grafico (no. 4/5, 2005). He offered a variation on his editorial in volume 1, now justifying Typography papers (‘because we could not find English-language places which were hospitable to writing seriously, at appropriate length, about our subject’) and expanding on the use of the word ‘typography’ (‘in a much broader and more generous sense than is suggested by its primary use in much of Europe: not just “printing”, but rather “designing language for reading”’). Summarising the editorial mode of operation, Paul wrote: ‘We ask our authors for evidence and reasoned argument; we are unafraid of accusations of pragmatism and empiricism because these are what our subject most needs now; and we are edgily curious about the boundaries between typography and other practices and subjects.’

Each in its own way, the nine volumes of Typography papers aspire to the aims Paul set out, which he pursued himself with commitment, constancy, and vigour.

EK   Reading, October 2021

PDF files available

We are pleased to make available PDF files of articles in volumes 5, 6, and 7 of Typography papers. Our warm thanks to authors (or their representatives) and institutions who have given their permission for online re-publication, and to Hyphen Press for its encouragement and support. We look forward to reconnecting with existing readers and reaching new ones by means of this digital resource.

PDF files of articles in volumes 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, and 9 will be made available in future.

EK   Reading, December 2022

More PDF files available

We are pleased to make available PDF files of articles from volume 9 of Typography papers. Our thanks again to authors (or their representatives) and institutions who have given their permission for online re-publication, and to Hyphen Press for its continued encouragement and support.

EK   Reading, August 2023

Yet more PDF files available

We are pleased to make available PDF files of articles in volumes 1, 2, 3, and 4 of Typography papers. Our thanks once more to authors (or their representatives) and institutions who have given their permission for online re-publication, and to Hyphen Press for its on-going encouragement and support. In the absence of legacy digital page layout files, these PDF files have been made from photographs of pages from disbound volumes.

EK   Reading, April 2024

Reviews and notices

Over the period of its publication, a number of reviews and notices have appeared for Typography papers. They are listed below, in date order.

Michael Rock. 1996. ‘A message you might not hear’ (review of Typography papers 1), Eye, vol. 6, no. 23, winter 1996, pp. 83–4.

Paul Stiff. 2005. ‘Kinneir, Reading e “Typography papers”’, Progetto grafico, no. 4/5, 2005, published together with an Italian translation of Ole Lund, ‘The public debate on Jock Kinneir’s road sign alphabet’, Typography papers 5; published in English as: ‘Kinneir, Reading, “Typography papers”’, Hyphen Press journal.

Paul Shaw. 2007. [Review of] Typography Papers 6, Renaissance Quarterly (Renaissance Society of America), vol. 60, no. 2, summer 2007, pp. 555–7.

Simon Esterson. 2009. ‘The ranged left years’ (notice of Typography papers 8), Eye, vol. 19, no. 74, winter 2009, p. 87.

Paul Shaw. 2010. ‘Remaindered: Typography papers 8’, printmag.com, 25 January 2010. See also: ‘Book review – Typography papers 8’, Shaw*.

Paul Rennie, 2010. [Review of] Modern typography in Britain: graphic design, politics, and society (Typography papers 8), Journal of Design History, vol. 23, issue 4, December 2010, pp. 435–8.

Vaibhav Singh. 2014. ‘On Typography papers 9’, Rosetta Type blog.