You’ll be able to do better typesetting

Learn the basics of Latin alphabet typesetting and typography from the ground up

“Your typesetting will never be the same after reading this book.”

The Latin Alphabet Typesetting Guidebook is, as its subtitle says, “everything you need to know about Latin alphabet typesetting.” The author, Takaoka Masao, follows in the footsteps of his father and mentor, Takaoka Juzo, and runs Kazui Kobo, a letterpress shop that uses metal type in the Latin alphabet, and here he brings together all of the typesetting and typographic knowledge he inherited from his father. Students and designers have been coming in and out of the shop since his father’s time, and now you can see it in one book.

The book starts with the basics and progresses through exercises and solutions, shows examples of how to improve common mistakes in Latin alphabet typesetting, and introduces good typesetting from abroad. As evidenced by the fact that this book has become a standard textbook for typesetting the Latin alphabet with numerous testimonials from students, his typesetting know-how in letterpress is also useful in the DTP era of typesetting with digital fonts. In fact, learning the history and fundamentals will make you a more solid typesetter. As you follow the flow of this book, as if you were actually taking a lecture, you’ll find yourself typesetting English in a way that will never be the same again. “Now, let’s do some real typesetting.”