As Ellen Lupton says in Lettering & Type, “Letters are the throbbing heart of visual communication. For all the talk of the death of print and the dominance of the image, written words remain the engine of information exchange. Text is everywhere. It is a medium and a message. It is a noun and a verb.”
Typophilia Press is an evolving space dedicated to a love of typography, whether the product of an immersive life-long career of a type designer or the vernacular hand-painted roadside sandwich board.
It is also a small publishing entity devoted to personal projects, especially those that celebrate type. The first of these was Homage to the Apostrophe. Check back for further developments.
2021 Bronze Winner for
Graphic Design in the 15th International Design Awards
Homage to the Apostrophe
Homage to the Apostrophe is a lighthearted but deadly serious little book that aims to rid the world of “dumb apostrophes” and “dumb quotes.” Through humor and lively design, it addresses not only the proper uses of apostrophes, but how to achieve the correct typographic representation. Touching on the often amusing stories of battles being waged around this controversial punctuation mark, this book is for lovers of good graphic design, as well as for typography and grammar nerds everywhere.
Typophilia Press | 24 pages, perfect bound, 7” x 7”
The Hope Wall
The Hope Wall documents a yearlong public art project in Richmond, Virginia, that addressed the theme of hope in the months leading up to the 2020 presidential election and its aftermath, prompted also by the Black Lives Matter protests on nearby Monument Avenue and the Covid pandemic. The wide array of responses from 145 designers and artists from 20 countries, including a strong Richmond contingent, took the form of posters, four feet by three feet, wheatpasted on an outdoor wall, which rotated every three weeks. In addition to the individual poster designs, the book features numerous installation and process images. The project was organized by Rob Carter, Ashley Kistler, and John Malinoski. Cover image by Dutch graphic designer Max Kisman. Learn more.
Blurb | 162 pages, hardcover, 8” x 10” | $46.45
even my dreams are over a constant state of anxiety
Irene Cooper writes of her collection of poems, “not only might we sing about the dark times, these poems agree, but also laugh as we struggle to find the light switch. with formal variation and sharp, innovative language that toggles from the lyric to the surreal, these poems awaken a new dreamscape in this age of anxiety, not unlike a deep and unexpected conversation with a stranger at a bar or in transit—intimate, funny, darkedged, unsettling, and strangely life-affirming.” Cover design and photo by Margaret Buchanan. Learn more.
Airlie Press | 91 pages, perfect bound, 6” x 9” | $18
Belonging: Short Stories from Pangyrus
“This vibrant, eclectic, altogether surprising collection reminds me of all the reasons I love short stories.” —Jennifer Haigh, author of Mercy Street
Belonging: Short Stories from Pangyrus, edited by Virginia Pye and Anne Bernays, is a poignant collection exploring what we sacrifice when we strive to belong. Cover design and painting, Porch Chair Quintet, by Margaret Buchanan. Learn more.
Pangyrus | 140 pages, perfect bound, 6” x 9” | $18
A Short History of Anger
A Short History of Anger, by Joy Manesiotis, is a lament spoken through fragments, fractures, song, and the voices of a modern-day Greek Chorus. This multilayered book and performance takes as its source material the massacre of Greek citizens in the 1922 Destruction of Smyrna, and the buried traces of this tragedy as they haunt the poet’s family history. Musical, ritualistic, and elegiac, A Short History of Anger confronts, with both love and anger, a legacy of genocide and displacement as it resonates through successive generations. Cover design by Margaret Buchanan. Learn more.
Parlor Press | 106 pages, perfect bound, 7.5” x 9.25” | $20.95
A Year in the Life of a Tree
A 2023 datebook, A Year in the Life of a Tree is the product of a three-year photographic mediation on a single tree. The book includes 62 photos by artist and photographer Lauren Rutten of a copper beech tree near her home in Madison County, North Carolina. This sentinel tree is captured in every season, at every time of day, and in every kind of weather. Graphic design by Margaret Buchanan.
Milkhouse Arts | 118 pages, spiral bound, 8” x 8”
A is for Alder: A Sylvan Abecedarium
A is for Alder draws on a rich history of abecedaria—or ABC books—dating back millennia, from an ancient Etruscan vase to fifth-century Anglo-Saxon runes to hornbook primers for children of the 1800s and on into the realm of contemporary artist books. This is a collection of photographs from the natural world that make up the English alphabet. For children and adults alike. Forthcoming.
Typophilia Press
Alphabet Series
As a typophile, it’s hard not to see letters everywhere: in nature or within the urban landscape—whether intentional, as in signage; or accidental, as cracks in a sidewalk, the negative spaces between skyscrapers, some architectural embellishment. I have assembled a couple of alphabets drawn from day-to-day maneuverings and feel certain there are more to come.
Visit Special Projects to see more.
