Suzanne
The Elements of Typographic Style deals more with emphasis on layout and
type styles - but it does cover other aspects. But as you say, actually
looking at well prepared and printed publications, whether books or journals
is a good exercise. It shows the importance of layout and white space to
readability.
Terry
This is one I haven't seen but have seen referred to. I obviously need to
get it. The Chicago Manual is primarily for scholarly writing, with heavy
emphasis on forms of documentation. Words into Type is very sound but long
out of print and hence out of date. Both of these are aimed at writers and
editors, not typographers (though more recent editions of Chicago have more
information on "computer typesetting," recognizing that the process of
document preparation is more seamless than it once was. Hart's Rules *is*
for typographers but I suspect is also out of print.
My recommendation for anyone getting into typesetting (and I don't profess
to be more than an amateur myself) is to look at a number of good examples
of the sort of book you're trying to create. Observe how various aspects of
the layout have been handled. If the book is a novel, obviously there is
considerable latitude in design and room for creativity. If it's a math
textbook, there will be specific design considerations associated with that.
How you lay out the book depends on how much front matter you have, whether
you will have running heads (and what will be in them), whether page numbers
will be in the header or the footer, whether there are chapters or not, and
if there are, whether they have titles or just numbers (which will also
influence whether or not you have a TOC), whether or not there are subheads,
an index, footnotes/endnotes, references/bibliography, etc. In all these
areas, designing by (good) example is a good way to start.
I keep a file of photocopied pages from books whose design impressed me
favorably. I may never get a chance to use any of these designs, but I look
them over from time to time to refresh my creative juices!
--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site:
http://www.mvps.org/word
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