Typeface identification

[Peter Flynn]

On 26/04/2023 07:48, Andreas Scherer wrote:
> Peter,
> 
>  > I am not trying to capture all design features, just those that are
>  > immediately explainable and visible to a beginner.
>  >
>  > If anyone else has done this before, please scream now :-)
> 
> In 1991, I bought "Rookledge's International Typefinder". Sarema Press, 
> 1990, curiously marked as "not for sale in the UK". 

\begin{rant}
That was at a time when the private cartel of publishers was still in 
operation, which stitched up the world into zones in which they agreed 
not to sell their editions in each others territories. That excuse "For 
copyright reasons this edition is not for sale in..." was just that: an 
excuse to shaft the book-buying public.  Publishers are still at it 
today: the zones used by DVDs and ebooks are a modern implementation of 
the same racket.
\end{rant}

> It lists over 700 typeface specimens in several categories. As a
> second method for identifying a font is the use of a selection order
> of "earmarks" (Capital letters, lower case letters, figures).

It's a wonderful collection.

> A more recent acquisition is Erik Spiekermann's "Sheep book" ("Find
> our how type works", 4th ed., The Other Collection, 2022) with tons
> of type examples; it has a three-page "typeface index".

That too, I love it.

Peter