Be quiet, muse.

Rest in peace, medial s. You know, that thingie that you sometimes see in type that kind of looks like a lowercase f, but really should be a lowercase s, but doesn’t really look quite right by your modern standards. You know, the thing that you see on the title page when you pick up your 17th…

Aurora Borealis timelapse HD - Tromsø 2010 (by Tor Even...

Wed, 24 Nov 2010 15:37:43 +0000

Aurora Borealis timelapse HD - Tromsø 2010 (by Tor Even Mathisen)

ollymoss: I am a graphic designer and in my contract it says...

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 18:20:10 +0000

ollymoss:

I am a graphic designer and in my contract it says that I have to make bad jokes about typography.

Oh wow they all look so happy nevver: Super Punch

Sun, 14 Nov 2010 22:41:27 +0000

Oh wow they all look so happy

nevver:

Super Punch

RSA Animate – Changing Education Paradigms (seen at...

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 23:21:17 +0000

RSA Animate – Changing Education Paradigms (seen at swissmiss)

An interesting (by no means indisputable) talk about the roots and nature of modern educational systems (10 mins long, but worth watching if you have the time). I think a more productive discussion could focus more on the ways in which the economic value of education (at different levels and subjects) is perceived. Great animation, too — witty and makes listening for 10 mins a lot easier.

Cover for The Secret Garden (Puffin Designer Classics series) by...

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 14:34:26 +0100

Cover for The Secret Garden (Puffin Designer Classics series) by Lauren Child. (via Caustic Cover Critic: Puffin Magic II: more covers from the same series at the link)

Laurent Nivalle - photography - 2009 Can’t stop looking at that...

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 08:31:58 +0100

Laurent Nivalle - photography - 2009

Can’t stop looking at that line. Wow.

DOGHOUSE Diaries: Book covers

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 13:22:29 +0100

DOGHOUSE Diaries: Book covers

"I don’t actually lose sleep calculating whether today’s award-winning books are as..."

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 05:07:50 +0100

“I don’t actually lose sleep calculating whether today’s award-winning books are as “great” as the greats of yesteryear (terrible failure in a critic, I know). It’s an easy argument, because everyone can think of at least one instance where it’s true. Also, many of the lousy books of yesteryear are out of print, leaving us with a, shall we say, distorted perception of the cumulative literary output. I can imagine ancient Egyptian critics of the Middle Kingdom poring over papyri and sniffing that the hieroglyphics are derivative and uninspired.”

- Is today’s fiction irrelevant? The blogosphere debates: Are today’s novels merely clever where they should be deep? (via libraryland)

Quite so. I think that the only way to know if a writer can be considered a ‘great’ is to wait a few decades or, better yet, coupla hundred years. In the meantime, all we are left with are our own preferences and opinion (eg, ‘I think So-and-so is great’), but these are all that matters anyway.

If this is were a children’s book, it would be the meanest ever....

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 04:56:12 +0100

If this is were a children’s book, it would be the meanest ever. (Probably not). So pretty!

libraryland:

ecstasyofentropy:

muchomurka:

katherineanneausten:

threeseptembersandajanuary:

iwantmybearsuit:

likeneelyohara:vonnegutandcathair:theashcroftmoon | (via artzombie, prettyheartattacks)

"…it having been decided by the University of Coimbra that burning a few people alive by a slow fire,..."

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 06:00:00 +0100

“…it having been decided by the University of Coimbra that burning a few people alive by a slow fire, and with great ceremony, is an infallible secret for preventing earthquakes.”

-
Candide, page 28.

This sentence is referring to the earthquake in Lisbon which occurs in Voltaire’s satire (it was also a real event). As it is a satire, I can see it being funny on purpose; however this was written in the 1700s so I can’t tell if Voltaire is being serious or is poking fun… Nonetheless this amused me!

(via keeping-it-classy)

Heh. Whenever there’s any doubt as to whether Voltaire is poking fun, it can be safely assumed he is. I should really re-read Candide one of these days… (My favourite joke is still the one where he refers to Canada as ‘a few acres of snow’).

These are wonderful: 8-bit fantasy landscapes coded in HTML...

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 02:12:31 +0100

These are wonderful: 8-bit fantasy landscapes coded in HTML 5, animated via color cycling. I couldn’t even choose a picture to illustrate them (grabbed the first one), all of them are astonishing. (The screenshot doesn’t really do them justice, but trust me, you won’t regret having a look).

[seen @ gizmodo.com]

oldbookillustrations: Eigtheenth century vignette, from Lettres...

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 14:21:02 +0100

oldbookillustrations:

Eigtheenth century vignette, from Lettres sur la France, l’Angleterre et l’Italie (letters about France, England and Italy), Genève, 1785.
Via Ornements typographiques de Pierre Mouriau de Meulenacker

Swiss design before Helvetica.

Title-page, 1545 (by History of the Book / Typography,...

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 23:24:30 +0100

Title-page, 1545 (by History of the Book / Typography, Amsterdam)

Just plowed through 150 flickr pages of old initials, ornaments, and pretty letters. Maybe there’s something wrong with me, but the set of initials with people having sex in them (modestly covered by the letters) takes the prize.

Etching in colour, late 17th century (by History of the Book /...

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 22:57:00 +0100

Etching in colour, late 17th century (by History of the Book / Typography, Amsterdam)

Hey Steve, Samsung Says Hello F***ing brilliant.

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 17:08:22 +0100

Hey Steve, Samsung Says Hello

F***ing brilliant.

thispandemonium: Now tell me, which is your favourite...

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 23:01:29 +0100

thispandemonium:

Now tell me, which is your favourite ampersand? Mine goes to Baskerville.

Book Antiqua for me, out of this selection: I love the hint of the pen in the terminal. Frutiger is pretty nice, too.