"First published in Great Britain in 2010 by Profile Books and in the United States as a Gotham Books hardcover in 2011. First trade paperback printing, September 2012"--T.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction : love letters -- We don't serve your type -- Capital offence ; Gill Sans -- Legibility vs readability ; Albertus -- Can a font make me popular? ; Futura v Verdana -- The hands of unlettered men ; Doves -- The ampersand's final twist -- Baskerville is dead (long live Baskerville) ; Mrs. Eaves & Mr. Eaves -- Tunnel visions -- What is it about the Swiss? ; Frutiger -- Road Akzidenz -- DIY -- What the font? -- Can a font be German, or Jewish? ; Futura -- American Scottish ; Moderns, Egyptians, and fat faces -- Gotham is go -- Pirates and clones ; Optima -- The clamour from the past ; Sabon -- Breaking the rules ; The interrobang -- The Serif of Liverpool ; Vendôme -- Fox, gloves -- The worst fonts in the world -- Just my type.

A romp through the history of fonts and the lives of the great typographers, revealing the extent to which fonts are not only shaped by but also define the world in which we live.