Modern Typography: An Essay in Critical History, 2nd edn.

• 2020
• offset lithograph, sewn in sections and cased
• 135 x 216 mm, 304 pp

This is a second Korean edition of Modern Typography (London: Hyphen Press, 1992), first published in Korea by Specter Press in 2009.

“A brisk tour through the history of Western typography, from the time (c.1700 in France and England) when it can be said to have become ‘modern’. A spotlight is directed at different cultures in different times, to trace the developments and shifts in modern typography. Attention is given to ideas, to social context, and to technics, thus stepping over the limited and tired tropes of stylistic analysis.” (From the website of Hyphen Press)

• Project type:
• publication

• Author:
• Robin Kinross

• Translator:
• Choi Sung Min

• Typefaces:
• AG Choijeongho
• Proforma

• Paper:
• Adonis Rough
• Magic Color
• matte coated paper
• smooth uncoated paper

• Printer:
• Segeoleum

• Commissioners:
• Specter Press
• Workroom Press
• Workroom Specter

• Exhibitions:
• Graphic West 9: Sulki & Min (Kyoto DDD Gallery, 2021)
• Sulki & Min: Clarifying & Obscuring (Transtage, Hangzhou, 2024)

• See also:
• Workroom Specter

About the design of the first edition of this book, we have stated that “[while] the overall design is loosely based on what the translation is made from—the second English edition (2004)—the cover nods at its first edition (1992), which was designed by the author himself and displayed a vivid expression of its defiant spirit.” The yellow cover of the second edition is closer to its direct source, except that we chose a slanted letterform – instead of an upright roman as the original English edition – from the plates engraved for the French Académie des Sciences around 1700, obviously for its sense of forward-leaning movement.