New Alphabets A to Z, 1974 [Herbert Spencer and Colin Forbes]

New Alphabets A to Z by Herbert Spencer and Colin Forbes, 1st American ed., 1974. Watson-Guptill Publications, New York. 8.5 x 8, 86 pp., originally published a year earlier in Great Britain by Lund Humphries Limited, London, 1973. Perhaps designed by Colin Forbes (1928-2022). Made and printed in Great Britain.

“While the conventionally printed word remains the norm there are today many situations in which special and sometimes even eccentric letter forms become necessary ... where human imagination, joy and playfulness can be expressed through highly evocative symbols which are one our most powerful means for communicating not only ideas but also our emotions.”

An impressive and surprisingly uncommon hardcover with excellent reference material. Heavily illustrated with (38) alphabets/numerals including (66) illustrations (5 in color) featuring many lesser-known unique alphabets and numbers, some with a very brief description.

Designers include: John Gorham (Block, Condensed Relief, Helvetic Snow and Stripes), Tom Carnase (Neon and LSC Caslon X-bold 223), Ron van der Meer (Tactile), Bob Gill (3D and Cheque), John Gorman (Jigsaw), George Hoy (Settembre and Settembre Contra Shadow), Nick Jenkins (Dance), Brian Coy (Expandable), Wim Crouwel (New and Oldenburg), Chris Harrison (Plustype), Willem Sandberg (Bodoni Stencil), David Goodall (Ambiguous), Alan Clarvis (Pastimes), Timothy Epps (Alphabet), David Tuhill (Ernie Foyle), Derek Birdsall (Dorothy Gray), Armin Hoffman (Rank Xerox), Ivan Chermayeff and Thomas Geismar (Electric Circus), Eric Mourier (Mourier), Joe Gillespie (4D), Wolff Olins (Bowyers and New Tools), Christine Charlton (Deckchair), USSR (Postcode System), Alan Fletcher (Label Shadow), Silvio Coppola (Peschici Stencil), Alan Fletcher and Mervyn Kurlansky (Kirby Cracker), Bentley/Farrell (July), Eli Gross (New Hebrew) and Anthon Beeke (Nudes).

A fine black hardcover cloth in a nearly fine, still bright yellow dust jacket with only a hint of wear along the outer edges.