Old-Style Alphabet Lettering of Japan: New Reprinted Edition

A treasure trove of Japanese ’60s graphic design, as captivating now as it was then.

After World War II, alphabet typography became an everyday part of life in Japan as printed materials, notices, and signs in foreign languages, particularly English, flooded streets and homes alike. With their well-defined forms, rhythmical lines, and variously delicate, dignified, or fanciful air, these letters and symbols not only brilliantly satisfied their original design purpose, but are delightful to look at even today.

This volume, a reedited reprint of a collection originally published in 1962, brings together the best of alphabet typography from ’60s Japan, including some seventy letter and number fonts both practical and ornamental along with roughly a thousand monograms combining letters and numerals in a variety of forms.