The Secret Life of Type

Typography is something that we encounter every day of our lives; it is one of the most pervasive elements in an entire spectrum of human activities. And yet typography is usually invisible or barely noticed; it is supposed to be transparent; it is not supposed to draw attention to itself.

In this illustrated lecture, Richard Wendorf explores the nature and history of the type faces by which we live, ranging from Roman capitals to the experimentation of William Morris at the Kelmscott Press.

The Secret Life of Type is one of ten essays collected together in Richard Wendorf's new book The Scholar-Librarian: Books, Libraries, and the Visual Arts, published by Oak Knoll Press and the Boston Athenaeum.

Richard Wendorf became the eleventh director of the Boston Athenaeum in 1997. An expert on eighteenth-century British art, literature, and cultural history, he lectures widely on issues concerning rare book and manuscript libraries, and on the relationship between literature and the visual arts. His book Sir Joshua Reynolds: The Painter in Society won the Annibel Jenkins Biography Prize.