Active Literature

Jan Tschichold (1902-1974) is considered by many to be the most influential typographer of the twentieth century. A leading voice of the modernist movement, Tschichold oversaw the redesign of the Penguin and Pelican paperbacks in the late 1940s and devised for them a standardized set of typographic rules. The classical type designs of his late career qualify him as perhaps the first typographic postmodernist. Active Literature, an in-depth study of Jan Tschichold's modernist period, is based on extensive archival research that uncovered a wealth of new photographs of his design work. Author Christopher Burke presents a full portrait of the designer's career and puts into context Tschichold's own account of his life and work.