Details: Published by Steendrukkerij de Jong & Co. Edited by Pieter Brattinga. 1967. First edition. Softcover. Saddle stitch. 20pp 250 x 250mm. Printed in black, white and red. Text in Dutch, English, French and German. Designed by Wim Crouwel.
About: Rare and iconic publication in the field of avant-garde typography 'New Alphabet. A Possibility for the New Development - an introduction for programmed typeface' was a personal project of Crouwel's, published in the twentieth edition of Pieter Brattinga’s Kwadraadbladen series (Quadrat Prints). This issue is from the personal archive of Piet Zwart (ink stamped to rear).
"In the infancy of digital typography—as lead type, set by hand in heavy lead blocks or by machines that generated lines of metal type, was giving way to text set on screens—Crouwel saw an opportunity for an interesting experiment. Early computer screens—cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors—rendered images in fairly large pixels, making traditional curvilinear letterforms difficult to reconstruct, and so Crouwel set out to redesign the alphabet using only horizontal lines. New Alphabet is, in Crouwel's words, "over-the-top and never meant to be really used," a statement on the impact of new technologies on centuries of typographic tradition." (Source) www.moma.org
Please view my other listing 'A counter-proposal' for a counterproposal to Crouwel's New Alphabet, a copy that appears to also from the archive of Piet Zwart.
Very good condition; light shelf ware consistent with age. Light ware to cover. Interior clean. Binding tight. Please contact me should you have any further questions about condition.
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