Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Trouble with Dante


I have just been reading a novel, a hardback edition set in 12 point Monotype Dante. The Center for Book Arts describes this typeface as ‘elegantly created and imminently readable’

The problem is – well the book I am reading is suspenseful, & cleverly written in a mixture of stream-of-consciousness (or internal monologue) & direct speech – mixing time past & present, switching from one to the other within the same paragraph. And the change is marked with the use of a single, straight, quote mark ′.

Which can be difficult, for ageing eyes, to see, to distinguish from the adjacent serif, especially if that belongs to a capital T.

So the work has to be a very engaging one, to keep you persevering to the end, to make it worth the effort

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