# End note in books: "About the Type" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 15, 2011, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-note-in-books-about-the-type/571484 "2011-02-15T19:19:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-note-in-books-about-the-type/571484/41 "2011-02-17T18:15:01Z")
> [@](#): > > More to the point, for me the colophon is like the credits at the end of a movie. “You’ve enjoyed the entertainment; now here’s a little detail about how it was provided.” (The best analogy, I suppose, would be to the “Technicolor” and “Dolby” logos that come at the very end.) Except that the colophons go into much more detail. For a real comparison, imagine that, instead of just saying “technicolor”, there was a blurb at the end that talked about what generation of Technicolor was used, and how they adjusted the color balance, and what stock it was all printed on. Tom Weller, in one of his books (either **Science Made Stupid** or **Culture Made Stupid** ) has a wonderful parody of the typical colophon, going on about “full-bodied serifs” and the like, and ending up with “the ink came out of a can.” ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-note-in-books-about-the-type/571484/42 "2011-02-17T20:15:06Z")
I notice that my copy of _The Days of H. L. Mencken_ has a colophon. It was printed in _Scotch Modern_ . It was published in 1947 by Alfred A. Knopf and reprinted by Dorset Press in 1989. The colophon has the observation that the modernity is in the sense of 1800 and not of today. ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-note-in-books-about-the-type/571484/43 "2011-02-17T21:55:45Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > If you look at actual submission guidelines, they often specify that you use standard font types like Courier or Times New Roman. So **Papyrus** is right out then? Hmm, how about [Shatter](http://www.identifont.com/find?font=shatter&q=Go)? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-note-in-books-about-the-type/571484/44 "2011-02-17T23:01:04Z")
[O’Reilly](http://www.deadprogrammer.com/oreilly-book-covers) is famous for putting engravings of animals on its programming books. The colophon in each book explains a bit about the particular animal. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-note-in-books-about-the-type/571484/45 "2011-02-17T23:17:12Z")
Interesting thread! I always read colophons. > [@DooWahDiddy](#): > > …This book was set in Requiem, a typeface designed by Hoefler Type Foundry… Heh. The phrase “type foundry” always makes me think of big sweaty guys with thick glasses laboring over anvils with letters, hammers and tongs, as sparks fly everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Wogglebug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@Wogglebug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wogglebug)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-note-in-books-about-the-type/571484/46 "2011-02-18T01:15:14Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Just for the information of anyone who may be considering this: editors want manuscripts submitted in standard manuscript format. Pre-formatting them to look like books is automatic rejection. They won’t even be read. It’s an era that has long since come and gone. The “Idiot’s Guide to Publishing” remarks: Don’t bother to compare your work to Hemingway, Dickens or Shakespeare, the 20-somethings who read submissions won’t have read them. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-note-in-books-about-the-type/571484/47 "2011-02-18T01:15:43Z")
> [@Bytegeist](#): > > So **Papyrus** is right out then? > > Hmm, how about [Shatter](http://www.identifont.com/find?font=shatter&q=Go)? Didn’t get any attention earlier, so let me give another shout out to [musician or font?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=596051) ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-note-in-books-about-the-type/571484/48 "2011-02-18T02:37:11Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] Didn’t get any attention earlier, so let me give another shout out to [musician or font?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=596051) [/QUOTE] I like your list. Also fitting would be **Friz Quadrata** and **Cooper Black**. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-note-in-books-about-the-type/571484/49 "2011-02-18T03:35:47Z")
I wonder if the colophon was a way to help fill up the blank pages at the end of the signature. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-note-in-books-about-the-type/571484/50 "2011-02-18T06:03:01Z")
I don’t read that little blurb in books, because I couldn’t care less about their font choice. It’s meaningless to me. I find it bizarre so many people are interested in it. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-note-in-books-about-the-type/571484/51 "2011-02-18T08:08:15Z")
> [@DooWahDiddy](#): > > Funny, I just encountered this for the first time too. I’m reading “Cloud Atlas” by David Mitchell, and the colophon (new vocabulary word!) says: > > This book was set in Requiem, a typeface designed by Hoefler Type Foundry. It is a modern typeface inspired by inscriptional capitals in Ludovico Vicentino degli Arrighi’s 1523 writing manual, _Il modo de temperare le penne_. An original lowercase, a set of figures, and an italic in the “chancery” style that Arrighi helped popularize were created to make this adaption of a classical design into a complete font family. > > Alrighty then. That’s a [pretty spiffy](http://www.typography.com/fonts/font_overview.php?productLineID=100020) typeface. I’ll have to remember to take a look at the book if I get the chance to see how it looks on the page. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-note-in-books-about-the-type/571484/52 "2011-02-18T08:16:06Z")
> [@DooWahDiddy](#): > > Funny, I just encountered this for the first time too. I’m reading “Cloud Atlas” by David Mitchell, and the colophon (new vocabulary word!) says: > > This book was set in Requiem, a typeface designed by Hoefler Type Foundry. It is a modern typeface inspired by inscriptional capitals in Ludovico Vicentino degli Arrighi’s 1523 writing manual, _Il modo de temperare le penne_. An original lowercase, a set of figures, and an italic in the “chancery” style that Arrighi helped popularize were created to make this adaption of a classical design into a complete font family. > > Alrighty then. That’s a [pretty spiffy](http://www.typography.com/fonts/font_overview.php?productLineID=100020) typeface. I’ll have to remember to take a look at the book if I get the chance to see how it looks on the page. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-note-in-books-about-the-type/571484/53 "2011-02-18T08:17:46Z")
> [@Patch](#): > > I don’t read that little blurb in books, because I couldn’t care less about their font choice. It’s meaningless to me. I find it bizarre so many people are interested in it. 😕 As someone who likes fonts, it does interest me, and even otherwise I would find it interesting in the same way as people like DVD commentaries. But yeah, it does seem sort of like a random inclusion of information on the production of the book, compared with the totality of information about it’s making. Especially in the absence of other information. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-note-in-books-about-the-type/571484/54 "2011-02-18T15:51:58Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > But yeah, it does seem sort of like a random inclusion of information on the production of the book, compared with the totality of information about it’s making. Especially in the absence of other information. Good point. You don’t often see “about the paper used in this book,” or “about the cover artist,” or “about the printing press used for this book.” Sometimes, but not often. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-note-in-books-about-the-type/571484/55 "2011-02-20T20:37:34Z")
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:54, topic:571484”] Good point. You don’t often see “about the paper used in this book,” or “about the cover artist,” or “about the printing press used for this book.” Sometimes, but not often. [/QUOTE] I’d like to see a colophon start out with _ **“About the Writing”** _: \*The initial idea was scribbled on the back of a receipt at a sidewalk café in Montreal, using a Zebra mechanical pencil with a .5 mm lead. This was transferred to a 4 x 6" wire-bound pocket notebook the next morning using a Bic ballpoint pen, with typos and poor grammar intact. The subsequent draft was fleshed out with Sharpie and a college notebook (graph paper, 4 sq/inch) at McSorley’s Ale House over a cheap but serviceable microwbrew. . . .\* ~ ~ ~ And, for the poster who said he didn’t care about fonts: I’m setting a copy of Tolstoy in _Comic Sans_ for ya. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-note-in-books-about-the-type/571484/56 "2011-02-21T06:42:35Z")
> [@digs](#): > > ~ ~ ~ > And, for the poster who said he didn’t care about fonts: I’m setting a copy of Tolstoy in _Comic Sans_ for ya. To be fair and honest, I read enough comics I wouldn’t care. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-note-in-books-about-the-type/571484/57 "2011-02-21T11:24:42Z")
I believe one or two books by Douglas Adams has something about how the book was written on an Apple IIe using a copy of WordPerfect or something else along those lines. I’m thinking one of the Dirk Gently books. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-note-in-books-about-the-type/571484/58 "2011-02-21T11:51:01Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I’d like to see a colophon start out with _ **“About the Writing”** _: > > \*The initial idea was scribbled on the back of a receipt at a sidewalk > café in Montreal, using a Zebra mechanical pencil with a .5 mm lead. > > This was transferred to a 4 x 6" wire-bound pocket notebook the next morning > using a Bic ballpoint pen, with typos and poor grammar intact. > > The subsequent draft was fleshed out with Sharpie and a college notebook > (graph paper, 4 sq/inch) at McSorley’s Ale House over a cheap but serviceable microwbrew. > . . .\* > ~ ~ ~ > And, for the poster who said he didn’t care about fonts: I’m setting a copy of Tolstoy in _Comic Sans_ for ya. In the supplemental material in the trade paperback version of Neal Stephenson’s _Quicksilver_ is the following, labelled “From Pen to Printed Page”: > [@](#): > > The manuscript of the Baroque Cycle was written by hand on 100 percent cotton paper, using three different fountain pens: a Waterman Gentleman, a Rotring, and a Jorg Hysek. It was then transcribed, edited, formatted, and printed using eMacs and TeX. When it was totally finished, the TeX version of the manuscript was converted to Quark XPress format using an eMacs LISP program written by the author. Some share of credit thus goes to the people who made the GNU/Linux operating system and to the originators of LISP. Maps were produced by Nick Springer with input from Lisa Gold, who also organized the family trees and assisted in the preparation of the Dramatis Personae. The geometrical illustrations (Apollonius of Perga’s conic sections and the woodcuts from Newton’s _Principia Mathematica_) were prepared by Alvy Ray Smith, working from scans or photographs of old books. Doesn’t say anything about the typeface, though. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-note-in-books-about-the-type/571484/59 "2011-02-21T12:12:03Z")
> [@Patch](#): > > To be fair and honest, I read enough comics I wouldn’t care. 🆒 That’s the real problem with Comic Sans. It’s not even a good Comics font. Even webcomics tend to prefer hand lettering or a font that looks like it. (or they don’t care about it at all, and stick with Arial or Times New Roman). On another note, I would love to have a collophone for [this website](http://hsivonen.iki.fi/doctype/). I have no idea why they chose such ugly fonts and hard to read fonts (except the monospace one which is pretty good.) Yeah, they’re free fonts, but why force them on people who have better ones? ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-note-in-books-about-the-type/571484/60 "2011-02-21T17:12:10Z")
Gary’s first rule of typography: Just because you _can_ use 17 different fonts on one page–complete with italics, boldface, underlining, small caps, and all caps–doesn’t mean you _should_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-note-in-books-about-the-type/571484.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-note-in-books-about-the-type/571484.md?page=4)