If you're looking for a style guide to vintage lettering, look no further than Retro Fonts by Grigor Stawinski. Stawinksi's style guide has fonts going back to 1830, through to the close of the 20th century,
The book, which should be of particular interest to graphic designers and typographers, has eight sections, each reflecting a particular stylistic period and examples of the fonts in their own context. Some featured styles include Art Deco, Bauhaus, Swiss, Sixties, Disco and Punk. An extra bonus is a CD featuring 222 uncopyrighted fonts.
Apart from anything else, it's interesting to look back and reflect on how lettering mirrored the design influences and culture of the day. What do our fonts say about us..?
