Dissatisfaction and Restorative Design: Bruce Rogers, Allusive Typography, and the Grolier Club Champ Fleury (1927)

摘要

It is generally understood that the American typographer Bruce Rogers (1870-1957) sought to imitate the typography of the past in an attempt to revive historical styles of past original works, as well as to reanimate the aesthetic sensibilities that were of their moment. This was especially the case where Rogers designed books for the Grolier Club, a private bibliographic society in New York City (established in 1884). In this article, I seek to interrogate the assessment of Rogers' design of books in light of his recognition that works of the past engendered dissatisfaction. Rogers' typographic design, what he referred to as 'allusive typography', sought to address this perceived impoverishment in reconstitutions of past works to meet the aspirations and anxieties of early twentieth-century traditionalist typography.