Editing the pretext

Arguing the centrality of editing in a publishing ho use, Robert Bringhurst discusses the importance of editing type when designing books. The quality of design hinges on typographic clarity, which is crucial in the productio n of scholarly books, where precision and accuracy are at issue. The author observes the ways in which scholarly presses must react to typographic cha llenges similar to those faced by early Renaissance designers, despite the changes in technology. Publishers must adapt digital type to reproduce obso lete or rare linguistic characters. Editing letterforms, including the liga tures and glyphs of a particular font remains a common and necessary practi ce, as does kerning fonts. The shortcomings of digital type as compared wit h metal type are discussed. The typographic problems raised in the producti on of W.H. New's Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada are explored.