Hi Jay,
not a book, just a quote:

Nicht das Kapital verbindet uns, sondern die Kapitälchen. — Hans Peter Willberg
So-so translation: It’s not capital what connects us, it’s the small capitals.

If you in fact are going to have a critical discussion on this topic then I would get rid of the word “capitalism”. Were there not banks under Hitler, Mao, Mussolini, Marx etc (even if some were nationalized). Why not just say banks and leave out the “C” word.

Or just ask about typefaces associated with the financial community.

Michael

Hey Michael

Thanks for your suggestion!

I am actually comparing two histories, the first of typography and capitalism and the second, typography and financial institutions.

So if you know of any good sources for either, i will certinally add them to my list.

Thanks

J

Jay

I doubt you will find any books on this as the two subjects stand too far apart. I would suggest examining economic cycles and industrial production. In this case, say, design and sales of typefaces during periods of prosperity and recession. Capitalism is all about economic cycles, is it not? For instance, the back to back recessions that are termed the Great Depression had a significant impact on both new designs and production of Monotype faces. Why were/are Centaur and Bembo more successful/popular than Pastonchi? Well, examine the years of design and production and compare these to the worldwide economic situation of the time period. I’ve done a couple of these and it changes your viewpoint. Aesthetics are popularly, and intellectually lazily, assigned to the success of a typeface, when it is far more often due to other unacknowledged or forgotten factors, such as popular culture, economics, technology, etc.

Gerald

I for one would be very interested in the historical aspect. In particular the connection between the mercantilism of the Netherlands and the darker, more condensed and economic type style, coined goût hollandois by Pierre-Simon Fournier (le Jeune).

One of the most interesting sites I have found is an online collection of stock certificates. Jay Parinno I believe. It has been a while. Some absolutely beautiful work. If you do not find it let me know and I will dig back through my history.

Michael