that's funny. Took me a second...

JH

Hah! That's great. (:
Happy New Year to you too!

They cover spelling in another volume.

They cover spelling in another volume.
Leading and tracking in vols III and IV?

They cover spelling in another volume.
Leading and tracking in vols III and IV?
Base alignment and character orientation in vols V and VI?

 
         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
         When going from A to Z,
         I often end up At Oz.

Leading and tracking in vols III and IV?
Base alignment and character orientation in vols V and VI?

this is getting to be quite the library: "The complete How-Not-To" :o)

Then again, wouldn't it be funny if the "Don't judge a book by it's cover" expression applied here and it was actually an excellent book?

-=®=-

OK... there is a bit of a mystery here that perhaps someone could help me out with:

The type, (I presume) is some sort of metal foil stamped or otherwise mechanically applied to a cloth cover.

From what I know of the technology involved, it would actually be difficult to make such a hash of it without really trying, unless the printer was winging it with equipment not intended for the task.

-=®=-

The book may have been rebound at a library.
I worked in a library for a while in 1969, and there was a bookbinder on staff, who had a collection of letter punches which he would stamp with gold foil into the front cover and spine of rebound books.
Rather than throw out an old soft-cover book, it would be hard-bound.
Also useful for putting titles on the spine of spineless books, to make them easier to sort etc. on shelves.
Perhaps some old bookbinder (like my Mr Tibbs) let a young lad have a go at some lettering--just to demonstrate the skill involved.
Either that, or he was nursing a hip flask which spiked his sense of humour.

Ah yes, that makes sense, Nick: A one-off with hand-held punches.

I was having a hard time imagining how any mass production printing system, which would tend to force straight lines and even spacing, could produce something so wonky.

-=®=-

"Then again, wouldn’t it be funny if the “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover” expression applied here and it was actually an excellent book?"

The book is by Geoffrey Dowding, and it is, indeed, an excellent book. The cover is obviously not original.

This has to be a glorious spoof...

Did you by any chance buy a letterpress lately,
j_p_giese? If yes, so well done ... Happy New Year!

prgr

Attribution...

http://www.typography.com/ask/showBlog.php?blogID=67

This book only covers the *finer* points. Not the broad obvious ones. That's a different volume.

I posted this picture in my flickr photostream way back on May 5 2008.

Jonathan Hoefler posted his bitmap on 16 January 2008.

@Paragraph: This has to be a glorious spoof...

That's what I believe it is, quite spurious. A hoax probably made by photoshopping.

j a m e s