I have a routine that I go through every two to three months. That is to spend a day at Wonder Books, a used book store located in Frederick, Maryland. This football field sized time capsule of printed delights has books ranging from the United States Civil War to Geometry Books printed during the late 19th century. It would take an avid book worm months to give it a comprehensive once-over. I have tried to take it all in during one visit. It can't be done. My favorite section is the art and design section. Imagine that.

In my latest excursion to Wonder Books, I made an awesome discovery in the graphic design section. A book published by Frederick Nelson Phillips, Inc. in 1945. The book is titled, "Phillips Old-Fashioned Type Book." You could imagine my excitement after picking it up and discovering thousands of type faces that were used from the 15th through the 20th centuries. I was filled with glee.

What makes this book even more appealing to me is the introduction section, which is nicely designed and easy on the eyes to read. One of my favorite discoveries in the introduction was a small section on hieroglyphics. In this section author Ferdinand Theinhardt, Prussian type founder, illustrates Ancient Egyptian phonetics with Roman character translation. I have always wondered what the Eagle symbol represented in hieroglyphics. It is the Roman letter A.

Upon turning page after page, I discovered a typophile's dream filled with typeface after typeface covering a wide and diverse array on each and every page.

Another surprise was the section of book with logos, illustrations, and typographic treatments. The pages were printed in light blue. I suspect this was done to discourage duplication.

Here is the section illustrating the various styles of type usage.

The final page of the book was also adorned with art to draw attention to the acknowledgments.

After making these discoveries in the book store, and raising a few eyebrows of the patrons around me with my initial reaction, I quickly took the book to the register to purchase it as if there were a hoard of graphic designers on my tail wanting this book. Once I arrived home, I spent the rest of the evening late into the night going over every detail of each typeface. To me, this book is a treasure trove. It is worth every penny of the $22.00 I paid for it.

My daughter, Samantha, she goes by Sam, is a chip off the old block. I am very proud of her. We haven't been in touch for awhile and we recently connected again. Part of this reconnection was swapping links to keep the lines of communication open. One of the sites she shared with me was her Flickr account site. She also has another Flickr site with a potpourri of images titled Fire Breathing Geisha.

Now I have seen Sam's illustration work develop over the years and I have always been amazed at how well she commanded color and composition, but her latest work just blows me away.

Untitled, by Samantha Doyle, ink, paint pen, acrylic on recycled newsprint.

Throughout the years, my relationship with Sam has been on and off due to my divorce from her mother way back in 1983. Since then I have always kept the lines of communication open and pretty much left it up to Sam's discretion. More often than not, she chose to be distant and it has been tough for me to accept her aloof behavior towards me. When I feel this disconnect, I have to think back to when I was her age and how I was the exact same way with my parents. It must be the Bohemian in us. It is evident that my daughter is truly following in my foot steps.

The Astronaut's Daughter (detail), by Samantha Doyle, acrylic, ink, paint pen on wood

From the looks of her recent work, I can see Samantha becoming a very successful artist in the future.

Bowl of Oranges, by Samantha Doyle, acrylic 2004, collection of Sierra Klug

Labels: Illustration, Personal