This is the beginning of a bibliography of women in type. It was initially based in two main works, Julian Moncada’s and Laura Webber’s respective MA theses, but it has grown since then.
The first question when making a bibliography is what is this for? who is it going to help? This list might be useful for anyone researching the history and the roles of women in printing, design and type design. It could also be helpful to understand the contemporary situation of women in type. But also, for anyone who wants to research a particular type design. The list has been organised in three main categories, design, print and type.
Is this the best way to go? I am definitely not certain, but so far it is the best I can think of.
It aims to be an exhaustive list in the sense that it is not a selection of titles, this is not a curated list. Any title related to women in type can be included with the only exception of interviews. Including them here does not mean I endorse or support them.
This bibliography is not just my own doing, aside from the original works by Julian Moncada and Laura Webber, it has been extended by other Alphabettes members. However, I am well aware of my own bias (white European) and I hope that with some international collaboration we would be able to extend this bibliography to more languages and cultures.
Comments are open for any title suggestion, feedback, reporting typos, or any other comment.
Note: the bibliography also exist as a Google docs form.
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A list of books related to women in type, women in design and women in printing
Design
Artmonsky, R. (2012) Designing women: women working in advertising and publicity from 1920s to the 1960s. Artmonsky Arts
Breuer, Gerda & Julia Meer (2012) Women in Graphic Design 1890–2012 = Frauen und Grafik-Design: 1890–2012. Berlin: Jovis
Buckley, C. (1986) ‘Made in patriarchy: toward a feminist analysis of women and design’ in Design Issues n.3, vol.2, pp.3–14
Buckley, C. (1999) ‘Made in patriarchy: theories of women and design — a reworking: 109–118’, in J. Rothschild (ed) (1999) Design and Feminism. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press
Clegg, S. & Mayfield, W. (1999) ‘Gendered by design: how women’s place in design is still defined by gender’ in Design Issues, n.15, vol.3, pp.3–16
Gorman, C. R (2001) ‘Reshaping and rethinking: recent feminist scholarship on design and designers’, in Design Issues, n.17, vol.4, pp.72–88.
Lupton, Ellen (2012) “Women in graphic design.‘ In Women in Graphic Design 1890-2012 = Frauen und Grafik-Design: 1890-2012. Breuer, Gerda, and Julia Meer. Berlin: Jovis
Makela, L. H. & Lupton, E. (1994) ‘Underground matriarchy’ in Eye n.14, pp.42–47
Pelta, Raquel (2010) ’Women’s movement graphics in Spain. 1970–2010’ in Design Activism Conference 2011, Barcelona Spain [Text in Spanish] Retrieved from http://www.historiadeldisseny.org/congres/pdf/44%20Pelta,%20Raquel%20LA%20GRAFICA%20DEL%20FEMINISMO%20EN%20ESPANA.%201970-2010.pdf]
Pelta, Raquel (2010) ’La gráfica del feminismo en España. 1970–2010’ in Design Activism Conference 2011, Barcelona Spain [Text in English] [Retrieved from http://www.historiadeldisseny.org/congres/pdf/44%20Pelta,%20Raquel%20LA%20GRAFICA%20DEL%20FEMINISMO%20EN%20ESPANA.%201970-2010.pdf ]
Scotford, M 1994. ‘Messy history vs. neat history: toward an expanded view of women in graphic design’ in Visible Language, n.28, vol.4, pp.368–388
Suzette Worden, J. S. (1995) ‘Women designers in Britain in the 1920s and 1930s: defining the professional and redefining design’ in Journal of Design History, Vol. 8, n.3, pp.177–193
Thomson, E. M. (1994) ‘Alms for oblivion: the history of women in early American graphic design’ in Design Issues, n.10, vol.2, pp.27–48
Worden, S. (Ed.) & Seddon, J. (1994) Women Designing: Redefining Design Between the Wars. University of Brighton
Printing
Alary, J. (1883) Le travail de la femme dans l’imprimerie typographique: ses consequences physiques et morales. Paris, C. Marpon & E. Flammarion Editeurs [Text in French]
Alkan, A. (1862) Les femmes compositrices d’imprimerie sous la Révolution française en 1794, par un ancien typographe. Paris, Dentu [Text in French]
Archer, Caroline (2008) ‘Women in print’ in Baseline, n.56
Cockburn, C. (1983) Brothers: male dominance and technical change (in the printing industry). London: Pluto
Corbeto, Albert (2009) ‘Notas para el estudio de las impresoras españolas (siglos XVI–XVIII)’, in Garone, Marina (ed) Memorias. Las otras letras: mujeres impresoras en la Biblioteca Palafoxiana, pp.22–31 Puebla: Secretaría de Cultura del Estado de Puebla [Text in Spanish]
Cortés Corral, Mónica; Méndez Viar, Mª Victoria (2001) ‘Impresoras madrileñas en el Siglo de Oro: Juana Martínez de Angulo’ in Paisajes de la cultura escrita, Anexos de Signo — Universidad de Alcalá), n.4, 2001, pp.185-211 [Text in Spanish]
Danky, J. P. & Wiegand, W. A. (eds.) (2006) Women in print: essays on the print culture of American women from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press
Davidson, Rebecca W. (2003) Unseen hands: women printers binders and book designers. Princeton University Library (exhibition catalogue)
Dawson, P. (2007) The gender pay gap in the printing industry: women’s invisibility in work organisation and bargaining processes. PhD Thesis, unpublished, Keele University
Driver, M. W. (1998) ‘Women printers and the page, 1447–1541’ in Gutenberg Jahrbuch, pp.139–153]
Ellis, J. (1987) ‘The invisible woman: women in print’ in British Printer, no.100 vol.10 pp.37–44.
Hudak, L. (1978) Early American women printers and publishers, 1639–1820. London, Scarecrow Press.
Garone, Marina (2004) ‘Herederas de la letra: mujeres y tipografía en la Nueva España’, in Unostiposduros.com [Internet blog][Text in Spanish]
Garone, Marina (ed) (2009) Las otras letras. Mujeres impresoras en la Biblioteca Palafoxiana. Puebla: Secretaría de Cultura del Estado de Puebla [Text in Spanish]
Garone, Marina (2013) ‘Mujeres de letras. La presencia femenina en los talleres de imprenta coloniales de México, Guatemala y Perú’ in Todavía, n.30, pp.60–65 Buenos Aires: Fundación OSDE, [Text in Spanish]
Keats, Patricia L. (1998) ‘Women in printing & publishing in California, 1850–1940’ in California History, vol.77, n.2, Summer issue, pp. 93–97
Levenson, R. (1994) Women in Printing: Northern California, 1857–1890, Santa Bárbara (California), Capra Press
Lone, E. M. (1932). ‘Some bookwomen of the fifteenth century’ in The Colophon, vol.11, pp.8
MacDonald, J. R. (1904) Women in the printing trades: a sociological study. London, P.S. King & Son
MacDonald, J. R. (1908) ‘A women’s printing society, the Women’s Printing Society Limited’ in British Printer, vol.21, n.125, pp.230–231
Meiner, A. (1954) ‘Women in printing: an international survey’ in Caxton Magazine, vol.56, n.6, pp.18–22
Moll, Jaime (1993) ‘Los avatares de una impresora en Madrid’ in Homenaxe a Daria Vilariño, pp.479–485. Santiago de Compostela: Universidade [Text in Spanish]
Nash, P. W. (2006. ‘The distaff side: a short history of female printers’ in Ultrabold n.1, pp.12–18
Nash, P. W. (2007) ‘The distaff side: a short history of female printers, part II: 1838 to 2006’ in Ultrabold n.2, pp.26–33
Pedraza Gracia, Manuel José. (2009) ‘Juana Millán, señora de la imprenta: Aportación al conocimiento de una imprenta dirigida por una mujer en la primera mitad el siglo XVI’, in Bulletin Hispanique, vol.111, n.1, 2009, pp.51–73. [Text in Spanish]
Radiguer, L. (1903) Maîtres imprimeurs et ouvriers typographes, 1470–1903. Paris: Société nouvelle de librairie et d’édition [Text in French]
Reynolds, S. (1989) Britannica’s typesetters: women compositors in Edwardian Edinburgh. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press
Robak, Brigitte (1996) Vom Pianotyp zur Zeilensetzmaschine. Setzmaschinenentwicklung und Geschlechterfrage 1840–1900. Jonas Verlag, Marburg,
Type design / Type designers
— (2011) Slanted #12 – Women, Typography, Graphic Design. MAGMA Brand Design
Abrams, G. (1986) ‘Anna Simons: calligrapher, letterer, teacher, and type designer’ in Fine Print, n.12, vol.2, pp.103–107
Cantor, M. (1990) ‘Carol Twombly, type design and other sports’ in Fine Print, n.16, vol.3, pp.121–125
DeGaine, Lauren Elle (2019) ‘The “eBay Archive”: recovering early women type designers’. Modernism/modernity, 4 September [Internet blog]. Retrieved from: https://modernismmodernity.org/forums/posts/ebay-archive
Dreyfus, J. (1970) ‘Beatrice Warde, the first lady of typography’ in The Penrose Annual, n.63, pp.69–76
Duensing, P. H. (1989) ‘Diotima of Gudrun Zapf-von Hesse: 33–34’, in C. Bigelow, P. H. Duensing, et al. (eds.), (1989) Fine print on type, the best of Fine print magazine on type and typography. London: Lund Humphries
Fanni, Maryam (Ed) (2020) The natural enemies of books: a messy history of women in printing and typography. Occasional Papers
Gerlach, Verena (2011) ’Where Are the women in type design?’ Typographica.org, 22 February [Internet blog]. Retrieved from: https://typographica.org/on-typography/where-are-the-women-in-typedesign
Gruendler, Shelly (2005) The life and work of Beatrice Warde. Unpublished PhD Thesis. University of Reading
Hagmann, S. (2005) ‘Non-existent design: women and the creation of type’ in Visual Communication, n.4, vol.2, pp.186–194
Harling, R. (1938) ‘Elizabeth’ in Typography, n.6, 40
Moncada, Julián (2011) Typography & Gender. Studying the identity of typeface design through the discussion on gender equity. Unpublished MA Thesis. University of Reading
Muraben, Billie (2018) ‘Elizabeth Friedlander: one of the first women to design a typeface’. It’s nice that, 8 March [Internet blog] Retrieved from: https://www.itsnicethat.com/features/elizabethfriedlander-graphicdesign-internationalwomensday-080318
Paucker, P. (1998) New borders: the working life of Elizabeth Friedlander. Oldham, Incline Press
Pelta, Raquel (200?) ‘Mujeres y tipografía: un lugar en la historia’ in Monográfica, n.4 [Internet blog] [Text in Spanish] [Retrieved from http://www.monografica.org/04/Art%C3%ADculo/7942
Peters, Yves (2016) ‘Women in type design’. Fontshop.com 19 March [Internet blog]. Available from: https://www.fontshop.com/content/women-in-type-design
Peters, Yves (2015) ‘Women in type: Alphabettes’. Fontshop.com, 19 March [Internet blog]. Available from: https://www.fontshop.com/content/women-in-type-alphabettes
Rumble, W. (1997) ‘Strategies of Shopfloor Inclusion: The Gender Politics of Augusta Lewis and Women’s Typographical Union n.1, 1868–1872’ in Printing History, n.18, vol.1, pp.13–25
Various (1934) Anna Simons, eine deutsche Schriftkünstlerin (Festschrift) [with contributions in English or German by F.H. Ehmcke, Peter Behrens, Willy Wiegand, Edward Johnston, and others]. Munich/Berlin: Oldenbourg, and Zurich: Corona (Schriften der Corona VIII)
Stock-Allen, Nancy (2016) Carol Twombly: her brief but brilliant career in type design. New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press
Twyman, Michael (1998) ‘Nicolete Gray: a personal view of her contribution to the study of letterforms’ in Typography Papers, n.3, pp.87–102
Weaver, Amber (2019) Femme Type. People of Print
Webber, Laura (1997) Women typeface designers. MA Thesis. Rochester Institute of Technology. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.rit.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=4844&context=theses]
Weissman, Dyana (2015)‘Women’s voices in type, on- and offstage. Part I’. Typographica.org, 14 August [Internet blog]. Retrieved from: https://typographica.org/on-typography/womens-voices-in-type-on-and-offstage/
Weissman, Dyana (2015)‘Women’s voices in type, on- and offstage. Part II’. Typographica.org, 14 August [Internet blog]. Retrieved from: https://typographica.org/on-typography/womens-voices-in-type-on-and-offstage-part-two/
Weissman, Dyana (2015)‘Type women talk: experiences with sexism’. Typographica.org, 14 August [Internet blog]. Retrieved from: https://typographica.org/on-typography/type-women-talk-experiences-with-sexism/
Weissman, Dyana (2015)‘Type Women talk: positive forces’. Typographica.org, 14 August [Internet blog]. Retrieved from: https://typographica.org/on-typography/type-women-talk-positive-force
Winter, S. (2006) Anna Simmons. Unpublished MA dissertation. University of Reading
Zapf-v. H., G. (2002) Gudrun Zapf-von Hesse: bindings, handwritten books, typefaces, examples of lettering and drawings. New York, Mark Batty Publisher