Alfa-BetaArchivio Tipografico

Aldo Novarese achieved worldwide for his typefaces, mostly designed for the Italian foundry Nebiolo. In the centenary of his birth — June 29, 2020 — Archivio Tipografico together with Matilde Argentero, niece of Novarese, and Lorenzo Bolzoni, set out to celebrate his inestimable contribution to the discipline of type design by reprinting Alfa-Beta, his landmark 1964 book on the history of writing systems and the evolution of type. The reissue was complemented with the first full English translation, by Alta L. Price, and some additional contextualizing information, with two essays from Enrico Tallone and Tommaso Trojani. All these additional materials were published in a separate Reader’s Guide. In the Deluxe Edition the two books are housed in a hardcover slipcase, together with a limited edition specimen entirely printed in movable type by Archivio Tipografico.
The project was completely funded thanks to a successful crowdfunding campaign and entirely realised in Italy.