A book which juxtaposes an essay on Typography (‘The Crystal Goblet, or, Printing Should Be Invisible’ by Beatrice Warde) with the typographic poem (‘Ode to Typography’ by Pablo Neruda) side by side.

Warde’s essay emphasized how good typography should be completely invisible and should serve only to convey the content which it contains. Conversely, Nerudo’s poem was a loving tribute to the aesthetic beauty of various letterforms and the artistry that lies within typography.

The idea was to typographically represent the opposing texts side by side in a way that reflected their content and respective views on typography. Warde’s essay is set in a serif font, carefully spaced and accounting for all the little typographic details that should be attended to (windows, rivers, tracking, line height, etc.) On the other hand, Nerudo’s poem is set in a way such that the letterforms and punctuation marks make an intricate design by themselves, drawing attention to the curves of the letters, the negative spaces created by the letters, and the overall fascinating shapes that can arise out of creative typography.