青幻舎 SEIGENSHA Art Publishing

The history of design does not say much about “handwritten characters,” so listen to this.

At the beginning of the 20th century, way before computers, typesetting and words like typography and lettering became established in Japan, designers in the commercial art field carefully drew characters by hand, one character at a time, directly on a variety of media (bills, flyers, signboards, posters, etc.). Unlike what is seen in modern typography today, those handwritten characters overflow with so much creativity and dynamism that they assert a presence that, after one look, you will never forget.

Welcome to a world of characters born from the unbridled and unconventional ideas of early 20th century designers in Japan.

This book reproduces and rearranges the entire archive of practical ornamental characters collected and edited by Masahiro Anezaki in his “Practical Ornamental Characters and Designs” in 1926.