Typography books at ABE

A nice collection of typography books. I own too few of these. But then I also own many not listed here. The subject is both broad and deep.

Moses behind a laptop

I am sitting in the living room at a retreat center—one of those 1930s-era lefty summer camps for adults that fill their calendars with workshops and lectures and canoeing and hiking and bad vegetarian food. This is not my thing. “Fun group activities” is an oxymoron in my idiolect. I readily acknowledge being a curmudgeon. I am here only to humor my wife, who is here because of a particular workshop she wanted to attend.

Earlier this morning, another guest, a woman about my age with a German accent, came down the stairs, saw me sitting here, and asked if I would mind if she took my picture. “If that would amuse you, feel free,” I said, and kept reading my email.

She took her picture and then volunteered that she is accustomed to seeing young people tapping away at their laptops but that she was startled to see me. She said, “You have a patriarchal beard.” I replied that the last time I shaved I was a young man and my beard was not patriarchal. “You look like Moses behind a laptop,” she said.

Maybe I’ll go on that hike this afternoon, after all. It’s up a mountain.

DO NOT MAKE THIS MISTAKE

On the umpteenth round of revisions on a book I’m working on (don’t ask), the client reworded the dedication. The original wording began by thanking his wife and then his children. The revision began with his children and omitted any mention of his wife.

Well, people’s situations change, and this is a client, not a personal friend. So I don’t like to pry. But just to be sure the omission was intentional, I queried the change.

Good thing I did. The author did not intend to omit his wife. We’re both glad I asked.