There are many indispensable books on book design and typography. Were I forced to choose, the one I would be most reluctant to give up is Robert Bringhurst's The Elements of Typographic Style. Bringhurst, aside from being an incredibly gifted poet (with several volumes of poetry under his belt), is also a supremely lucid writer. Of all the bits and pieces and essays I've read on typography, none illuminates the subject with such near perfect clarity as Bringhurst. Even if you have no interest in design, his work is eloquent and full of enough history as to be an interesting read.

I cracked open Bringhurst for the first time in a long while last night in order to get my typographical bearings. I also pulled from my library Notes on Book Design by Derek Birdsall. Derek has been designing books for over 50 years now, and this weighty (my shoulders are aching from carrying it around with me all night and this afternoon) volume contains many insights into his work and book design in general. For example, right away, he makes an interesting note on the uniformity of the size of books in a series:

"For a series, the common height of the books on a bookshelf is an obvious concern; however a wider page is still possible whilst retaining that height."

Which is precisely what he did -- widen the series -- when the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. asked him to design the 16th volume of their systematic catalog.

"... the size of which was 285 x 220 mm. This page was too narrow for three columns, which I deemed essential for the numerous comparative illustrations and the copious notes. With sixteen more volumes to follow it seemed not too late to suggest a wider page. The spines will continue to match on the bookshelf..."

As with any large project you need to be held down to the ground by some sort of reference point. Spending several hours going over books like these and taking lots of notes certainly allow me to gain creative footing before diving into the design of something like Do You Know.