I’ve not yet had a chance to read or even see a copy of The Road by Cormac McCarthy but Samuel John Klein provides a review and some good insights into the book’s design, particularly the typography and interior layout. (Everybody talks about cover art so it’s good to see someone mentioning the interior, too).

The book’s type, cited by The Believer magazine as Bulmer, is an unadorned serif face, somewhat like Bodoni, whose plainness and matter-of-factness stands above its artistry. The folios–book title at the top of the verso, page number at the top of the recto–look like a downmarket variety of Koch’s Neuland; hand done but cut rather sloppily. Designer Peter Anderson has designed to the subject matter, and has done so superbly; the rigidly-obeyed margins and the generous leading enhance and reinforce the author’s prose style.

Read the review and about the Chip Kidd cover art at ZehnKatzen Times.