SANS (FR) 1628-1924

SANS (FR) 1628-1924 - 35 €

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Co-published with Ésad Amiens.

The aim of SANS (FR) 1628-1924 is to highlight the irrepressible rise, in France, between the time of the Enlightenment and the beginning of the 20th century, of a form, a thousand-faceted kind of writing, which is often taken for granted and flourishes in common existence. This form is the “Sans”, i. e. the letter without serif, or “sans-serif”. “Sans” means “without” in French : a preposition indicating what is missing, what is not or no more present. In typography, this word refers to characters lacking the cross-lines drawn perpendicularly to the extremity of the stem of the letters of the Latin alphabet. How should we talk about, how should we describe something so plain, which can result from a few simple and personal gestures, or just as well from a complex technical process? […]

Read the Review from Catherine Dixon published in Eye Magazine 104 (May 2023).

Making SANS

Following the publication of Essaime, a personnal book of Sébastien Morlighem, it was obvious for Non Standard to publish SANS (FR) 1628-1924, thanks to the fruitful co-publishing with Ésad Amiens. Just like Lettres du Havre, Scriptopolis or Colours on the beach, but diferently, SANS shows with an extreme delicassy, signage, messages, photographs paintings, drawings, scribbles engraving, buildings, men and women, children, jobs clothes engines, life along the way in France, from 1628 to 1924. The reading is endless, turning the pages back and forth is a treasure. The double black printing is a miracle, the paper flow creates a unique experience, the loose binding is magnetic. SANS reminds us our reason of being: making experiments/offering experience related to reading and writing. Alone with this sequence of images during 340 pages, we are focused like never before. We search, we dig, we linger, we scrutinize, we taste, we twirl around, we find, we go back, we wonder, we move forward quickly, we will return later, we feast. We lose ourselves in the visual essay which densifies, we dive into beauty. Then comes the textual essay, intertwinned with thumbnails and captions, which enlightens us and makes us want to go back to see the images. Making SANS, having SANS, being with SANS, is an immense chance. I wish you the joy.
Élodie Boyer