Octavo Redux 1:1

London: Unit Editions, 2017. Limited RED edition from the orig. Kickstarter campaign. Hardcover. NEW in shrink Wrap. ONE OF 80 ORIGINAL 2017 LIMITED "RED" EDITIONS IN SHRINK-WRAP, REDISCOVERED IN A WAREHOUSE.
Unit Editions 2017, 315 × 240 mm
384 pages, Hardcover, Printed 4/4 Kaleido plus 2 special colours, Translucent jacket,
Mirror paper cover and endpapers, Two paper stocks
------------------
A fleeting opportunity to grab the definitive compilation of Octavo, journal of typography 1986-1992
In 2017, Unit Editions crowdfunded the publication Octavo Redux, a unique 384-page book that brought together all eight issues of the influential Octavo journal of typography, published in the 1980s and 1990s by studio 8vo. The book was subsequently made available on the Unit website (in a green edition) and is long sold out. So we're delighted to announce that 80 copies of the red edition of the book, previously only available to its initial backers, have become available thanks to their rediscovery during a recent warehouse restock. These heavyweight copies are now available.

Octavo Redux is designed and edited by two of Octavo's original designers and editors, Hamish Muir and Mark Holt, formerly of 8vo. Although 8vo disbanded in July 2001, Muir and Holt reunited to design and edit Octavo Redux. In addition to the issues themselves - all reproduced at 1:1 scale - the book documents the covers and spreads from the full-scale working prototypes made by 8vo during each issue of Octavo. Subscription cards and their mock-ups are shown at full-scale - and the notorious eighth issue (the 'interactive' CD-ROM) is also documented.

The pre-desktop computer production processes employed in the early issues of Octavo are documented by showing selected type specifications and proof mark-ups for in-position page-make-up typesetting systems. These often resulted in long 'discussions' with the typesetters, conducted via bike messengers, red pen, highlight markers and Tipp-Ex. Through extensive captions and annotations, the book shines a light on this now lost practice of visual engineering - where maths mattered.

Hamish Muir went on to co-found MuirMcNeil with Paul McNeil in 2009. The studio's first book, System Process Form, which displays hundreds of geometric alphabets taken from its Two type system and is printed in three neon inks and metallic black, is also available exclusively on Volume. ---
Named after an abbreviation of the book-production term 'octavo', 8vo saw themselves as outsiders; they were intense, outspoken and did not identify or engage with the design community. They were pragmatists, obsessed with detail, believing that expression should be a result of the design process, not the motivation for it.

Caroline Roberts, Graphic Design Visionaries



I tell students that typography is the spine that runs through the body of graphic design practice. Language is always present. I also tell them that to be a good typographer you have to care about language. I would hope that the publication of Octavo Redux, and the access it gives them to the original pre-computer publications and preliminary studies, shows the importance of visual craft and making, and how the physical creation of something needs to be incorporated into the design process.

Simon Johnston, co-founder of 8vo and Octavo.