Editions of The Stroke
A history of this book. These are books from our (combined) collections. But I’m sure we are missing some. So, if you have a translation that needs to be added to this list, please share the info!
We have seen Italian, Spanish, French, Croatian, Portuguese, Russian, Korean, Lithuanian, Italian, Czech, English and Dutch editions.
Please note: TypeMedia does not make or publish these translations! We love how far this book has traveled and we enthusiastically share our collection here. The rights to this book remain with the Noordzij estate.
Review Jan Middendorp, 2006
‘Letterletter’, originally a one-man journal distributed mainly to ATypI members, is witty and rich in ideas, but too fragmented, polemical and tongue-in-cheek to function as an introduction to Noordzij’s thinking. ‘The stroke’, Peter Enneson’s long-awaited translation of ‘De streek’, is much better placed to take that role. Published in Dutch in 1985, ‘The stroke’ stands out as the most concise and complete summary of Noordzij’s theories on type. … This theory is the subject of the 70-odd pages of ‘The stroke’: an analysis of the construction of letterforms informed by historical study but firmly rooted in hands-on experience. In Noordzij’s words: ‘To be able to analyse writing I need to write, and to be able to write I need the analysis. This circle-game is not played in the study, but rather in the workshop.’
Jan Middendorp, Eye, no. 59, 2006
Mechanicals for the cover of the 1982 edition of the Stroke of the pen. Handwritten note: “return cover negatives undamaged”. Courtesy the Gerrit Noordzij Archive, Allard Pierson Museum, University of Amsterdam.
Image: KABK
The stroke of the pen: fundamental aspects of western writing
The Hague: Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten, 1982 [52 pp]
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For the occasion of the tricentennial of the Royal Academy of Art. “Designed by the author, illustrated by the author”
Image: Noordzij Estate
De streek: theorie van het schrift
Zaltbommel: Van de Garde, 1985 [80 pp]
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Image: Noordzij Estate
De streek: theorie van het schrift
Zaltbommel: Van de Garde, 1985 [80 pp]
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A special edition of 150 copies for Van de Garde, “to coincide with the trade edition of 1000 copies”
Image: Noordzij Estate
De streek: theorie van het schrift
Leersum: ICS Nederland, 1991 [80 pp]
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Image: Hyphen Press
The stroke, theory of writing
Hyphen Press, 2005, 2009 [86 pp]
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English edition. Translation Peter Enneson. Includes the original foreword from 1985 and an additional one from 2005. Corrected reprint in 2009
Il tratto. Teoria della scrittura
Milan: Edizioni Sylvestre Bonnard , 2006 [88 pp]
126 × 210 mm.
Italian edition. Translation Alessandro Collizi.
El trazo, Teoria de la escritura
(pub.?) 2009 [78 pp]
125 × 210 mm.
Spanish edition. Carlos García Aranda
Le trait, une téorie de l’écriture
Paris: Ypsilon Éditeur, 2010 [88 pp]
125 × 210 mm.
French edition. Translation by Fernand Baudin, Jan Middendorp (ed.)
Potez, teorija pisanja
Split: Department of Visual Communications Design, Arts Academy, 2012 [92 pp]
125 × 210 mm.
Croatian edition. Translation Mirna Herman Baletić. Nikola Djurek, Hrvoje Živčić, Igor Čaljkušić, Dejan Kršić, Damir Bralić, Marko Hrastovec, editors.
o Traço, teoria da escrita
São Paulo: Blucher, 2013 [82 pp]
125 × 209 mm.
Portuguese edition. Translation Luciano Cardinali, Andréa Branco
Shtrikh, Teoriya pis’ma
Moscow: D. Aronov, 2013 [88 pp]
125 × 210 mm.
Russian edition. Translation Irina Smirnova
The Stroke : Theory of Writing
Seoul: Ahn Graphics, 2014 [152 pp]
130 × 220 mm.
Korean edition. Translation Yoo Ji-won
Štrichas, rašymo teorija
Vilnius: Vilnius Academy of Arts Publishing House, 2015 [?pp]
125 × 210 mm.
Lithuanian edition, translation Almanté Triantafyllidou
Il tratto. Teoria della scrittura
Milan: Lazy Dog Press srl, 2020 [88 pp]
126 × 210 mm.
Italian edition. Translation Alessandro Collizi.
Image: KABK
The stroke, theory of writing
The Hague: Royal Academy of Art, Amsterdam: Uitgeverij de Buitenkant, 2021 [86 pp]
125 × 210 mm.
Reprint of the 2009 Hyphen Press edition with minor text corrections. New cube illustration by Just van Rossum.
Tah. Teorie písma
Prague: UMPRUM Publishing House, 2025 [82 pp]
110 × 195 mm.
Czech edition. Translation Magda de Bruin Hüblová