Simon Garfield

One of the most beautiful handcrafted typefaces in the world (and the author's favourite), Albertus is also one of the most enduring.

The face of thousands of book jackets (Faber adopted it as its house style), it is also the chosen look for David Bowie, Coldplay, Star Wars and the LeBron James website, as warmly enticing on film posters as it is on memorial plaques. The story of Albertus is one of displacement (designer Berthold Wolpe was a German Jewish refugee who went on to design the masthead for The Times), but also one of permanence, for it has proved a fresh, vibrant and indestructible face for almost a century. In this unique celebration, the designer's children reveal the history of its creation and erratic brilliance of their father, while the book grapples with one of the fundamental artistic questions: what makes great art not only survive but flourish in each new age and medium?