The Elements of Typographic Style

The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst is considered by many (including me) to be "the finest book ever written about typography". But it's much more than that. It's a book about making books beautiful–and useful. It a book about book design and layout and white space and calligraphy and the golden ratio and Henry David Thoreau (really). And it's also a beautiful book in it's own right. Every page is a marvel of design, the paper feels good, the author is a poet. Truly a rare example of embodying human language with an elegant visual form. Illuminating.