This book published in the late 19th century today still remains the only original substantial Russian work on typesetting, page layout and typography. Until the middle of the 20th century most of the Soviet publications on the subject used extracts and illustration from Kolomnin’s monograph.

Nothing is known about the author, not even his appearance—it is Guttenberg’s portrait that’s on the dust jacket. Although the book deals mainly with manual typesetting, it can prove most informative and useful reference to any modern designer, type designer, printer or editor.