Alastair Johnston

Alastair Johnston (born Glasgow, 1950) grew up in Northern England. He has taught Visual Studies, Typography, Book Design at University of California, Berkeley & Davis from 1975 to 1986 and at U.C. Berkeley Extension from 1987–2011, where he was Honored Instructor for the Academic Year 2004. He founded Poltroon Press with artist Frances Butler in 1975, and he continues to publish original writing by contemporary authors, most recently Lucia Berlin letters. He has designed books for British Library, Oak Knoll Press, Crown Point Press, Harper/Collins, Serendipity Books. His books include Nineteenth-century American Designers & Engravers of Type by William Loy (co-editor/designer); A Discography of Docteur Nico; Transitional Faces: The Lives & Work of Richard Austin, type-cutter, and Richard T. Austin, wood-engraver; Dreaming on the Edge: Poets & Artists in California; Omnia Vanitas by Max Jacob (translator).