Response to Jacques Bertin's Semiology of Graphics: new edition forthcoming

I sure wish they decided to do a reprint a while back. I searched for a copy of The Semiology of Graphics for well over a year. Relentless internet searching finally yielded a copy at a small shop with a ridiculous price. I bought it anyway and found it informative but often dense and confusing. Clearly Mr. Bertin is a great thinker, trying to break the problem of information design down to basic principles. I have often wondered why Mr. Tufte's books make no mention of The Semiology of Graphics. Other design books refer to it as a watershed work in the field of user interface understanding. I can see areas where Mr. Tufte's and Mr. Bertin's ideas overlap, and areas where they diverge. I would be very intrigued by Mr. Tufte's comments this book.

I will probably buy the new edition, at hopefully a reasonable price. I am curios to see what light Mr. Berg's new material sheds on this topic.

-- Reynold Dodson (email), March 26, 2003

Response to Jacques Bertin's Semiology of Graphics: new edition forthcoming

French, Spanish or Italian-speaking readers can check a website on the Jacques Bertin's classic book, made by Sciences-Po school :

http://www.sciences-po.fr/cartographie/cartographie_html/5_page5theorie/graphique_bertin2001/index.html

(there is a Flash version but only in French...)

Romain

-- Romain (email), March 27, 2003

ET on Bertin, Semiology of Graphics

Jacques Bertin's Semiology of Graphics provides a close study of different graphic techniques (shape, orientation, color, texture, volume, size) for locating and signalling quantitative variation, often over geographic space (usually France) or over time. There is also the graphical analysis and sorting of data tables. The book contains several thousand illustrations, produced by Bertin and his colleagues. In addition, there are perhaps 20 graphics by others.

The book has many excellent ideas, such as adding 6 months to year-long time-series so that any part of a year cycle can be directly compared against adjacent parts.

John Tukey once mentioned that when he wanted some graphic inspiration, he would read Bertin. I used several pages from the 1973 French edition in The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. I have found that Bertin's work is worth returning to again and again.

The analysis largely concerns the visual properties of graphic representation. Most of the examples are design-stories not content-stories. As Bertin writes, "Generally we will not discuss here the content of the proposed examples. It can be good or bad, accurate or inaccurate. However, what matters to us is the quality and the efficacy of its graphic transcription. Incidentally, it is the singular characteristic of a good graphic transcription that it alone permits us to evaluate fully the quality of the content of the information."

A sense of the analysis is provided by Bertin's 1983 introduction to the English translation:

-- ET, March 27, 2003

Response to Jacques Bertin's Semiology of Graphics: new edition forthcoming

Update on status of Bertin reprint

On April 12, 2004, I received the following reply from the Business Manager of the University of Wisconsin Press in response to my inquiry regarding the status of the Semiology of Graphics reprint.

"I know the plan is to print a new edition sometime; I just don't know when. I think one hang-up is a rights consideration involving the French publisher. I know this doesn't help much, but it's all I have at the moment."

-- Mark S. Palmer (email), April 12, 2004

Response to Jacques Bertin's Semiology of Graphics: new edition forthcoming

Hello, I just wanted to say that I have a first printing of the hardcover book Semiology of Graphics from University of Wisconsin Press. The book is in basically like new condition. There is very light scuffing to the dj. Previous owner's name is written in very small letters on bottom edge of book in pen. If anyone is interested, please contact me at: artistseesred@yahoo.com Thank you.

-- Wyman (email), July 2, 2004

Response to Jacques Bertin's Semiology of Graphics: new edition forthcoming

I just sent another inquiry to U. of Wisconsin Press, informing them that there are people who have been seeking this book somewhat desperately for years, and that an announcement ET's web site would probably result in an instantaneous flood of orders (that's an academic publisher's "flood ", not a general trade publisher "flood ", as I'm sure they understand). I must confess that I'm hoping that dropping ET's name will have an impact on their plans...

I'll follow up when/if I get a response.

-- Jon A. Pastor (email), August 21, 2004

Response to Jacques Bertin's Semiology of Graphics: new edition forthcoming

Looking around the internet will probably turn up a copy of the book. Also good university libraries (or inter-library loan) should have copies.

One of the main reasons for the existence of university presses should be to keep in print books of high quality and modest sales (and written, or in this case translated, by a faculty member at that university). With a little bit of promotion, the Bertin book should at least break even. Having sold out the first printing, the book should have never gone out of print.

I will be happy to help promote the book.

-- Edward Tufte, August 21, 2004

The business manager of the University of Wisconsin Press informed me yesterday as follows: "We do plan to reprint. I'm not certain if it will be a revised edition. Publication plans are not definite, but I think it is safe to say it will not be available within the next year. Fall 2005 might be possible, but doubtful."

-- Bauke de Boer (email), September 3, 2004

I found that Romain's link to an interesting presentation of Bertin's book no longer works but this one does: http://www.sciences-po.fr/cartographie/semio/graphique_bertin2001/index.html

Both the HTML and Flash versions remain available only in French, Spanish, and Italian.

Also, Bertin fans may appreciate "The Curious Tale of the Drowning & Drawing of Jacques Bertin" which recounts the creation of Bertin's face as a map of an island: http://www.ideography.co.uk/idsync/bert/bertisle.html

-- Cindy Stanford (email), April 15, 2006

A company called AstroLogos Books (http:// www.astrologos.org) do reprints of this book for $160 from microfilm. Not sure how good the quality is though.

-- Stephen Baishya (email), April 16, 2006

I recently contacted the University of Wisconsin Press and asked them about the status of Bertin's book. Here is their (unfortunate) response:

Right now we are still trying to secure funding to reprint, "Semiology of Graphics." We are hoping that the funding comes through within the next two years. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

-- Lawrence Cayton (email), May 5, 2006

As a (former) student of Jacques Bertin, I still have his book. If I can be of any help...

-- ferdinand dinand (email), May 7, 2006

Do you know that there is no entry for "Jacques Bertin" in the Wikipedia? This says a lot about the Wikipedia, but it also means that a large user base don't have a basic reference for one of the most relevant authors in the field on information visualization. And that is a shame. Perhaps someone in this forums could change this...

-- Jorge Camoes (email), March 26, 2007

There's no Jacques Bertin in the English Wikipedia. There is a short article on the author of Semiologie graphique (born Maisons-Laffitte, 1918) on the German edition, but the article in French seemes to about somebody else, a singer and journalist (born Rennes, 1946).

-- Rob Brewer (email), March 27, 2007

I must apologize for only now discovering this thread, and while I realize that this posting may not "advance the analytical content of the thread" I do have a copy of the long out-of-print Bertin book in like-new condition (unmarked, with undamaged dust cover). It is a unquestionably a very useful and scholarly adjunct to Edward Tufte's superb books, and I am surprised that it had not been reprinted. One is listed on the Amazon.com site at over $300, which seems a bit outlandish. Although I worked in computer graphics for many years, I am now emeritus and no longer active in the field, and would be pleased to consider reasonable offers. I can be reached at rl@cgl.ucsf.edu, or if you prefer, 60 The Crescent, Berkeley CA 94708.

-- Robert Langridge (email), July 15, 2007

Any updates on the new edition? I ask because my fellow grad students and I keep passing around our library's only copy. It sure would be nice to at least get a lab copy!

Right now, used copies are selling for at least $250 through Amazon.

-- Eric Wolf (email), April 14, 2009

I have no update on the new edition, but I can report that Jacques Bertin – the cartographer, not the singer – is now the subject of Wikipedia articles in English and French as well as German.

-- Rob Brewer (email), April 27, 2009

ESRI Press is planning to release an updated edition of the Bertin within the next 18 months.

-- Kathleen Morgan (email), June 5, 2009

You cannot help dumb luck.

I have been following the Ask ET forum for a number of years now, and have read this topic numerous times as contributors make comment.

But it was only today in reading the most recent post that I realised I had a copy of Semiology of Graphics on my bookshelf without realising its value. I bought it in 2008 at a book fair held here in Canberra Australia each year that sells large numbers of old books to assist charities. I am almost embarrassed to say that I only paid AUD $4.00 for it.

-- Andrew Nicholls (email), June 7, 2009

I borrowed a copy of the English language edition a couple of years back and and took copious notes at the time. While this was really helpful and made a big difference to how I work, I still would like something more visual than my notes to inspire me. I am tempted to buy a copy of the French language edition which retails at 50 Euros (around $70), but only if their print quality is up to scratch. Has anyone seen or bought a copy of the either of the recent French language editions (1999 and 2005)?

-- Paul Bolton (email), July 6, 2009

I had the pleasure of talking with Jacques Bertin last fall , as he agreed to write a foreword for my book published in France "Convaincre avec des graphiques efficaces".

Though his health has been declining for some years now, we had very intense and lively meetings discussing the evolution of graphical excellence and technology.

At the time, he didn't seem to have any knoweldge of future / revised edition of his work. French copies of his "Semiology of Graphics" are still available in France and selling on Amazon

-- Bernard Lebelle (email), July 7, 2009

Confirmed that this is being reissued by ESRI press by October 2010 with a 35-page update. The following is the answer I received to a query at their local office. I won't print the guy's name, but he was very helpful.

"Hi Patrick, I checked in with our ESRI Press folks. ESRI Press will be reissuing the Semiology of Graphics next year, probably by October. Bertin, the author, had completed an update of 23 pages which has been translated to English (by the same prior translator), which will be added on to the end of the book. The rest of the book will be just as it was."

-- Patrick Stonelake (email), October 28, 2009

It is with great sadness that I've just learned that Jacques Bertin died on May 3rd this year. I will keep the fond memories of the exchange I had with him at the time he prefaced my book on information visualization.

His "Semiology of graphics" will be rereleased late this year, probably october 2010, with a new apendix written by Jacques Bertin himself (ISBN: 9781589482616) by ESRI Press. Full catalog and detail available at http://www.esri.com/library/catalogs/esripress-catalog-2010.pdf

-- Bernard Lebelle (email), May 19, 2010

All who admire his work will be sad to hear that Jacques Bertin passed away on 3 May 2010.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Bertin

-- Nick Cox (email), May 20, 2010

Jacques Bertin's Semiology of Graphics: new edition available via pre-order

For some reason, I thought I would check availability today. I am happy to report that I pre-ordered my copy today from one of the big-box book retailers.

This new edition has been especially tantalizing for me, since I actually held the University of Wisconsin Press edition in my hands at the University Bookstore in Madison, Wisconsin during the mid 1980s. I had just discovered The Quantitative Display of Visual Information, and I was keen on studying its source material. Lack of money prevented me from purchasing the book at the time, and I have regretted it ever since.

My wait will soon be over.

-- Jon Gross (email), August 23, 2010