This succinct and thoughtful essay is the text of a talk commissioned for a symposium entitled The Future of Reading which was held at RIT in June 2010. Reading could have a rich and interesting future, because it does have a rich and interesting past. But if no one remembers that past, it may not mean much to the future. This succinct and thoughtful essay is the textof a talk commissioned for a symposium entitled The Future of Reading which was held at RIT in June 2010. Written and designed by Robert Bringhurst, this limited edition is carefully crafted and letterpress printed. Printed on Mohawk Ticonderoga paper. ROBERTBRINGHURST was the 2016 recipient of the RIT Frederic W. Goudy Award for Typographic Excellence.