The book is sort of sold as "why Catich thinks the chiselled Trajan were written with a brush", but in fact is much more than that, and much more interesting. I recommend the book to anyone who is interested in letter shape (of course it is limited to the Latin alphabet). 

The main subject of the book is reed versus brush versus chisel as the primary shaping tool of the letters. Obviously the letters are cut with a chisel, but the debate is around whether the shapes of the letters are determined by the chisel used for cutting, the brush used for painting the shapes onto the marble, or the reed as would be used in formal writing. 

I understand that at the time of writing Catich’s position that the brush is paramount was quite controversial, but is, in the 21st Century, a more mainstream position. Catich has clearly done much research, and goes to particular pains to point out how familiar he is with the positions of the counter argument (quoting pretty much every well regarded letter artist working in North America or Europe in the 20th Century). 

A minor flaw for me was that i found the earlier parts of the book confusing because i was not very familiar with either brush or chisel arts or calligraphy and the dominant theories of calligraphy. Catich spends a fair amount of time arguing against various arguments about chiselling and calligraphy without necessarily introducing the subject first. Often the focus is on what something, a chiselled V-cut say, is not, before explaining what it is; it feels like we are discussing the shadow of a thing before the thing. There is plenty of opportunity to catch up in the later chapters however. 

The book is beautifully presented, with plenty of drawings, both admirable and relevant. Short chapters and ample margins make for easy reading. Catich‘s language is fairly precise and while he may not always use terms familiar to me or the modern reader, there is a good clear definitions section. 

There are excellent (and somehow drily amusing) summaries provided: partway as Chapter 27 and as the concluding Chapter 56. 

The principal argument is that the Trajan letters can and were written with a square-cut brush. The short version of that would be to simply demonstrate that. Catich does demonstrate that, but the demonstration is left teasingly until the back third. Personally i find the argument convincing both from a kinaesthetic view (of brush, arm, and hand movements), but also purely from the graphical aspect of "look how well the brush replicates the form".