[1] A high-school dropout with a passion for books and letterpress printing, Targ took a job as an office boy at Macmillan Publishers when he was 18.

[1][3] Chapter XIII of The Vanishing Gold Truck, a 1941 novel by Harry Stephen Keeler, places Targ's bookstore at 335 South Dearborn St. and describes Targ as a "slender kindly looking young-appearing man, with blueblack hair brushed straight back from a high forehead, distinct green-brown eyes, and tweed suit."

The twenty-five Targ Editions include works by Henry Roth, John Updike, Saul Bellow, Tennessee Williams, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, and Norman Mailer—each book a unique volume.

As a typophile and bookman, now on my own, I look more closely into the genius and works of the men and women who enriched our lives with beautiful books.

He was survived by his wife, Roslyn, of Manhattan, a literary agent; a son, Russell, of Palo Alto, California; two grandchildren, one of whom is Elisabeth Targ, and four great-grandchildren.