Typography Tuesday
Here are some typographic and calligraphic examples from our new acquisition Modern Lettering Design and Application edited by Herbert Hoffmann and published in New York by William Helburn Inc. sometime in the 1930s. Shown here is the work of several noted German type designers and calligraphers, including Jakob Erbar, Rudolf Koch, Heinz König, Oskar von Kress, and Anna Simons. Also shown here are letterforms constructed from brass rules at the School of Decorative Art in Stuttgart.
The publication was intended as a study manual. The introduction notes that,
Whoever takes up the study of letters and lettering must first of all be clear as to the great variety of uses and means by which he is confronted. . . . This publication entitled “Lettering” approaches absolutely without prejudice and from a purely artistic point of view all questions concerning the form and use of type of every kind and variety. . . . The young graphic artist should carefully study the capacity for expression inherent in the lettering here submitted. He should learn how to work with various styles, not slavishly imitating what is presented -- still less using it for commercial duplication.
Our copy once belonged to the “Reference Section” of the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen of the City of New York, and it appears that they may not have heeded the editor’s admonition as two of the book’s plates have been removed, we’re guessing, for “slavish imitation” and for use in “commercial duplication.” This copy also bears the ownership stamp of Hayward Cirker the founder of Dover Publications.
View more posts with work by Anna Simons.
View more posts with work by Rudolf Koch.
View our other Typography Tuesday posts.
