A Victorian-era ticket with a unique border and striking typefaces. The star of the show is Bank-Note Italic, a variant of John F. Cumming’s Bank-Note Italic (c.1863) in which the top halves have diagonal hatching. Charles E. Heyer added it to the catalog of the Boston Type Foundry in 1875. 

Opening Party at Fox’s Hall, South Worcester, N.Y.
Thursday Evening, Dec. 15, 1887 Music by Belcher's Full Band.
Yourself and lady are respectively invited.
Bill $1.50
J. D. Beard, Manager. E. Fox, Prop’r.

Certificates like this one were issued by the Chinese consulate-general in San Francisco to show that the holder was exempt from the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, which banned Chinese laborers from entering the United States. The Chinese exclusion policy remained in effect until it was lifted in 1943.

The heading combines a Celtic with Ronaldson (also used for the word “SEAL” at the bottom left), and the following paragraph combines Title Text Open No. 3 with Spencerian Script. The word “DESCRIPTION” is in Old Style Extended, while the labels for each item are in a Modern/Scotch. The italic at the bottom is in a style that was presented by MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan as a companion to Ronaldson (Old Style, No. 4) as well as to Bradford Old Style (Old Style, No. 2) and Binny (Old Style, No. 3). The Chinese signatures aren’t typographic.

Source: www.ebay.com Epic Rare Books and Collectibles (edited). License: All Rights Reserved.

Wanted: Dennis the Menace. The other fonts are Antique Tuscan Condensed and Akzidenz-Grotesk Bold.

Hank Ketcham’s Dennis the Menace made its debut as a daily syndicated newspaper comic strip on March 12, 1951. It has subsequently been published in comic book form by various publishers, including Standard/Pines (1953–58), Fawcett Comics (1958–80, and Marvel Comics (1981–82).

Shown here are covers for the mass market paperback collections by Fawcett Crest, published in their Crest Book and Fawcett Gold Medal imprints. The main title is set in Filmotype Accent. Volume titles and secondary text use a variety of typefaces. More often than not, the former is added in the form of hand-lettering.

Source: www.ebay.com Lost Cellar Found (edited). License: All Rights Reserved.

In This Corner… Small text is in Venus Extended.

Source: www.ebay.com Tom Ray’s Pop-Culture Roadshow (edited). License: All Rights Reserved.

Make-Believe Angel. The volume title appears to be lettering. At the very bottom, News Gothic Bold.

Source: www.ebay.com Spook’s Monster Mayhem y Mas (edited). License: All Rights Reserved.

Rides Again. Accent is here used for the whole tite and for the author’s name.

Source: www.ebay.com Tom Ray’s Pop-Culture Roadshow (edited). License: All Rights Reserved.

…Teacher’s Threat

Source: www.ebay.com CarolinasTrader (edited). License: All Rights Reserved.

Household Hurricane

Source: www.ebay.com SattyFamilyCards (edited). License: All Rights Reserved.

…Who Me?

Source: www.ebay.com CollectiblesAgain (edited). License: All Rights Reserved.

Ambassador of Mischief, featuring all-caps Dom.

Source: www.ebay.com MCL’S Closet Treasures (edited). License: All Rights Reserved.

Everybody’s Little Helper, again with Dom

Source: www.ebay.com OnTimeBooks (edited). License: All Rights Reserved.

Dennis the Menace and Poor Ol’ Mr. Wilson

Source: www.ebay.com Tom Ray’s Pop-Culture Roadshow (edited). License: All Rights Reserved.

Surprise Package

Source: www.ebay.com Shy Girl Thrifts (dited). License: All Rights Reserved.

Short ’n Snappy

Source: www.ebay.com Tom Ray’s Pop-Culture Roadshow (edited). License: All Rights Reserved.

Dennis the Menace and his Girls

Source: www.ebay.com Tom Ray’s Pop-Culture Roadshow (edited). License: All Rights Reserved.

Perpetual Motion

Source: www.ebay.com Iris of Versi (edited). License: All Rights Reserved.

…Here Comes Trouble

Source: archive.org License: All Rights Reserved.

All-American Kid

Source: archive.org License: All Rights Reserved.

McNeil Bros. was a San Jose printer specializing in labels. Their 1885 catalog, Specimens of Druggist Labels…, is an explosion of eccentric type and ornament in fancy frames, offering hundreds of examples of artistic printing from the real world. This label combines seven very different display faces. The shaded ornaments pair well with the title type, Italic Copperplate, a design so elaborate it could be mistaken for custom engraving.

Source: archive.org License: All Rights Reserved.

Italic Copperplate shown in MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan’s 1891 catalog.

Most of the type in the McNeil Bros. shop was likely procured from the largest local foundry, Palmer & Rey in San Francisco. The company didn’t originate many (if any) type designs of their own, but they did supply the West Coast with novelties from Cincinnati, New York’s Conner, and Philadelphia’s MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan, all of which are represented on this label.

Source: archive.org License: Public Domain.

Pen Text, as shown in Palmer & Rey’s 1884 catalog (printed the year before the McNeil Bros. book that features the above label). In this copy of the specimen book held at the University of California, someone tried sketching a few characters in the ronde script style.

The first page of a large 480-page catalog advertising goods offered by Feldheim, Gotthelf & Co., an Australian importer of “British, Continental and American Merchandise”. Founded in the 1850s, the company entered a period of growth starting with a new warehouse in 1892. This catalog, published around 1905, offers an extensive window into essentially the entire breadth of goods available to Australian households at the time. The company entered a period of decline a few years later due to partners retiring from business, and in 1924 began the process of shutting down the company which concluded in 1927.

The catalog is set in a smorgasbord of period typefaces. The shown page features Facade for the company’s name, followed by Maltese Shaded, Condensed Sans Serifs Italic (see Condensed & Elongated Sans Serifs), Grotesque No. 4A, and Reed’s Runic Extended (for “Sydney”). “On Sale” is in DeVinne Ornamental and the list of items in De Vinne. The caps used for the name and location shown integrated in the red border are from Concave. Some of the typefaces used for smaller text are yet unidentified.

Vom Fels zum Meer (“From rock to sea”) is an “illustrated journal for the German house” edited by Wilhelm Spemann (1844–1910) and published from 1881 to 1917. Between 1890 and 1897, Spemann’s publishing house was merged into Union Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft, a company he had founded together with Adolf Kröner (1836–1911).

The shown letter was sent in January 1894 to one of the family journal’s advertisers, the “Duc” Cycle Co. in Herzogenbusch, that is ’s-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands. “Duc” was a brand by B.A. Jansen who imported bicycles manufactured by the Quinton Cycle Co. in Coventry, England. Pasted in the bottom left corner is a sample of the ad that was to be included in Vom Fels zum Meer.

The text block at the top right features five different blackletter typefaces. The title is set in Renaissance-Fraktur, with the subtitle added in a version of Original-Gotisch. “Monats-Ausgabe” uses a German adaptation of Tudor Black, possibly Psalter-Gotisch by Krebs. Last but not least, we get to see Flinsch’s Halbfette Schwabacher and Albert Anklam’s Neue Schwabacher.

Detail

“What should I talk about? The art of entertainment” is a manual for conducting a conversation, written by Helene Stökl (1845–1929) under her pen name, Constanze von Franken. First published in 1894 by Levy & Müller in Stuttgart, with the second edition following in 1896, this is the third edition, probably from around 1898.

The title page is a smorgasbord of German blackletter typefaces from the late 19th century. In order of appearance, these are: Enge verzierte Altdeutsch (“Wovon soll ich reden?”), Antike Kanzlei (“Die Kunst der Unterhaltung”), Halbfette Schwabacher (“Ein praktisches Handbuch”), Gutenberg-Gotisch (“mit Anleitungen, Musterbeispielen (Zwiegespräche u.s.w.) für die verschiedensten Anlässe und Vorkommnisse im modernen gesellschaftlichen Leben und Verkehr, für Damen und Herren.”), Neue Schwabacher (“Nebst einem Anhang”), and Schmale Akzidenz-Gotisch (“Hundert Gesellschaftsspiele, fünfzig Pfänderauslösungen”). “Constanze von Franken” is set in the halbfett weight of Gutenberg-Gotisch. The two lines below are in Neue Schwabacher again, and “Stuttgart” shows more of the Halbfette Schwabacher.

Several of the fonts were produced by the local Bauer & Co – which was acquired by Berthold on this day in 1898.

Levy & Müller was founded in 1871 by Maximilian Levy and Wilhelm Müller. In the first four decades of the 20th century, it was one of the leading publishers of books for young people in the German-speaking world. The publishing house was renamed Herold-Verlag in 1933. Due to their Jewish roots, the owners were forced to sell it in 1936. They managed to flee to the United States in 1938 – the year of the Nazi pogroms on 9–10 November – and 1941, respectively.

Cover with art by Stuttgart-based artist Peter Schnorr (1862–1912). The lettering is custom drawn. The ocher letterforms are similar to the Artistik typeface (Bauer & Co./Berthold, 1898). Schnorr also worked on typefaces released by Berthold, see his Augsburger Schrift (1901).

This undated German translation of Les Trois Mousquetaires (The Three Musketeers) was published by Karl Prochaska in Teschen, Austria (today: Cieszyn/Těšín), in a series titled “Die besten Romane der Weltliteratur” (“The best novels in world literature”).

The series title on the top of the title page pairs Heinz König’s Renaissance-Fraktur (1885) with initials from Friedrich W. Bauer’s Renaissance-Kanzlei (1883). “Die drei Musketiere” is presented in a lighter typeface, likewise with flourished capitals: Antike Kanzlei (1882) was designed in-house at Flinsch and cut by William Kirkwood. The name of Alexander [sic!] Dumas uses Original-Gotisch or similar. The smaller text including the caption of the frontispiece is set in a Normal-Fraktur.

“Die besten Romane der Weltliteratur” on the cover appears to be a (custom-made?) open variant of Renaissance-Fraktur. The author’s name here is set in Albert Anklam’s Neue Schwabacher (1876).

The cover depicts Germania holding a torch in her right hand and a shield with a double-headed eagle in her left. The silver text uses Preciosa with its decorated capitals.

Bauer was a German type foundry established by Friedrich W. Bauer and Karl Rupprecht in Stuttgart in 1880. It’s not to be confused with the Bauer (or Bauersche) foundry in Frankfurt am Main, which was started in 1837 by Friedrich’s father, Johann Christian Bauer. Bauer jr. left the company in 1887, but the established Bauer & Co. name was continued. Rupprecht added a branch in Düsseldorf in 1892. On 9 November 1897, Bauer & Co. was acquired by the H. Berthold AG in Berlin.

This is their 1895 type specimen book titled Neue Gesammt-Probe (“New comprehensive specimen”). Stiftung Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin digitized a copy from their Günter Gerhard Lange Collection. Shown here are the cover, the title pages, the foreword, and the opening pages for the four sections.

The main typefaces used for the book design are Preciosa and Carmen, two typefaces that were released by Bauer & Co. shortly before.

In 2022, I made a digital interpretation of Carmen named Amabilis Veneriana. It covers the two original weights plus an open Hollow style. I found the base character set in the third edition of Ludwig Petzendorfer’s Schriften-Atlas from 1898.

The half-title page features Carmen in regular and bold.

The ornate title page combines Preciosa and Carmen. The small type at the top is set in the English cut of Mediäval-Antiqua, with oldstyle figures. “Neue Ausgabe 1895” uses the corresponding Kursiv.

Page with room for a dedication. The company name at the top is in Carmen again. The text integrated in the sign held by the girl on the stairs is set in Gutenberg-Gotisch, “gewidmet” is in Triumph-Schreibschrift, and “Anmerkung” in Mercantil-Kursiv.

Foreword with a headline in Carmen and text in Mediäval-Antiqua with halbfett. The initial D is taken from Preciosa.

Title page for the first section with Werkschriften (“work[horse] typefaces”) and Zeitungsschriften (“newspaper typefaces”), in Fraktur and Antiqua styles. The typography pairs Enge verzierte Altdeutsch and Altdeutsch. The latter is Bauer & Co.’s recutting of Caxton Black. The small text uses their Schwabacher.

Title page of the second section with Auszeichnungsschriften (“typefaces for emphasis”, i.e, display type) and Accidenzschriften (“jobbing typefaces”), with more Mediäval-Antiqua and Preciosa

The third section comprises Kursivschriften (“italic typefaces”), Rund- und Schreibschriften (“typefaces for circulars and script typefaces”), Zeichen (“symbols”), Initialen (“initials”) and Verschiedenes (“misc.”). The featured typefaces include Triumph-Schreibschrift, Mediäval-Kursiv, and Mercantil-Kursiv.

The fourth and final section deals with Polytypen (″polytypes”), Einfassungen (“borders”), Vignetten (“vignettes”) and Zierat (“ornaments”).

Photo via Urban Remains

The cover page of a catalogue booklet for Stow & Haight Company of Grand Rapids, Michigan. The company was active from 1880 to 1885 and tables were their primary product. After 1885, Haight was bought out by George Davis and the company reorganized as Stow & Davis.

“Tables” is in (a) Celtic (c.1867), “Catalogue and Price List” is set in Attic (1879), and “Of” might be in (an) Antique Extended (c.1858). The numerals for “1884” are from Oxonian (1881) and “Grand Rapids, Michigan” uses Old Style Extended (1880s?). The condensed roman for the company name and the sans serifs are yet unidentified.

Poster from the collection of the National Library of Norway for an appearance of the circus led by Norwegian wrestler and strongman, Karl Norbeck, with performances that include “Bullpunching”. Someone has written 1900 as a date on the poster, but Norbeck apparently hadn’t purchased his circus until 1904 (the next year with June 23rd falling on a Saturday, as specified on the poster, would have been 1906).

Regardless of its exact date, the poster features a smorgasbord of decorative 19th-century typefaces typical of the typographic styles at the turn of the 20th century – some that were fairly common at the time and others that are much harder to find in historical use. The N in ‘Norbeck’ appears to be upside-down.

The printing credit at the bottom of the poster specifies the source as ‘‘Trondhjem, Lie & Sundts Bogtrykkeri”.

See the related listing at the National Library of Norway.

Full transcription:

CIRKUS VARIETEE.
Brydekjæmpen
Norbeck
Lørdag den 23de Juni Kl. 8 Aften
paa Skøitebanetomten.
Optræden af den
Norske Turner Ole Kristiansen.
Enestaaende Præstationer i Stolpyramide, Trapetz og romerske Ringe.
Mr. Oscardo.
Haandekvilibrist, enestaaende uden Conkurrance.
Hr. Westby.
Nutidens bedste Slangeimitatør.
– Non plus ultra –
Komiker Bøe.
Søskende Westby, Norsk Halling- og Springdans.
– Orginale Dragter og Dans. –
Optræden af den berømte Dumme Peter Balskansky.
Stor Suces fra Akershusfestlighederne.
Hr. Norbeck
giver Opvisning i
amerikansk Køllesving, Løftning.
Løfter Vegt fra 50 Kg. till 500.
Nyt. Bullpunching. Interessant.
Billetpriser: 1ste Plads Kr. 1.00, 2den Plads 75, staaende 50 Ore.
Billetter erholdes ved Indgangen fra 1 Time før Forestillingen begynder.
God Musik.

Ærbødigst
Karl Norbeck,
Direktør.

Trondhjem, Lie & Sundts Bogtrykkeri.

A sheet music booklet published by A.W. Perry & Sons’ Music Company in Sedalia, Missouri, consisting of variations of “When the Roll is Called up Yonder” and several other songs, composed by M.W. Butler – a pseudonym of Philip Perry (1859–1953), one of the sons of founder Austin W. Perry (1829–1900).

The song title uses a version of French Antique/Clarendon with a wonky lowercase, “variations” uses an Old Style Title-esque roman, “composed by” uses Jenson Old Style, the composer’s name Cheltenham Bold Extended, “50” in a wide roman, the publisher’s location in Latin Antique, and the name of the publisher in Gothic Condensed No. 5.

The full Alphabet of Birds

An Alphabet of Birds is a vintage book published by Lippincott, Grambo, & Co., Philadelphia, in 1854. 163 years later, in 2017, Kent Henderson transformed a worn copy into something new and spectacular: for his Alphabet of Birds, he sliced and diced the pages, and overprinted the engravings with a single red letter. Henderson then pasted the 26 pages plus text clippings and the title onto a wood panel measuring 40×30 inches. The result is a unique artwork that appeals to bird lovers and typophiles alike. It was recently sold in a fundraiser for Chicago Art Department.

The original book from 1854 was set in one of the generic romans often named Modern or Scotch. All other fonts used for this piece come from the wood type collection at Depression Press Mfg. & Ink, Inc., a letterpress studio in Chicago, operated by Henderson together with Dud Lawson. The title is set in Clarendon Extended, with Aldine Expanded used for “of”. Henderson didn’t really intend this to be a type specimen piece at the time it was made. That’s why he didn’t document what typefaces he was pulling. Nevertheless he was able to identify most of the wood type used for the alphabet pages, and kindly shared this info:

A for Albatross — an unidentified bifurcated Tuscan, 12 line [see comments]
B for Bustard — possibly Hamilton No. 258, 24 line. Source: Hamilton’s Wood Type, Catalog No 14 (1899)
C for Condor — Grecian, 15 line (by Cooley), via Printing Museum
D for Dove — Balloon, 12 line (by American Wood Type Mfg. Co.), via Printing Museum
E for Eagle — Ancient Gothic, 6 line, via RRK Collection
F for Fly Catcher — possibly Hamilton No. 234, 15 line. Source: Hamilton’s Wood Type, Catalog No 14 (1899)
G for Grouse — see C
H for Heron — Cooper Black, 15 line, via Printing Museum
I for Ibis — see F
J for Jager — Aldine, 12 line, via RRK Collection
K for Kite — Shadow, 12 line (by American Wood Type Mfg. Co.; currently cut by Virgin Wood Type). Better known under the name used by Ludlow for the metal version, Umbra.
L for Lyryrus — unknown Gothic Condensed, 30 line
M for Magpie — No. 500, 15 line (by Page), via RRK Collection
N for Nightingale — De Vinne, 12 line, via RRK Collection
O for Owl — Antique Tuscan, 24 line (no mark), via RRK Collection
P for Partridge — see E
Q for Qua Bird — see F
R for Rice-Bird — see D
S for Spoonbill — see H
T for Tufted Titmouse — see B
U for Upupa — No. 560, 24 line (Hamilton)
V for Vulture — Goudy Extra Bold, 12 line (Hamilton)
W for Waxen-Wing — Antique Tuscan No. 9, 20 line (Page & Co stamp), via RRK Collection
X for Xanthornus — Cheltenham Outline, 6 line (no mark)
Y for Yellow Legs — French Clarendon, 12 line, via RRK Collection
Z [no Z bird] — see O

To marvel at all pages in detail, head over to the Flickr account of Depression Press.

The title is set in Clarendon Extended, 5 line (no mark), via RRK Collection. “Of” is in Aldine Expanded.

Computer-Aided Design? Condor, Albatross, Dove!

The source material: a battered copy of An Alphabet of Birds, 1854, 5×6 inches

“Heron: a gloomy and solitary bird.”

“Kite: they have been observed in great numbers, in Florida.”

The engravings are signed with two names, Croome (William Croome), and “J. Green…” (?).

A full-page ad in a German publication from 1901, singing the praises of sugar:

Enjoy sugar, not only because it increases the pleasant taste, but rather because it is a valuable food and at the same time cheaper than other nutrients such as fat and protein.

The middle part details how to enjoy sugar: in tea and coffee, in all milk and water soups, in all hard to digest vegetables and salads, on bread (in the form of jam, as cheap substitute for butter), in the form of preserved fruits, and, for breastfeeding women, in malt beer.

The bottom part addresses “smart mothers” and “smart housewives”. The former are asked not to deprive their children of sugar:

It is a wise institution of nature that children crave sweet foods and drinks; it is as if they know it that they cannot thrive without sugar.

The headline features Renaissance-Fraktur with an ß (eszett), a compact ck ligature, and a swashy r at the end. While the text directly below uses an Alte Schwabacher (starring umlauts with superscript e’s), all smaller text is set in a Neue Schwabacher, with a bold weight used for emphasis. The heading next to the numbered list combines this bold Neue Schwabacher with a question mark from Gloria schmal halbfett.

“Zucker / Zucker / Zucker” and the triple-underlined “Kluge Mütter / Kluge Hausfrauen” are set in Stempel’s Morris-Gotisch. This adaptation of Morris Troy is distinguished from William Morris’s original – as well as from other German releases under the same name including those by Berthold and Ludwig & Mayer – by a different g. It also sports an uncial-like M which might be unique to the Stempel version.

The business card of Sylvester A. Mitchell (1828–1915), who was a mica miner and farmer in Alstead, New Hampshire.

S. A. Mitchell,
Miner of & Dealer in Mica,
Alstead, New Hampshire

The first two lines appear to be set in two widths of a Celtic. “MICA” is in caps from Antique Tuscan Extended. The place name combines Antique Extended (light) (precursor of Hellenic Wide) with what looks like a less wide variant of the big type, that is Antique Tuscan (see also Antique Pointed).

The card is undated. Judging from the typefaces and Mitchell’s life span, it might be from the 1870s or 1880s.

The dust jacket features Alternate Gothic (“SNOOPY and the”), Cloister Black (“Red Baron”), and Futura Bold for the smaller text.

Charles M. Schulz (1922–2000) is the creator of the influential comic strip Peanuts, which features characters like Charlie Brown and more appropriately Snoopy, in his “Fighting Ace” persona. As described by the Schulz Museum:

Snoopy envisioned himself soaring through the clouds in pursuit of his nemesis, the infamous Red Baron, while sitting atop his doghouse, which he imagined as a real British biplane known as a Sopwith Camel […] Otherwise wandering through parts of Europe that World War I aviators genuinely traversed, stopping in cafés to quaff root beers and flirt with French lasses.

Designed by Hal Vincent and published by Holt, Rinehart & Winston in 1966, this full-length book follows the Fighting Ace theme, while shifting perspectives of the war and conflict in Snoopy’s mind to absurd antics as witnessed by the neighborhood children.

Book spine without jacket (identical design), using same typefaces as the front cover.

The three title pages feature Egyptian Shaded with illustrations from segments of the book.

Second title page includes Clarendon Bold Condensed for the publisher’s name, with its locations in Egizio Condensed

More Bold Clarendon on the final title page.

Example of the Clarendon Bold used for the main text face.

Dust jacket interior and its flaps, featuring the main typeface Clarendon, with the title reiterated in Alternate Gothic.

Fun use of an outlined Mansard that appears to be hand-drawn, for this Willie Nelson album from 1971. The closest digital font I can find seems to be HWT Archimedes, which is missing some of the fun nuances (for example, the lower-case i and the ampersand).

Cover photo by Jimmy Moore. No designer is credited.

[More info on Discogs]

This is one of the first copies of Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence, known today as The Watchtower. The logo appears to be custom drawn – the repeating letters W and T in “WATCH TOWER” aren’t identical. One wood type design that’s distantly related is Page’s No. 51, cut by Wells as Mansard No. 1, and digitized as Mansard. Solotype had a phototypeface named Delwin that’s likewise vaguely similar.

While “Herald of Christ’s Presence” is in caps from a generic oldstyle roman, the light italic used for the quote from Isaiah 21:11 can be identified as Lithographic Italic (Farmer, before 1867), which provided the inspiration to Club Lithographer (DJR, 2020). The line below with information about place, date and issue is set in a Celtic. A French Antique Extended, a French Clarendon, and Tendril (MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan, 1878) are combined for the publication’s title in the left column. There’s also a slab serif and a grotesque. Body copy is set in a Modern/Scotch.

Three Worlds; or, Plan of Redemption (a.k.a. Three Worlds, and the Harvest of This World) was the first book written by Charles Taze Russell co-authored with Nelson Barbour in 1877

Charles Taze Russell later had doctrinal disagreements with Barbour and started his own magazine, Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence, known today as The Watchtower, the main magazine of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the most translated magazine ever.

The cover typography appears to use a Gothic Tuscan Condensed (a.k.a. Tuscan Gothic), set on a curve, combined with a face similar to Antique Tuscan Condensed (a.k.a. Tuscan Antique), used in caps with small caps.

Detail of the cover typography

“The Harvest of This World” uses Ionic Compressed as shown by the Farmer foundry in 1867. The text set in all caps with tapered centring is a Modern/Scotch. “N. H. Barbour” is Antique Extended (light).

Preface and contents, with more Modern/Scotch and headings in a wide variant of Celtic

A Christmas tree made from rectangles of different sizes and proportions printed in three colors, and a shaded and decorated slab with bifurcated serifs, on the covers of a paperback series with sheet music:

A collection of wonderful songs, stories, and pictures about joyous Christmas Season, including all the favorites, such as Jingle Bells, O Christmas Tree, The First Noel, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, Silver Bells, Silent Night, O Little Town of Bethlehem, and many, many more.

Shown here are the versions for Piano/Vocal and for All Organ. Authored by Doris Millspaugh with contributions by Neal Levin and edited by Roger Bobley, the books were published in 1973 in the Educational division of Charles Hansen Music & Books.

The festive typeface originated as Ornamented No. 43 at the Conner foundry and was patented in 1881. It was recut in the 20th century by Typefounders of Phoenix/Los Angeles Type Founders who gave it a catchier name, Tangier. By the early 1970s, Tangier had been adopted for phototypesetting both by Photo-Lettering and VGC. In 2015, Alan Jay Prescott digitized it under the name Tanglewood PDS, but it’s not clear to me if his revival has been released. You can always order a font of 30pt foundry type from Skyline Type Foundry.

“MORE SWIRLS per pound” – Tangier as shown in Photo-Lettering’s One Line catalog (1971)