Guidebook series originally published by Éditions du Seuill in their Collections Microcosme, France 1954–1970, initially directed by Chris Marker (1921–2012) and later by Juliette Caputo. Each edition is devoted to one country and includes trave information and photographs.

The names of the destinations are set in caps from Pharaon, a slab serif (or Egyptienne) issued by French foundry Deberny & Peignot in 1933. The typeface came in three weights plus an all-caps style decorated with lines, named Pharaon Blanc. Some covers like the one for Grande-Bretagne appear to show a condensed variant, which isn’t listed in a mid-century specimen, and might be generated photographically. The “Petite Planète” series title is shown in caps from what appears to be Simplex. This was Fonderie Olive’s name for Berthold-Grotesk. Note that its design is quite different across the sizes. Several of the volumes were reissued with new cover designs, compare e.g. Suisse and Tunisie in the first and second images.

From Late Spring Books:

The collection is notable for its photographic contributions from Marker’s colleagues such as Agnes Varda, William Klein and Cartier Bresson, as well as Robert Capa and Brassai; alongside imagery from his own travels and personal archives. The series is playful in its style frequently employing poems, song lyrics, cartoons and a colourful illustrated fold-out map on the back end papers. Marker’s aspiration was to avoid the propaganda familiar to the guidebook genre, imagining a certain intimacy in tone: “Not a guidebook, not a history book, not a propaganda brochure, not a traveller’s impressions, but instead equivalent to the conversation we would like to have with someone intelligent and well versed in the country that interests us”.

For more information and images, including some of the interiors, see Late Spring Books, Index Grafik, chrismarker.org, and Fabula.

A complete run of all 31 volumes with contributions from Chris Marker is available from Light Industry.

In 2006, Marker and Jason Simon made a poster depicting the covers of all Petite Planète guides issued between 1954 and 1964. While the limited edition by Light Industry is sold out, unsigned copies may still be available through Callicoon Fine Arts.

Autriche (n° 1, 1954).

Brésil (n° 20, 1958).

URSS (n° 23, 1959).

Egypte (n° 30, 1962).

A political analysis of the current situation (as of 1967) of Latin American countries and their relation to the United States, which they feel have "both grossly neglected and brazenly interfered in their internal affairs since 1945", written by historian Lewis Hanke of the University of California, Irvine and published through Anvil Books via Van Nostrand Reinhold Company. Sadly, many of the social and political problems covered in this over 50 year old book still seem relevant as of today.

The cover is set in Baskerville Old Face with "Anvil Books" seemingly set in News Gothic which is also used for the back cover text.

Inside the book, Times used for the body text with interesting headlines in Kabel (or Sans Serif).

The Chinese edition of Infinity Net: The Autobiography of Yayoi Kusama is designed by the Taiwanese designer Wang Zhi-Hong (王志弘) and published by Ecus Publishing House. The titles are set in Futo Go B101 by Morisawa and FF DIN by FontFont. Wang’s book design and typography mirror the Japanese artist’s dizzying, graphic obsession with polka dots.

The front dust jacket repeats in Kanji the artist's name (草間弥生), Infinity Net (無限の網), and “The Autobiography of Yayoi Kusama” (草間弥生自伝) which are set vertically, horizontally, and at different scales. The inside jacket lists art movements of which Kusama has been a part, with large red polka dots encroaching in from the edges to cover the type.

The book cover is wrapped with a black and white photograph of a young, nude Kusama decorated with polka dots and reclining on a couch from her Accumulation series. Large black and beige dots overlay most of the image, framing her the artist's body, and the book’s title and artist's name are repeated again. This time, there is a greater emphasis on the Latin text. Kusama’s Kanji name is set vertically on the book’s spine, in between “Yayoi Kusama” in Latin, which horizontally spans almost the entire width of the two covers.

Covers

Elvin Hu designed this book series of printed scripts from popular musicals as an unpublished student project.

Hu approached series from the perspective of a book buyer: “When someone buys a script book, they either love theatre scripts, they have a favorite show in mind, or they are buying it because their professor or director told them to.” He wondered if he could design a unified series where readers could easily spot the script they are looking for, even when all the books look essentially alike.

His solution was to fill the cover with the initial letter of each title. Using colors from each show’s original branding, he was able to give each script some sense of individuality while have them fit nicely into the larger visual system.

When it came to choosing a typeface for these gigantic initials, Hu says, “Fit became an obvious choice because of its versatility and eye-catching design when used as at a large scale.” Fit is also used to set the title on the back cover, with words sometimes split to create interesting text shapes.

Meanwhile, FF DIN is used in all the places where actual legible text is needed: the titles and themselves, the spines, as well as author names and supplemental text on the back cover.

Hu also gave the covers an intentional slightly-worn look, a nod to the many pirated photocopied scripts on the market.

Back covers

Spines

Wicked, front cover

Wicked, back cover

Dear Evan Hansen, front cover

Dear Evan Hansen, back cover

Rent, front cover

Rent, back cover

Next to Normal, front cover

Next to Normal, back cover

Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, front cover

Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, back cover

The German cover of Prestel’s coffee table book on Art Deco is a triple Cassandre: It combines an adaptation of his “Normandie” travel poster from 1935 with a title set in Bifur (1929), the first typeface designed by the great French artist. The author’s name is rendered in Cassannet, a contemporary font based on lettering seen on posters by A.M. Cassandre.

The English version (see below) is a case of LTypI: The cover of this edition uses a face simply named Art Deco. It was issued by Mecanorma in 1975 and is credited to Mike W. Schmidt.

Design: Liquid, Augsburg. Layout: Wolfram Söll, designwerk, Munich. Hardcover with slipcase, 288pp., 260×375 mm, cover design with metallic silver foil stamping and edge coloring.

Cover detail with the silver foil stamping.

Chapter opening in Cassannet, with its superscript and underlined glyphs used for secondary words.

Spread from the interior with a painting by Suzanne Phocas (Portrait de Metzinger, 1926). The text typeface is yet unidentified. It’s a wonky interpretation of Edward Johnston’s typeface for the London Underground, with diamond-shaped dots and a monocular a, and doesn’t strike me as a successful choice. [Edit: It’s (a version of) New Transport Book, see comments below.]

Cover of the English edition (2016), featuring Mecanorma Art Deco.

Cover for Can you keep a straight face, with a modified ‘g’ in the title, and a question mark, repurposed as nose. Illustrated by Élisa Géhin. Published january 2017.

Bernard Duisit is a renowned paper engineer who has worked on dozens of pop-up and interactive books. Thames & Hudson published a series of wimsy pop-up books by Duisit with different illustrators, in which Duisit surprises and entertains kids and grown-ups. Three books of the series are shown here. The narrative is simple and effective: the question on the book cover is repeated in different variations on the left page, and answered with an illustration on the right hand page.

In the English editions, all typography follows the same design, with titles set in Emigre’s Variex regular weight, with glyphs in different sizes to enhance the rhythm, and some modified glyphs to improve the legibility. All text inside the book is in Meredith Mandel’s succesful freebie Chunk.

From Can you keep a straight face?

From Can you keep a straight face?

From Can you keep a straight face?

Cover for What’s up? Illustrations by Olivia Cosneau, published January 2017.

From: What's up?

This or that? Illustrated by Delphine Chedru, published January 2017.

From This or that?

From This or that?

From This or that?

Geray Gençer’s book covers for the Literature Classics Series by Doğan Kitap/Egmont Publishing Istanbul show captivating two-color illustrations that hint at the books’ content or title. The typography does with a single weight of Futura — the Heavy from Bitstream’s version. The author’s name is rotated, secondary information about the writer of the foreword appears centered. The axis is completed by the publisher’s logo at the bottom.

Fyodor M. Dostoevsky — Suç ve Ceza (Crime and Punishment), translated by Özlem Asiltürk

Jack London — Beyaz Diş (White Fang), translated by Nil Tuna

Gustave Flaubert — Madam Bovary, translated by Bahadırhan Bozkurt

Jane Austen — Gurur ve Önyargı (Pride and Prejudice), translated by İrem Yüce Almaç

Nikolay V. Gogol — Ölü Canlar (Dead Souls), translated by Günay Çetao Kızılırmak

Neacademia carries the punchy rhythms and visceral imagery of Robin Dunford in her latest poetry collection, Half Rock. Andrew Steeves of Gaspereau Press chose the typeface, which he considers to be “hands-down the best Griffo/Aldine digital revival” in his toolbox, to be printed from photopolymer plates, and used throughout the book. A love-letter to the art of traditional printing.

Designed and typeset by Andrew Steeves, printed on handmade paper at Gaspereau Press, Kentville, Nova Scotia.

Arek was chosen for a leading role in the visual identity for Brno-based theatre Divadlo Polárka. Aiming at young audiences, the theatre uses a colourful array of printed and digital ephemera; posters, programs, leaflets, and graphics.

Divadlo Polárka was established in 1999. While the plays are primarily written and directed to appeal to children, it also has something in store to entertain (the often accompanying) adults. Suitable for ages 3 to 103.

Concept and design by design studio Atelier Simpléz, Brno.