Italic caps from Lydian for a recording of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto D Major as performed by Renée Marcel – an alias of Michèle Auclair – together with a generically named “Europa Symphony Orchestra”. Issued by Plymouth Records as P-12-121, probably sometime in the 1950s. Cover design by Otto Rado.

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Little is known about this album with Christmas favorites; neither the artist nor the year it was released. The mid-century illustration is uncredited, too. What we do know is that it came out on Plymouth Records as P12-59, and that the typeface used for the text inside the baubles is all-caps Futura Bold.

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An album of classical music with compositions by Grieg, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Dvořák, and others, recorded by the Viennese Symphonic Orchestra and released by Plymouth Records (P12-85) around 1952. Sunset Serenade was issued in at least two color variants, both featuring an illustration of a sunset over a rugged mountain scenery. The typeface is Copperplate Gothic.

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The red slab serif caps seen on the cover of this record released by the budget label Plymouth Records in 1952 are from Beton licht, or Beton Open. The Beton family designed by Heinrich Jost for Bauer spans a range of styles, including a similarly bold solid weight. For some reason, the unknown cover designer didn’t choose the solid style, but rather used the interior shapes of the open cut, which is distinguished by a more squarish counter in O (cf. Beton Bold’s round O).

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Detail. The whole cover was printed in two colors, red and blue, with the purple achieved by overprinting. The jumbled letterforms were printed with considerable trapping. It was still not enough to prevent some white gaps, caused by the misaligned registration.

Two heavy Bodonis of different origins, used together: While the track titles and the small text at the bottom are set in Ludlow’s Bodoni Black (Robert H. Middleton, 1930), the narrower style used for “Victor Herbert Melodies” is not the corresponding Bodoni Black Condensed as one might expect, but rather the Extra Condensed style of ATF’s Ultra Bodoni (Morris F. Benton, 1933). The latter is distinguished by a more abrupt transitition from thick to thin, as exemplified by the triangular serifs in E. See also Beethoven Symphony #7 for another Plymouth/Merit release that pairs Ultra Bodoni Extra Condensed with a Ludlow face.

Victor August Herbert (Dublin 1859 – New York City 1924) was an Irish composer, conductor, and musician. This compilation of his compositions and other operetta favourites was “Recorded in Europe” by the Viennese Symphonic Orchestra and released as an album record in the 1950s by low price label Plymouth Records / Merit Records.

Signed “Graber” in the lower left corner.

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Ludlow’s Bodoni Black on the cover of Sigmund Romberg Melodies And Popular Waltz Favorites. The album was “recorded in Europe” by the Viennese Symphonic Orchestra, and released in the United Sates by Plymouth Records. Illustration by Norman Graber.

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Cover for Sacred Songs, an album by American soprano Barbara Troxell (1916–1984) released by Plymouth Records (P-12-123) in 1952. For the cover design, Otto Rado brings together a choir of angels with Futura Display and Futura Italic.

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An Evening at the Opera with vocal excerpts from Rigoletto (Verdi), Carmen (Bizet), Die Fledermaus (Johann Strauss II), Der Freischütz (Weber), Pagliacci (Leoncavallo), and Cosi fan tutte (Mozart), featuring the solist and orchestra of the European Opera Company.

The cover illustration is by Otto Rado. Greco Adornado (Gans, 1925) is used for most type. It’s supported by caps from Karnak Medium (Ludlow, 1931) for the smallest line. The record was released by Plymouth Records (P-12-81) probably sometime in the 1950s. In addition to the cover in yellow, red, and blue as shown here, there is also a variant in pink, blue, and black.

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Playbill for “the best loved overtures” of Carl Maria von Weber, released by NYC-based budget record company Plymouth (P12-33) probably sometime in the 1950s. “Linz Symphony Orchestra” is in Karnak Black, the opera titles in Tempo Bold. Both typefaces were designed by Robert Hunter Middleton for Ludlow. Their Medium Condensed Gothic appears for “recorded in Europe“.

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All-caps Lydian set on a circle for the cover of a record of Hawaiian vocal music with orchestra accompaniment, released by Plymouth in 1952 (POP-100-21). The same album was also distributed as An Hour Of Hawaian Melodies (credited to the Plymouth Hawaiian Orchestra), “Aloha” Hawaiian Favorites (Pontiac Records, 1951), and Hawaiian Hits (The Waikiki Wanderers, Remington Records). The track list on this version is shown in all-caps Futura, enclosed in a pineapple.

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Raymond Leroy Clark (1919–2000) was a yodeler and songwriter better known as Yodeling Slim Clark. This cover with an illustration by Roots and the title set in Beton licht (AKA Beton Open) is for a 1952 released by Plymouth Records. The song titles in the cactus are set in all-lowercase Tempo Heavy Condensed Italic. See also the cover of a version by Remington Records.

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Caps from Lydian (“Madame Butterfly”) and Vogue Extra Bold (“Puccini”), paired with Stymie Extrabold Condensed and a Steinweissian script, for the cover of an album with “operatic highlights” recorded by the Vienna Opera Company and released by Plymouth Records (P12-103) probably sometimes in the early 1950s. Design by Einhorn.

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Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 as recorded by the Vienna Tonkünstler Symphony Orchestra in Europe, released on Plymouth Records (P 12-6) probably sometime in the early 1950s. [More info on Discogs]

The cover design by Curt John Witt pairs Ultra Bodoni Extra Condensed with a bold weight from Tempo. The former was originally issued by ATF in the early 1930s. Richard Lipton’s FB Bodoni is a revival and expansion. The latter debuted in the 1930s, too, as Ludlow’s response to Futura. There is no proper digitization of Tempo. Ludlow had Bodoni Black including a Condensed which is similar to Ultra Bodoni, but interestingly, the version used here is the ATF version.

Playbill for the cover of an undated (mid 1950s?) record with waltzes by Johann Strauss Jr., Plymouth Records P12-61. Cover design by Norman Graber. “Long Playing” is in Franklin Gothic, “one hour of” is lettering.

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Color variant.

Ludwig van Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata (sonata for violin and piano in A major, Op. 47) featuring pianist Erich Berg and violinist Walter Schneiderhan, Plymouth Records (P12-21). While this release by Plymouth Records is undated, the same cover design was used for a version by the sublabel Merit, which Discogs dates to 1952.

Curt John Witt combines several weights of his go-to typeface, the geometric grotesk Tempo, with Chisel, a hand-tooled Latin. He employed the same combination for his Romeo and Juliet cover from 1950.

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Studio (Lettergieterij Amsterdam, 1946) in use on Norman Graber’s cover design for Rimsky-Korsakov’s Le Coq D'Or suite – known as Золотой петушок (Zolotoy petushok) in Russian and as The Golden Cockerel in English – and popular concert music, Plymouth Records (no date). This recording by the Viennese Symphonic Orchestra was first released in 1952 with a different cover designed by Curt John Witt.

Liszt’s Les Préludes, Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture, and Mendelssohn’s Ruy Blas, performed by the Vienna Tonkünstler Symphony Orchestra and released Plymouth Records in 1952.

For the cover, Curt John Witt worked with solid colors and strong, basic shapes – in this case triangles – as he often did. For the typography, Witt relied on the Black and Heavy (“Recorded in Europe”) styles of Tempo, Ludlow’s Futura follower. Its opening quote marks look like mirrored versions of the closing ones, see sign painters’ quotes. The orchestra’s name is in an unidentified gothic. It’s similar to Record Gothic Bold Condensed, another Ludlow face. According to Mac McGrew, however, this style wasn’t added before 1969.

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Tchaikovsky’s “overture fantasy” Romeo and Juliet, as recorded by the Vienna Tonkünstler Symphony Orchestra in Europe, and released by Plymouth Records (P10-3), USA, probably sometime in the early 1950s.

For the cover design, Curt John Witt set the words of the title in Chisel and arranged them in three suits, or playing card symbols (♠︎♣︎♥︎). Chisel is combined with handwriting and a bold style from Tempo. This Futura follower is distingushed by its backward-leaning s. The smaller line with the orchestra’s name features two of its alternate glyphs: the pointed V and the two-storey a.