Del Rey (imprint)

Still River by Hal Clement

Sun, 15 Feb 2026 09:18:34 +0000

Photo(s) by exaquint on Flickr.

Source: www.flickr.com Uploaded to Flickr by exaquint and tagged with “obliq”. License: All Rights Reserved.

Paperback edition, February 1989

A rare sighting of Obliq, a Letraset release from 1984, used in both of its weights for a science fiction novel by Hal Clement (1922–2003):

The Riddle of Enigma Years of exacting study were coming to an end. All five student scientists, each the best its species had to offer, were one step away from their final degrees. One examination remained: the students were to determine why the tiny planet of Enigma, a planet with so little mass that it should never have had an atmosphere, in fact it did. Everything seemed to be running smoothly until the only Human member of the team, Molly was accidentally blown into one of the deep fissures that pocked the planet’s surface. She found herself trapped in a series of tunnels and caves that only led her deeper into the riddle that was at the heart of Enigma. But as her concerned companions followed her, they found Enigma’s most puzzling anomaly. For in the dark passages they discovered life – life which couldn’t possibly exist.

For the title, the caps were enlarged and shifted down, so that they align with the ascenders and the underline underneath the lowercase letters. Small text is in Univers.

[More info on ISFDB]

Hardback edition, June 1987

This post was originally published at Fonts In Use

Code of the Lifemaker by James P. Hogan, Del Rey/Ballantine

Antoine Pazat — Sun, 02 Feb 2025 09:43:06 +0000

Contributed by Antoine Pazat

Source: www.wadewalker.com Wade Walker. License: All Rights Reserved.

Code of the Lifemaker is a science fiction novel by British author James P. Hogan. It was published in 1983 by Del Rey/Ballantine.

According to this article on isfdb.org that cites the book's credits, the cover painting was made by David B. Mattingly and the jacket design by Gary Friedman (possibly this designer).

Greeting Monotone is used for the author's name (with standard initial caps) as well as the book's title (in all caps, except for a lowercase h in “ThE”. The placement of the letter seems to have been modified to create an interlocking effect).

ITC Novarese is used in all-lowercase letters from its Book weight for “a novel by”.

The author's name is written in black on the hardcover, and in white on the paperback version.

Source: www.ebay.com The Village Bookshelf. License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: www.pinterest.com Peter Moore. License: All Rights Reserved.

This post was originally published at Fonts In Use

A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle L. Jensen

Jason Castle — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 08:29:34 +0000

Contributed by Jason Castle

Source: www.ellaytham.com Ella Laytham. License: All Rights Reserved.

Shàngó Gothic Medium as used on the book jacket of A Fate Inked in Blood. The first volume of Danielle L. Jensen’s Saga of the Unfated was published by Del Rey.

From the author’s page:

A shield maiden blessed by the gods battles to unite a nation under a power-hungry king—while also fighting her growing desire for his fiery son—in this Norse-inspired fantasy romance from the bestselling author of The Bridge Kingdom series.

Cover design by Ella Laytham, using an illustration by Eleonor Piteira. The secondary typeface is Agency Gothic CT, which has an alternate flat-top A in the lowercase.

Source: danielleljensen.com License: All Rights Reserved.

This post was originally published at Fonts In Use

The Mystery of the Dune Font

Florian Hardwig — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 15:01:28 +0000

Contributed by Florian Hardwig

In the six decades since the publication of the original Dune novel in 1965, the science fiction franchise has gone through many different typographic identities. Notable examples include the use of Giorgio for the British paperbacks by NEL (c. 1968) and Albertus for David Lynch’s movie adaptation (1984). But another typeface has even stronger ties to Dune and its author. It appeared on the covers of dozens of books, including the classic Dune trilogy and its sequels, and also on other titles by – or about – Frank Herbert, from various imprints. Strangely enough, the name of this typeface is barely known even among die-hard fans.

Dune (1965) and Dune Messiah (1969) as published by Berkley Medallion in September 1975. Cover art by Vincent Di Fate. [More info on ISFDB about Dune and Dune Messiah]

Davison Art Nouveau was drawn by lettering artist Meyer M. “Dave” Davison for Photo-Lettering (PLINC), a typesetting company in New York City. It was first shown in PLINC’s 1967 Alphabet Yearbook. Basically a bold all-caps roman with long bracketed serifs, Davison Art Nouveau comes in three variants of increasing ornamentation: Art Nouveau with Flourishes, Modified, and Ornate.

One-line samples for the three variants of Davison Art Nouveau, compiled from a page in PLINC’s Alphabet Yearbook 1967

Each variant includes additional alternates, some of which sport swashes, fox tail extensions, and curlicues that reach above and below the line. Depending on which glyphs are selected, the look of words set in Davison Art Nouveau ranges from sober to discreetly flowery to full-blown carnivalesque. That’s one reason this face isn’t easy to track down – it can take on so many different appearances. The other reason is that it was exclusive to PLINC. And PLINC was a service provider, not a font retailer. You couldn’t buy or license a copy of Art Nouveau. If you wanted to have some text set in this font, you had to place an order at their Manhattan office at 216 East 45th Street, in person or by phone or post.

Children of Dune, first edition by Berkley Putnam, 1976. Cover art by Vincent Di Fate. [More info on ISFDB] The secondary typeface here is Columna Solid with its alternate long-legged R.

Children of Dune (1976). Berkley Medallion, 1977. Cover art by Vincent Di Fate. [More info on ISFDB]

A later printing of Children of Dune by Berkley, 1984. Instead of golden embossed letters, it features plain beige ones.

Dune, Dune Messiah, and Children of Dune, in undated paperback editions by Ace and Berkley Medallion

The liaison between Dune and Davison Art Nouveau started in September 1975, when the typeface was used by Berkley Medallion for a paperback edition of the first two novels. At the time, the Berkley imprint was owned by New York-based publisher G.P. Putnam’s Sons. When Berkley Putnam published the first hardcover edition of the third novel, Children of Dune, in 1976, the new typographic identity was applied there, too. Later on, Putnam used the typeface on the jackets for hardback editions of other, unrelated books authored (or coauthored) by Frank Herbert.

After Berkley acquired Ace Books in 1982, Ace took over as Putnam’s publisher for science fiction paperbacks. During this period, some of Herbert’s books also appeared under the Del Rey imprint. Despite the change in imprints, though, the link between Herbert and Art Nouveau lasted – that is, until around 1988. Such “author branding” was rather common, especially with science fiction and fantasy writers. Other examples on Fonts In Use include Roslyn Gothic for Philip K. Dick, Dynamo and Corporate for Arthur C. Clarke, and Pipeline for Robert Heinlein.

The uncredited typographer worked with the Modified variant – at least that’s what the A with curved bar and the E with curling middle bar shown in the limited typeface samples I’ve been able to compare suggest. The letterforms were used with varying degrees of condensation, something that was easily done with phototype. Given that Art Nouveau came with so many alternates, its use for Dune and beyond is impressively consistent. Across the dozens of applications, only a handful of variant glyphs were employed: see for example the two forms for A, one of them with a right stem that curves inward; the R with the curling terminal for “Trilogy” versus the one in “Frank Herbert” on the box set below; or the S with and without ball terminal at the top.

Right from the start, Friz Quadrata was introduced as the supporting typeface, a choice that was maintained for most of the following books.

This post showcases a considerable number of book covers and jackets featuring Art Nouveau, more or less in chronological order, without aiming for completeness. The credit for selecting Art Nouveau probably goes to an unknown art director working at the Berkley Publishing Corporation. My research didn’t turn up any names. If you have any additional insight, please leave a comment.

Dune Trilogy: The first three books were also issued in a boxed set by Berkley Medallion, 1977. [More info on ISFDB] “The complete” is added in caps from Futura.

The Worlds of Frank Herbert (1970), Berkley Medallion, 1977. Cover art by Paul Alexander. [More info on ISFDB]

Whipping Star (1970), Berkley Medaillon, 1977. Cover art by Paul Alexander. [More info on ISFDB]

The typographic identity extended to items other than books, too. Frank Herbert’s Dune Calendar 1978 was published by Berkley in 1977, with illustrations by John Schoenherr.

The Dune Calendar 1978 doesn’t only offer stunning art …

… it’s also a great resource if you’re looking for a complete set of numerals from Davison Art Nouveau.

The Illustrated Dune, illustrated by John Schoenherr, Berkley Windover, August 1978

The Dosadi Experiment (1977), Berkley, 1978. Cover art by Paul Alexander. [More info on ISFDB]

Source: www.flickr.com Uploaded to Flickr by admiral.ironbombs. License: CC BY-SA.

Destination: Void (1966), Berkley, Dec. 1978. Cover art by Paul Alexander. [More info on ISFDB]

The Jesus Incident (1979) by Frank Herbert & Bill Ransom, Berkley, 1980. Cover art by Paul Alexander. [More info on ISFDB]

Soul Catcher (1972), Berkley, 1979 (this printing from 1985). Cover art by Wayne Barlowe. [More info on ISFDB]

The Godmakers (1972), Berkley, 1981. Cover art by Paul Alexander. [More info on ISFDB]

God Emperor of Dune, first US edition by Putnam, 1981. Cover art by Brad Holland. [More info on ISFDB]

God Emperor of Dune, Berkley, Sep. 1981. [More info on ISFDB]

The Book of Frank Herbert (1973), Berkley, 1981. Cover art by Vincent Di Fate. [More info on ISFDB]

Under Pressure, originally titled The Dragon in the Sea (1956), Del Rey / Ballantine, 1981. Cover art by David B. Mattingly. [More info on ISFDB]

The Heaven Makers (1968), Del Rey / Ballantine, 1982. Cover art by Darrell K. Sweet [More info on ISFDB]

The White Plague, first edition by Putnam, 1982. Cover art by Abe Echevarria. [More info on ISFDB]

The Lazarus Effect by Frank Herbert and Bill Ransom, first edition by Putnam, 1983. Cover art by Abe Echevarria. [More info on ISFDB]

The Dune Encyclopedia by Willis Everett McNelly (ed.), a collection of essays written as a companion to the Dune series, first edition by Berkley, 1984. [More info on ISFDB]

Source: www.flickr.com Uploaded to Flickr by Drümmkopf. License: CC BY.

Chapterhouse: Dune, first edition by Putnam, April 1985. Cover art by John Schoenherr. [More info on ISFDB]

Source: www.flickr.com Uploaded to Flickr by Drümmkopf. License: CC BY.

Heretics of Dune (1984), Berkley, April 1986. Cover art by John Schoenherr. A similar edition was published by Ace in 1987. [More info on ISFDB]

God Emperor of Dune (1981, see above), Ace, June 1987. Cover art by Vincent Di Fate. [More info on ISFDB]

Source: www.flickr.com Uploaded to Flickr byJim Linwood. License: CC BY.

Frank Herbert: The Maker Of Dune, edited by Tim O’Reilly, Berkley, 1987. [More info on ISFDB]

The Ascension Factor by Frank Herbert and Bill Ransom, first edition by Putnam, 1988. Cover art by Ron Miller. [More info on ISFDB]

Davison Art Nouveau in the digital age

Photo-Lettering, Inc. didn’t make the transition to digital typesetting and went out of business in 1997. Davison Art Nouveau disappeared together with the company and thousands of other alphabet designs. In 2003, House Industries purchased the assets. The Delaware design studio partnered with Erik van Blokland and Christian Schwartz and started digitizing a number of typefaces by PLINC, with the help of friends and colleagues. These were initially made available in 2009 via a special web service that replicated the exclusive PLINC experience for the digital age. House Industries later switched to offering them for conventional licensing. At the time of writing, Davison Art Nouveau is not among the digitized designs.

In 2009, a Dune aficionado who goes by the moniker DuneFish (DFUK) and/or MEP made a digital font called Orthodox Herbertarian, “painstakingly traced from scans of the typeface that was used on the American Ace editions […] of Dune and many other Frank Herbert books”. This amateur digitization is freely available at kullwahad.com. The font is caps only (A–Z), with a basic set of punctuation characters and scaled-down caps in the lowercase. Because it’s based on the book covers (as opposed to the original typeface), it naturally adopts the narrowed proportions. Orthodox Herbertarian is a laudable effort, but it doesn’t include any of the alternates or the numerals. In 2020, Reddit user purgruv added lowercase letters and numerals to this freebie and offered it for download as Extended Herbertarian. The additions aren’t faithful to the original and unfortunately aren’t well drawn, either.

Orthodox Herbertarian arguably covers the needs of most Dune fans. Nevertheless, I hope to see a professional, fully featured digitization of Davison Art Nouveau one day.

Photo: Florian Hardwig. License: CC BY-NC-SA.

The original Davison Art Nouveau in three variants (line 1–3) with some – but not all – of its alternates, compared to the digital Orthodox Herbertarian (line 4). As a basic caps-plus-small-caps font without any extras, the freebie can do only so much. It is a decent option if you want to quickly emulate Dune’s typographic style, though.

Thanks to B., G., and Justin Hoggard, who all suggested I write an article about this use; and to Caren Litherland for the valuable edits. Kudos to the Internet Speculative Fiction Database, which helped a lot in identifying and dating the numerous editions and printings.

This post was originally published at Fonts In Use

A Voice Out of Ramah by Lee Killough

Florian Hardwig — Mon, 09 May 2022 07:06:43 +0000

A Voice Out of Ramah is the debut novel by science fiction writer Karen Lee Killough (b. 1942), published in 1979 by Del Rey / Ballantine Books with cover art by H.R. Van Dongen.

On a world of unholy sanctity, only the lucky males lived – and only the chosen knew why.

The typeface selected for the title and the author’s name is Rodin (VGC, 1973). This painterly design by Patrick Collins didn’t get a lot of use, and to my knowledge there is no digital version to this date. The few uses I’m aware of all are from the fields of science fiction and fantasy. Here it’s used in all caps, with enlarged initials and a drop shadow.

[More info on ISFDB]

This post was originally published at Fonts In Use