From Wikipedia:

“Je t’aime… moi non plus” (French for “I love you… me neither”) is a 1967 song written by Serge Gainsbourg for Brigitte Bardot. In 1969, Gainsbourg recorded the best known version with Jane Birkin. The duet reached number one in the UK, the first foreign language song to do so, and number two in Ireland, but was banned in several countries due to its overtly sexual content.

The single was first released by Philips under the Fontana label. According to photographer Jean D’Hughes, the Philips management in the Netherlands was outraged and demanded that the record be resold, and so it was released under the Lucien Morisse’s Disc AZ label, still with the same photo, but with different typography featuring Eckmann. The song was initially also included on the LP that followed in June 1969, but was removed from later repressings.

The typefaces used for the original pressing shown here are Pascal by José Mendoza y Almeida, sometimes described as the French (or Latine) answer to Optima; Karl Erik Forsberg’s Berling, in italic with tight-and-touching letterspacing; and a bold extended style from Adrian Frutiger’s Univers.

[More info on Discogs]

Jane Birkin died today at the age of 76. RIP.

Spanish pressing

Jane Birkin/Serge Gainsbourg is an album recorded by Jane Birkin together with Serge Gainsbourg in 1968. It was first released by Fontana Records in June 1969, including the hit single “Je t’aime… moi non plus”. On later pressings, the controversial duet was replaced by “La Chanson De Slogan”.

The contoured caps are from a typeface named Comstock. The text on the back cover is set in various styles from Folio, a grotesk that went under the name Caravelle in France. The photography is by Jean D’Hughes and an unnamed artist credited as “X”.

[More info on Discogs]

Jane Birkin died today at the age of 76. RIP.

1975 pressing without “Je t’aime… moi non plus” (but with unchanged cover art)

A relatively early use of Charleston (1967) on the original movie poster for Les chemins de Katmandou (1969).

Also known as The Road to Katmandu and released in English as The Pleasure Pit, the French-Italian drama was written in tandem with René Barjavel’s novel of the same name. Directed by André Cayatte, it stars Renaud Verley, Elsa Martinelli, Jane Birkin, and Serge Gainsbourg. The music is by Gainsbourg, too.

Apart from the title, all text is set with vertical stretching, suggesting that a phototype adaptation was already available at the time.

[More info on IMDb]

Jane B. par Agnès V. is a French docudrama directed by Agnès Varda 1988, starring French-English actress Jane Birkin. The film mixes interviews with Birkin about her past and current life with small vignettes where she takes on roles that she or Varda are interested in seeing her play.

This is another poster assignment for quality film distributor NonStop Entertainment in their series of films by female directors that finally get a theatrical release in Sweden. The typeface Louize from French foundry 205TF, used in one weight only, is a contemporary interpretation of Augustaux, itself allegedly the first revival in the history of typography.