Philobiblon, vol. VII, no. 5

Philobiblon was a bibliophile journal from Vienna, published by Herbert Reichner (1899–1971) from 1928 to 1936. After the Anschluss – the annexation of Austria into the German Reich in 1938 – it was taken over and continued by the nationalist Rudolf M. Rohrer Verlag. As opponents of the Nazi regime and as Jews, Reichner and his wife had to flee the country. They first went to Switzerland on 13 March 1938, and further to the USA in 1939. Herbert Reichner opened an antiquarian bookshop in Manhattan. In 1956, he moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where he continued to run his bookshop.

In 1934, the cover of the “magazine for book-collectors” featured Wallau. The original halbfett style of Rudolf Koch’s rotunda interpretation was first cast by Klingspor in 1930. Early adverts for the typeface show it with an angled i dot, like on the Philobiblon cover. From around 1934, this detail was changed to a short horizontal stroke.

The advert by Maggs Bros. is set in four sizes of Tiemann-Antiqua-Kursiv, featuring its alternate swash caps for M, P, and A. Walter Tiemann’s eponymous roman is also a typeface by Klingspor. The italic was released in 1925.

Philobiblon, vol. VII, no. 8