Cover of Hitchcock/Truffaut, a book by François Truffaut about Alfred Hitchcock, published in English in 1967. The use was spotted on Robert King’s website blog. In the post, he compares the first and later editions of the book, and the rather unnecessary adjustments made to the cover design for the later edition. The design of the cover is very much in keeping with the Modernist tradition of design, an objective design that foregrounds the main subjects of the book, set in the preferred typeface of early Modernist designers, Akzidenz Grotesk. The type is meticulously kerned and is set very tightly, taking advantage of the typeface’s design which allowed for such a tight setting. The mirroring of the two names echoes the fact that the book is a conversation between these two legendary film directors.

The design is by the iconic mid-century book jacket designers, and husband and wife team John and Mary Condon. Greg D’Onofrio and Steve Heller wrote about this design of this cover in their book, The Moderns: “One of their best-known jacket designs was for Hitchcock/Truffaut, an interview with Alfred Hitchcock by François Truffaut, which is a veritable bible for filmmakers. Their names spelled out in tightly kerned Akzidenz-Grotesk and delicately printed in silver on a black background, offers a classic example of typographic symbolism: the celebrated directors going head-to-head. Upon being sent the design comp, Truffaut handwrote on the flap, ‘Très magnifique! — Truffaut.’”

Wikipedia describes this book:

First published by Éditions Robert Laffont, it is based on a 1962 exchange between Hitchcock and Truffaut, in which the two directors spent a week in a room at Universal Studios talking about movies. After Hitchcock's death, Truffaut updated the book with a new preface and final chapter on Hitchcock's later films.

The blue stripes at the bottom of this print show misaligned registration.