The headline mixes Romanisch Kursiv No. 20 with Koch-Antiqua fett. The latter is used with both forms for s, but the former isn’t. The question mark is added from Cooper Black, while the smaller copy is set in Futura.

This 1931 group tours brochure was issued by the MER – Mitteleuropäisches Reisebüro G.m.b.H. – of Berlin. The brochure gives details of organised holiday tours across Europe, by train and ship, as well as an extensive tours of the USA, out via the HAPAG line and returning on the Norddeutschen Lloyd for a cool 2,800 RM. The brochure also has numerous adverts for resorts, hotels and travel companies.

The various adverts, a selection of which I have scanned here, are also interesting from a typographical and design standpoint. Many are in the very latest German ‘style’ and feature some interesting and often relatively new typefaces. This advert, with a variety of typefaces and a decorative border asks “Kennen Sie schon die volkstümlichen Gesellschaftsfahrten des MER?” (“Are you already familiar with the popular group trips offered by MER?”) It gives a list of destinations within Germany and abroad as described elsewhere in the brochure.

MER was formed as a Central European Travel Agency in Berlin in 1917 and grew to include the travel interests of the Austrian and Hungarian railways. Many of its services were similar to those of say, Thomas Cook, in the UK. The company was heavily implicated in the crimes of the National Socialist era and in post-war years the company, in both East and West Germany, underwent several complex reorganisations but survives under the name of DER Travel.

“Shakespeare’s hometown is the quiet, picturesque market town of Stratford-upon-Avon in the county of Warwickshire.” Motor can be seen in early use, featuring a non-standard narrow R.

“Don’t miss a chance to visit Lake Lucerne and its eight mountain railways during your trip to Switzerland”
Two weights of Memphis plus a drop cap from Schaefer-Versalien.

Schaefer-Versalien and all-caps Memphis for “Lucerne Lido, the Swiss lakeside resort”

“Finland – the idyllic land of a thousand lakes. A new travel destination!” More Motor – with a narrow alternate N.

Adverts for the San Marco Schiffahrts-Gesellschaft Venedig and Palace Hotel in Tunis, Tunisia. “San Marco” shows Motor’s narrow N again, and features yet another alternate glyph, this time for S. “Dalmatien” is in Berthold Block. The description of the hotel uses Koch-Antiqua.

Adverts for Jadranska Plovdibda D.D. Sušak and Dubrovačka Parobrodarska Plovidba, with several Futura weights and three sizes of Neuland

When the Democratic National Committee held their National Tribute to President Clinton in May 2000, the invitation featured Lo-Type Medium Italic and ITC Stone Informal.

Album cover (front)

From Discogs:

IFA Wartburg is a Swedish band founded in 1984 by Nils Lundwall and Magnus Michaeli in Upplands Väsby, near Stockholm. They played characters, exaggerated Germans named Heinz Klinger and Rolf Kempinski respectively.
The lyrics, sung in learned (and, at times, broken) German, were largely inspired by the socialist era of East Germany and the USSR, though they were often silly or humorous in nature.

Shown here is IFA Wartburg’s only full-length album, Im Dienste des Sozialismus (“In the service of socialism”), released in 1998 by Plattenmeister. The uncredited design features two weights from Berthold’s Block family, the schwer (“heavy”) and the schmal (“narrow”).

[More info on Discogs]

CD label ft. the national emblem of East Germany

While the title on the front cover is lettering, the blackletter seen on the back and the flap is Deutsche Schrift, used in two weights with both forms for the letter s (see “Ausſtellungshallen”) and the mandatory ligatures for ch, ck, tz. Note that the S in “S-Bahnhof” was added from a bold roman that approximates the logo glyph. Berthold’s Halbfette Lateinisch is a likely source.

A folder advertising Third Class fares on the Berlin S-Bahn to visit the exhibition grounds and Funkturm adjacent to the city's S-Bahn station at Witzleben. The diagram is interesting in that the system’s stations include the Third Class (3. Klasse) fare to Witzleben from the station of origin.

The folder is not dated but there are some clues and others with sharper eyes and better knowledge than me may offer more information! But the station Deutschlandhalle was named as such from Eichkamp in May 1936, and the Nord-Süd links through the city centre are not shown here; the S-Bahn station at Unter den Linden, shown here, opened in 1936 as the provisional terminus (following the catastrophic collapse of the railway excavations in the locality in 1935) and it was 1939 before the S-Bahn through to Potsdamer Platz was opened.

The folder gives other information including the advice that you can travel to the exhibition grounds by S-Bahn (suburban train, that the exhibition halls at the radio tower (Funkturm) are quick and easy to reach from Witzleben S-Bahn station and that you should purchase your return ticket when you travel to the exhibition grounds.

The folder is printed on stout card and, after some discussion with more knowledgable Berliners, it is likely to be original. It shows no ‘reprint’ data and the folds are well worn suggesting some age. The folder also shows both versions of the S-Bahn symbol or logotype; that of the S in a circle and that of the S in a tombstone shape – the latter being the original design by Fritz Rosen in 1930 that was changed to the circle in c.1936. There is also the Adler or eagle symbol used by the Deutsche Reichsbahn.

The station names aren’t typeset, but written by hand, in an inclined Blockschrift (cf. DIN 16). The fare info underneath the S-Bahn “tombstone” appears to be set in Berthold Block and Akzidenz-Grotesk.

The large black heading is written in a simplified textura. Interestingly, the letterforms don’t really follow the model drawn by Friedling in May 1935 for the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft, nor are they particularly close to any of the typefaces of this genre. The F with vertical, descending stem resembles the one in Element, but other details are off.

Fonts from the Flea Market 1421

This single by the Dutch group around singer George Baker a.k.a. Hans Bouwens was released in 1970, from their second album, Love in the World. A follow-up to their 1969 hit “Little Green Bag”, it made the Top Ten in the Netherlands and Belgium.

[More info on Discogs]

.moving pictures experimental garage (.mpeg) is a platform for contemporary video art and experimental film run by Filmische Initiative Leipzig FILZ e.V. It showcases monthly rotating moving image works after dusk in a video display window in Leipzig, Germany, and facilitates cultural participation in public spaces for people of different age groups, backgrounds, and areas of interest.

The website mpeg-art.space serves as the platform’s second home, designed to mirror and digitally extend the physical space in Leipzig. The city’s local time and current light situation is reflected as if on the garage’s blurred window. The work currently on view is shown within a digital simulation of the recessed black space inside the garage. An archive documents all works shown since the project’s inception and includes synopsis, stills and interviews.

The typeface CMM Coda Normalized Proportional was chosen alongside the existing logotype set in Berthold Block Regular to match its softness and proportions.

Design and development by magma design studio.

Foootnotes issue D front cover

Footnotes is a type design periodical published biennially by La Police. The fourth issue opens with an article on Telefont and the last Dutch telephone book along with all the methodology behind it by Martin Majoor. Sourced from the author’s archive (edition February 1996), an original sample was inserted manually by the editor into each copy.

The second essay dives into Ikarus, a digital tool that describes letterforms, studied in-depth at the University of Reading and beyond by Ferdinand P. Ulrich.

Then, from the One-off series – contextual type projects from graphic designers – Joost Grootens tells us about the genesis of the myriad of symbols that makes Ceremony, one book design at a time.

In the fourth and last text, Pierre-Pané Farré explores the material qualities of 19th century stereotyped poster type.

To conclude, the usual last page entitled "Proofs" showcases in-progress typefaces from the contributors: Film, Exécutif Moderne, HB Items, Waggis, and BALI.

As with every issue, each article is typeset with the related typeface(s), some in-progress and unreleased, including Reform-Grotesk FSL, Breite fette Information, LL Unica77, Demos Next, and LP Jung. The rich iconography also tries to pleasantly surprise the reader with unpublished material.

Worth noting, this issue marks the beginning of articles from out-of-print issues being published online under "Stories" on La Police.

Footnotes issue D: article 15

Footnotes issue D: article 15. Sourced from Martin Majoor’s archive, an original sample was inserted manually by the editor into each copy.

Footnotes issue D: article 16

Footnotes issue D: article 17

Footnotes issue D: article 18

Footnotes issue D: Proofs. On the left a real offset printing testing space to the authors and previously unseen designs to the readers. On the right, the index to navigate the dense content.

From Wikipedia:

“You Came, You Saw, You Conquered!” is a 1969 song by the Ronettes. It was their final charting U.S. hit, reaching #108 Billboard and #92 Cash Box. In Canada, the song peaked at #73 for two weeks. It was the first of a series of non-album single releases by the group.

[More info on Discogs]

in Ultra-Processed People, Chris van Tulleken goes deep in the realm of ultra-processed food (UPF) and marshals the latest evidence to show how governments, scientists, and doctors have allowed transnational food companies to create a pandemic of diet-related disease.

In the Brazilian version of the book, the cover takes reference on the colorful packaging that most UPF use to desguise their (lack of) nutrients, showing characters who seems like products on shelves themselves. The author’s name is highlighted on a magnifying glass label, a clear reference to a law recently passed in Brazil, where companies must show the high content of harmful ingredients (sugar, fat, sodium, etc.).

Dust jacket for a double edition with the two best-known novels by the mysterious B. Traven, published by by Bertelsmann Club around 1980, under license from Büchergilde Gutenberg. Das Totenschiff was first published in 1926 and, as The Death Ship, in English in 1934. Der Schatz der Sierra Madre (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre) followed a year later, in 1927 and 1935, respectively.

The jacket designer used two typefaces that were popular in Germany in the 1920s: Enge Block and Fette Bernhard-Antiqua, both in all caps. The author’s name is added in some extrabold italic Clarendon. The photo is a still taken from the The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (Warner Bros., 1948) with Humphrey Bogart.

Letterhead for the furniture store of H. Schumann & Co., proudly depicting the six-story commercial building at Zionskirchstraße 38 in the north of Berlin. The design is undated. The company is not yet listed in the 1922 issue of Berlin’s Branchenbuch (yellow pages). H. Schumann & Co. appeared in 1927 (then on no. 30). It was on no. 38 in 1941. By 1948, it had moved to nearby Zehdenicker Straße 5.

The fonts in use suggest a date sometime around 1930, too: there’s Schwere Block (Berthold, first cast in 1920), Erbar-Grotesk (Ludwig & Mayer, 1926), and Heinrich Jost’s Atrax (Bauer, 1926).

Movie tie-in edition of Willi Heinrich’s 1955 WWII novel Das geduldige Fleisch (The Willing Flesh), which in 1977 was adapted for the screen. Titled Cross of Iron (German: Steiner – Das Eiserne Kreuz), the (anti-)war film was directed by Sam Peckinpah, featuring James Coburn, Maximilian Schell, James Mason, and David Warner. Quentin Tarantino cited it as inspiration for Inglourious Basterds.

The uncredited cover designer relied on Constantin Filmverleih’s martial footage. The typography uses Schwere Block (1920), the heaviest member of Berthold’s Block series, characterized by minimal extenders. On the jacket’s spine, the title is shown in the horizontally more economic Enge Block. Schwer and Eng were among the five styles from the family that Berthold offered in their phototype range. Block is contrasted with a light weight from Gill Sans.

Cover of the issue for 6–12 July 1991

Super TV was the first West German television newspaper to be sold in East Germany. It still exists today, albeit in a different form. The fonts used are typical examples for magazines from the 1990s. The logo is based on Balloon Drop Shadow, with “die Nützliche” added in Challenge Extra Bold. Other fonts on the cover include various heavyweights like Berthold Block Condensed, Gill Kayo Condensed, and Futura Extra Bold Condensed. The station names on the interior pages are set in a bold condensed style of ITC Souvenir. In general, magazines during this time looked wild with the variety of fonts used.

Interior page for 3 January 1992

Interior page for 3 January 1992

A Halloween CD made by Tom Hambleton in 2009, containing “traditional Halloween sounds & music to greet your guests.”

What did the designer use to visually enforce the Halloweeny vibes? A digital version of Fanfare and condensed caps from Artcraft.

Design by Maria Friedrich with art direction by Megan Schaefer.

[More info on Discogs]

Anywhere But Here is the debut novel of Mona Simpson, published in 1987 by Alfred A. Knopf. In 1999, it was made into a film of the same name starring Susan Sarandon and Natalie Portman. From Crawford Doyle Booksellers:

The story is told from the point of a view of a 11-year old daughter trying to grow up and contend with an impossible mother, a born narcissist with few redeeming qualities. The book was a great success when it appeared, a winner of the Whiting Prize for first novels and receiving some continuing interest because of the author’s real-life connection to the late founder of Apple, Steve Jobs, who was her older brother.

The book design is credited to Marysarah Quinn. I don’t know if this includes the jacket and the illustration. The title is shown in two lines of Fanfare caps, distorted to fit into two opposing wedge shapes. “A novel by” is added in tracked out caps from ITC Kabel. Graphic Composition, Inc. from Athens, Georgia, composed the interior, using Caslon. Adroit is used for the cover (not pictured) and title page.

Title page

Season 1 title featuring a modified version of Fanfare

Title sequence for the TV show Quantum Leap that ran from 1989 to 1993, designed by Betty Green.

The title itself features a modified version of Fanfare with triangles added in the Q and A. The season 1 version of the title sequence also uses Fanfare for the years that flash by, and the bold weight of Kabel Condensed for the credits.

Seasons 2 to 5 continue to use Fanfare for the main title, now with beveled edges, but switches to Dynamo for the years and Futura Extra Bold Condensed for the credits.

Fanfare used for the years flashing by in the season 1 intro

Bold weight Kabel Condensed for the season 1 opening credits.

Season 2–5 title now with beveled edges and Futura Extra Bold Condensed for the credits

Composite images of the years scrolling by in Dynamo in the season 2–5 version of the title sequence

Futura Extra Bold Condensed used for the season 2–5 version of the opening credits

This folded city map of Vienna was issued by Kaufhäuser Brüder Haber (KBH) in 1930. The department store was established by the Brothers Haber. At the time, there were two locations: a clothing store at Neubaugasse 24 and one for furniture and home decor at Mariahilferstrasse 90, both in the central VII. District.

The map measures 44×39 cm when opened. On the outside, KBH advertise their offerings and depict the buildings. While the extracondensed textura for the title is lettering, most text is set in two weights of Nova, an in-house design first cast by the Berthold foundry around 1924, in roman, italic, and bold styles. Nick Curtis digitized the bold weight as Maple Leaf Rag NF in 2013. The addresses on the cover use Lo-Schrift, another design with rugged contours. Conceived by Louis Oppenheim and issued by Berthold in 1914, it was revived by Erik Spiekermann in 1980, under the name LoType. Berthold had a branch in Vienna since 1905.

Being Jewish, members of the Haber family had to flee the Nazis. The company was “aryanized” under the pretext of tax evasion, and in 1939, the Habers emigrated to Palestine. They returned in 1948, and for a while, Georg Haber (1938–2019) worked in the parental department store. He later served as director of Vienna’s Jewish Museum.

Nova as shown in Printing Types of the World, 1931:

Nova. An irregular outline characterizes this letter and gives it the appearance of a very old face. For this reason it looks exceptionally good in association with old wood-cuts or old historical copy. It is also specially applicable to print in connection with furniture, art, china, and any other trades with ancient connections. “Nova” was introduced in 1924 and was immediately a great success in application to luxury appeals.

A very deferential address (“Euer Wohlgeboren” translates to something like “Your Worshipfulness!”) and an unkerned W

Ladies coats and costumes / credit for all occupational class and spot prices on partial payment

Suits and Ulster coats from the in-house custom tailor shop

“We offer huge selection! Lowest prices! Quality goods! Individual advice!”

The map was printed by “Bernhard [?], Wien, VII.”

“Dear Bronx, we know that clowns can be annoying” – Block Condensed and FF DIN for the “King Stairs” campaign by Burger King, in collaboration with delivery service Uber Eats.

The Drum has the story behind it:

There’s a staircase in the Bronx, NY that has quickly gained notoriety after its display in a recent movie about a clown turned criminal in Gotham City, and the stairs have quickly become a top New York City tourist destination.

Because of this, residents in the Bronx have become increasingly frustrated with the uptick of disruptive tourists. Burger King knows how annoying clowns can be, and they want to put a happy face on all Bronx residents.

To make Bronx residents forget about the annoying tourists, at least for a little while, Burger King is partnering with Uber Eats to give them a free Whopper sandwich.

Cover of the Spring 2023 Preview

“Bombs in yellow jackets” – that’s how German newspaper DIE ZEIT described the books by März in 1972. In 1969, the then newly founded publishing house with its signal-yellow volumes instantly became the epitome of left-wing politics, avant-garde literature, and pop culture: März Verlag came to stand for “Pop, Porn, Politics”. The März publishing house was the journalistic bogey of the bourgeoisie during the old Federal Republic. In 2021, it was revived by Barbara Kalender and Richard Stoiber.

The old books used Berthold’s Block typeface with a compact umlaut Ä in the all-caps logo. In 2021, the new publisher Richard Stoiber approached astype fonts with the question of whether it would be possible to adapt the Wood Heinz font to replace Berthold Block. Since the re-founding, an adapted version of Wood Heinz from astype fonts has been used – the custom MaerzType. Reprints of backlist titles retain the yellow dust jackets with the old MÄRZ logo. However, titles and subtitles are set in the new MaerzType. The new editions are colorful and varied, and almost always use MaerzType. So do the preview brochures and other promotional material.

Für eine afrikanische Revolution by Frantz Fanon, translated by Einar Schlereth

Bis aufs Blut by Kathy Acker, translated by Johanna David

Power Bottom by Eva Tepest

Manifest der Gesellschaft zur Vernichtung der Männer S.C.U.M. by Valerie Solanas, translated by Nils-Thomas Lindquist

Physical by Andrew McMillan, translated by Mazlum Nergiz and Richard Stoiber

Die Küche der Armen by Huguette Couffignal, translated by Monika Junker-John and Helmut Junker.

Eine Geschichte des amerikanischen Volkes by Howard Zinn, translated by Sonja Bonin

A new edition of Siegfried, with other books – including older titles – in the back

Cover of the Spring 2022 Preview

März at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2022

März: Alles Gute (“all the best”)

März Texte 1, 1969. Compilation of texts by Bazon Brock, Peter O. Chotjewitz, William S. Burroughs, LeRoi Jones, Uve Schmidt, Hermann Nitsch, and others.

Among German publishers, März is probably the most iconic example for our tag “typeface plus color equals brand”. In this case, the first ingredient is Block, a bold advertising typeface with rough contours that was first cast by the Berthold foundry in 1908. The second one is the color yellow, or rather the color combo yellow, red and black. März has stuck to this formula throughout its turbulent history, creating a striking identity for their emancipatory books.

Richard Stoiber describes what made their publishing program special:

[MÄRZ] used to publish what other publishers didn’t dare to: Beat literature from the U.S., comics, poetry collections, sex ed books, pornography and political theory. For many years, MÄRZ set trends for a new aesthetic and a new political movement in the old Federal Republic. Leonard Cohen’s poems were published at MÄRZ, long before he became a singer-songwriter in Europe. For 20 years the publishing house offered the German public a multi-layered program.

The publishing house was founded in Frankfurt/Main in 1969 by Jörg Schöder and others. It was also Schröder who came up with the concept for the cover designs and the typeface choice. The co-founders left already in 1971, and in 1973, Schröder had to file for bankruptcy for the first time. The company was rebooted a year later, now with Zweitausendeins as distribution partner. Barbara Kalender joined Schröder in 1981. In 1987, after Schröder suffered two heart attacks, März Verlag had to be liquidated. The project lived on in the form of the März Desktop Verlag, which relocated to Berlin in 2005.

When Schröder died in June 2020, it seemed that März had come to a final end. In 2021, however, Richard Stoiber together with Kalender relaunched the publishing house. You can read about this new chapter in the post by Andreas Seidel, and see his custom typeface MaerzType in use on the new covers.

Manifest der Gesellschaft zur Vernichtung der Männer S.C.U.M. by Valerie Solanas, translated by Nils-Thomas Lindquist, 1969

Sexfront by Günter Amendt, 1970 (this printing: 1978). In 2007, Schröder described this controversial book about sexual education for teenagers as the “most memorable and important März title, because it made a whole generation happier.” The red T is a play on words, allowing an alternate reading as “Sexfron” – Fron is German for drudgery.

Die Befreiung Guineas by Basil Davidson, 1970

Antiautoritäre Erziehung und Psychoanalyse. Ausgewählte Schriften, Bd. 3 by Siegfried Bernfeld, 1970

Kampf um Mozambique by Eduardo Mondlane, translated by Heidi Riechling, Stefan Rössel, Burkhard Bluem, 1970

Lernen und Freiheit. Aus der Praxis der First Street School by George Dennison, 1971

Dunkelbraun by Michael McClure, translated by Heiner Bastian, 1971, with MÄRZ in yellow letters – the exception proves the rule.

Laß jucken Kumpel by Hans Henning Claer, 1971. For some reason, the Ä in the logo was made smaller.

Mondstrip. Neue englische Prosa by Rolf Eckart John, 1971

Aktionen auf der äußeren Rinde by Paulus Böhmer, 1972, featuring two of Block’s compact capital umlauts

Acid. Neue amerikanische Szene by R.D. Brinkmann & R.R. Rygulla (eds.), 1975. At that time, März books were distributed by Zweitausendeins.

Hamlet by Peter Kuper, 1980 (third edition, 1981)

Hamlet oder die Liebe zu Amerika by Peter Kuper, 5th edition, 1982. This paperback cover uses a wide E and a narrow T in the title, as well as a K with curved arm in the author’s name. The dust jacket of the hardback edition shown above uses different forms for these letters.

Blumen für Hitler by Leonard Cohen, 1982

Die Küche der Armen by Huguette Couffignal, 1982

Schläfer erwacht by Kenneth Patchen, translated by Marc Adrian, 1983

Das große Der Die Das by Gunter Schmidt, 1986 (2nd later edition)