The cover to Volume 1

The Witches’ Marriage is a yuri manga by Studio Headline. Initially published from 2021 to 2023, the series was localized by Yen Press from 2023 to 2024.

For witches, love is power, and to open the Door of Truth— the ultimate goal for any spellcaster—Melissa needs to forge the strongest bonds she can. By now, she’s perfected her routine: marry a naive witch, use her to gain power, and discard her afterward. Melissa’s next target is Tanya, a young girl who’s fascinated by magic and longs to follow in her new mentor’s footsteps. But Tanya has a charm unlike Melissa’s other brides, and her pure, innocent cuteness just might be enough to melt the ice-cold witch’s heart…

The title seems to use Dancing Script, with alterations made in red and white highlights added to replicate the style of the Japanese logo. Stars replace the tittles in the i’s. The author name uses Bodoni Bold. The header and numbers on the Contents page are set in Bernhard Modern, while the chapter titles use Aclonica. The letterer for the manga is Bianca Pistillo.

The Japanese volume 1 cover. The English title is set in Cochin Bold.

Elastic is a print magazine of psychedelic art and literature, created by editor in chief and publisher Hillary Brenhouse.

Designers Chloe Scheffe and Natalie Shields designed the first issue of Elastic, using Focal by Commercial Type, ABC Daily Slab Mono by Dinamo, and Henry from 205TF. The logo appears to be custom, with similarities to Turtle.

Description from Elastic:

We publish visual art and writing that bend time and genre and perspective, blur waking and dreaming life, find sublimity and absurdity in the everyday, magnify the senses, multiply and distort the possibilities of narrative, and interrogate power by breaking form.

The first psychedelic era was a time of radical artistic innovation, and yet, in the popular imagination, “psychedelia” refers to little more than Day-Glo mandalas and contorted mushrooms—a narrow corridor. Elastic is interested in taking the walls down. Or, rather, Elastic is interested in demonstrating that the walls were never really there. These pages conjure a truly expansive vision of psychedelic culture, bringing together a vast body of contemporary psychedelic work and paying tribute to an overlooked archive.

Focal is used as its own design element playing off the vast pages of color and original and commissioned photos and illustration.

Elastic is made possible by Harvard and UC Berkeley’s Psychedelics in Society and Culture Program, funded by the Gracias Family Foundation and Flourish Trust. The magazine is a fiscally sponsored project of SOMArts.

Peignot in use in its gras (bold) weight, and also featuring the not commonly seen Initials, a complimentary all-caps style with compressed proportions.

W. Somerset Maugham’s Six Stories Written in the First Person Singular was first published in 1931 by Doubleday, Doran & Co. This French edition with the title Amours singulières came out in 1955 as no. 63 in Le Livre de Demain, a series dedicated to translations by Librairie Arthème Favard, Paris. “Série étrangère” is added in italic caps from Futura, known in France as Europe. The jacket illustration is by Roger Adam.

The oldstyle roman used on the book cover is Peignot & Fils’s Garamont.

This book provides a broad overview of Makiko Furuichi’s work, centered on her site-specific installation for the MASC in Les Sables-d’Olonne, France. Her art navigates a liminal space between charm and unease, reflecting the Japanese concept of niyari. Drawing from childhood memories in Kanazawa, Japanese folklore, manga, and Western painting, Furuichi’s imagery features vibrant yet unsettling natural scenes populated by strange creatures and spirits. Known for her fluid, intuitive technique, she works across mediums such as watercolor, oil painting, and large-scale installations, adapting her dreamlike universe to diverse spaces. This publication accompanies her 2024 exhibition at the Musée d'Art moderne et contemporain de l’Abbaye de Sainte-Croix.

The book’s graphic design is by Jean-Philippe Bretin and Ewen Guehenneux who used the Henry typeface by Matthieu Cortat, published by 205TF. Released in May 2024, this bilingual edition (French/English) measures 21×26 cm and comes with a clothbound hardcover. Available from Les Presses du Réel.

Serge Lutens “Bell Jar” fragrance packaging (c. 1992 – c. 2000)

Serge Lutens is an iconic niche perfume house with a devoted following. The fragrance line that bears the founder’s name was born of a series of collaborations with Shiseido, a Japanese cosmetic company. After Lutens served as olfactive director for such fragrances as Nombre Noir (1982) and Féminité du Bois (1992), Shiseido opened Les Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido to sell his fragrance creations in a Parisian boutique.

Over the years, the specific branding of these fragrances has transformed as the Serge Lutens brand gradually replaced the Shiseido labeling. The fragrances themselves remained consistent.

There have been two major revisions to primary and secondary packaging for a total of three distinct presentations. The initial packaging featured a color scheme of ivory and two shades of violet. The details on the box and label featured Shiseido, the brand’s corporate typeface with the distinctive S glyph for any occurrences of this letter in the fragrance’s name and Palais Royal Shiseido Paris. The volume declaration uses Optima, partly with stretched proportions.

The first revision occurred c. 2000 and introduced a major redesign. The color scheme was switched to black, ivory and grey and Serge Lutens’ name appeared on the packaging along with a stylized rendering of the façade of Les Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido. All text on the packaging is rendered in Cochin. Again, the scaling of glyphs in the volume declaration has been adjusted; in this presentation, the horizontal scale is set at 50%.

The second revision occurred in 2010. Compared to the previous revision, this revision is less dramatic. This version also features the most typographic variety. The color scheme was adjusted and elements that had previously been ivory have been changed to a light violet. Serge Lutens is rendered in Nicolas Cochin. The fragrance name is rendered in Caslon Openface (Bitstream’s version). As there is no italic or oblique version of this typeface, the glyphs have been sheared at approximately 15 degrees to simulate italics. The rendering of the Palais Royal Shiseido has been replaced with a stylized rendering of Serge Lutens’ initials. The text below this logo reading “Paris” is rendered in Nicolas Cochin. The fragrance concentration and volume disclosure remain as they were in the previous design, rendered in Cochin with the scaling of glyphs in the volume declaration still adjusted to a horizontal scale of 50%.

Serge Lutens “Bell Jar” fragrance packaging (c. 2000–2010)

Serge Lutens “Bell Jar” fragrance packaging (2010–)

In 2023, the Musée des beaux-arts de Dole presented Anthony Cudahy’s first exhibition in a French institution. To mark this invitation, the New York artist devised a special way of placing his paintings in dialogue with the museum’s collections, paying homage to the European painting that has so often inspired him.

Anthony Cudahy’s first monograph, the catalog features a portfolio of some sixty recent paintings, complemented by a special section reproducing the thirty or so unattributed works chosen by the painter from the collections of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dole. This 208-page bilingual French/English book includes essays by Marc Donnadieu and Samuel Monier, as well as interviews with Martin Bethenod and Jenna Gribbon.

To design this book, Jean-Philippe Bretin used the typeface Henry designed by Matthieu Cortat and distributed by 205TF; and Neue Haas Grotesk designed by Christian Schwartz.

Established in Paris by architect, designer and photographer Alexander Nino, Studio Asac is an interior design practice, furniture advisor and private antique dealer. Lareu & Gonzales – previously known as Horror Vacui Studio – were inspired by lettering from an engraver’s pattern from the early 1920s. They created a crisp, geometric semi script logotype, based on the font Adonis which was designed by Willard T. Sniffin in 1927.

Additional fonts in use include Biondi, Ray Larabie’s interpretation of Copperplate Gothic, Georges Peignot’s Nicolas Cochin, and Sigmund Freud Typeface, Harald Geisler’s digitization of the Austrian neurologist’s handwriting.

Description of the project by The G(u)ardeners, a collective of artists, therapists, teachers and entrepreneurs:

On the Planet where Lily, Iris and Ben are living, the mechanics of life go smoothly.
The Government takes care of everything and the Citizens just have to be happy.
In this comfortable society, it is nevertheless better to avoid asking too many questions.

On this planet where books speak, where elephants fly,
Where we can sink into the tar and disappear forever,
Where the pieces of hearts are shattered,
Where you can wash your brain or grill on the spot,
Where wrinkles are forbidden and trees are dangerous,
Some Citizens have decided to disobey and listen to their Cord.

Located in their chest, he is the main enemy of the power in place.
Everything is done to silence and forget him.
By following him, he will lead them to their truth, at the cost of all dangers.

The Quest, Vol. I is an imaginary novel written by therapist, teacher and writer Natacha Pincemaille-Neveu and published in spring 2022. The book is available at The G(u)ardeners. To design this book, Atelier Nom Commun (Maya Cunat and Quentin Gaudry) used Henry designed by Matthieu Cortat and distributed by 205TF.

Bryson contributed a post about the first British edition of Hot Jazz, which has a book jacket that exclusively features typefaces by Rudolf Koch. I thought I’ll add the first U.S. edition by M. Witmark & Sons, too.

The American dust jacket features another typeface design by Koch. This time it’s Neuland (1923), a coarse all-caps design for which Koch manually cut the punches, resulting in small (and not so small) differences across the ten sizes.

Thanks to Edvinas Žukauskas and Jérôme Knebusch who digitized all individual sizes for their Koch-Grotesk revival (2023), it’s easy to determine the sizes the uncredited jacket designer employed. The main title and the publisher’s name use the 20pt (“Text”) size, and the subtitle, the author’s name and the location are derived from the 12pt “Cicero” size. The two lines in the 20pt design are shown in different sizes – that’s because they were scaled photographically. Identifying the sizes also tells us that the fonts used are the original ones imported from Klingspor: the domestic copy by Baltotype was cut pantographically based on the 28pt design, and thus is identical from one size to another.

The other typeface used for the synopsis and the spine is equally bold, but has nothing to do with Koch whatsoever. It’s Cooper Black.

Front and spine of the book jacket

The book cover combines Lichte Erbar-Versalien a.k.a. Monastic with an italic Caslon – possibly English Caslon Oldstyle.

The title page repeats the cover typography and adds text in another Caslon, in italics and roman caps.

While the chapter numbers use numerals from the aforementioned Lichte Erbar-Versalien, the initials are from another open face: it’s Caslon Openface.

Body text isn’t composed in Caslon, but in a Baskerville – namely the Linotype version.

Carta Nueva is used here for the title of rapper myst milano.’s new album. Everything is beautiful and very detailed on this album cover and the accompanying posters: from the nails to the set up, the makeup and the hairstyle, the green yellow vinyl and finally the typeface.

Chosen by graphic designer Olenka Szymonski, Carta Nueva, designed by My-Lan Thuong for Sharp Type, is offering to this title an overkill of delicate details such as the V capital reaching over the letters “alley”. Carta Nueva is paired with a handful of other typefaces, such as Nicolas Cochin and Sequel 100 Black.

myst milano. is a well-known rapper but also a producer and a DJ from the Toronto scene of hip-hop, house, and black electronic music. “I offer Beyond the Uncanny Valley as a working anthology of Black electronic music across generational, geographical and genre lines,” myst milano. writes. “I thought a lot about staples of Black art across the world that can be traced back to Africa, and that link the diaspora regardless of where our people end up and throughout all eras.”

Beyond the Uncanny Valley was written, performed and produced by myst milano., with additional production by David Psutka. Portrait photography by Jorian Charlton with assistance from Joshua Rille.

Éditions Lorelei publishes critical and theoretical works on art and culture, as well as artists’ books and publications whose writing includes graphic and editorial choices.
Among these books, those in the “Frictions” collection combine artistic and political reflections, with a view to sharing tools for thought with those who cross these two fields —and whom these two fields cross.

French studio Huz & Bosshard used the typeface Plaax (Damien Gautier, 205TF) for headlines; Henry (Matthieu Cortat, 205TF) for continuous text and footnotes; and Tristram (Matthieu Cortat, unreleased) for citations.

A ticket for a Groundhog Dance held on the day before Groundhog Day in 1934 by the El Hezi Temple No. 215 of the Dramatic Order of the Knights of Khorassan (D.O.K.K.), which is associated with the Knights of Pythias. The El Hezi Temple was a local D.O.K.K. group in western Pennsylvania.

Groundhog Dance
Given by
El Hezi Temple No. 215, D.O.K.K.
Thursday, February 1, 1934 --- From 9 to ?
New K. of P. Home
Admission---75c Per Couple

“Groundhog Dance” uses Nicolas Cochin with faux small caps (or with initial caps from a larger size). The rest of the ticket is set in Kabel.

The New Antiquarians is a publication by Phaidon, which

features twenty-two young connoisseurs whose spirited interiors exemplify unorthodox approaches to living with history. (...) The book is an exuberant entry point into the world of antiques, highlighting one-of-a-kind collections and the single-minded collectors whose stories suggest compelling new ways of living with the past.

I worked with the writer, art historian and curator Michael Diaz-Griffith, and the team at Monacelli and Phaidon to craft the full visual world for the book, with special attention paid towards creating an object that felt appropriately historic – without leaning too far into pastiche. The book design had to be thematically consistent enough to link together such a disparate set of interior styles, while still leaving room for each subject’s unique perspective to hold appropriate space.

The result was an eclectic typographic and compositional system that spoke to 19th-century book design, balanced out by an approach to color and illustration that varied from chapter to chapter; each collector in the book was paired with a carefully curated archival spot illustration, border, and palette that reflected their particular visual idiosyncrasies and interests.

The book uses an eclectic mix of type that nods to myriad eras and art movements. Body text is set in Henry, 205TF's take on Garamond, which brings a delicate formality to long blocks of copy (especially when italic), while the chapter headlines, title page, and jacket spine use Albertus in all caps – a nod to the classicism of Roman square capitals. Chapter numbers are set in the Art Deco-inspired Top Tune JNL from Jeff Levine, contributor names in Canada Type’s swashy Monte Cristo, and captions and subheads in the utilitarian Styrene A (Commercial Type).

The book jacket and case further riff on the border motif established for chapter headings, with the former utilizing a reworked public domain illustration from the 19th century to create a cover scene that evokes a stage or a window – supported by a title set in Daylight Fonts’ Ivy DF, with custom ligatures – while the latter takes the frame concept to its logical, slightly absurdist, extreme for the interior embossed hardcover.

Hardcover, 292×241 mm (11.5×9.5 in), 272 pages
Book photography by Brian W. Ferry

La Bouquet, run by 시요니 siyeon, is a feminine fragrance brand that evokes a certain time in your memory, designed by Gina Shin. The main note consists of various florals as if you are smelling a bouquet. The art direction was shot as if you're watching a still scene of a movie to capture the moment in time.

The elegant full-cap serif typeface, Ninna by Margot Lévêque, evokes the feeling of a quick scribble and poetry capturing the thoughts in the moment. The logotype is designed with the italic style of Henry by Matthieu Cortat.

Don Quichotte et les figures de l’auteur (“Don Quixote and figures of authorship”) is the first publication in La petite collection (“The small collection”). This text proposes a parallel between “revival” in typography and in literature, through the figure of Don Quixote and its reuses in different texts. This text is taken from a lecture given in 2017 by Thomas Huot-Marchand at the Atelier nationale de recherche typographique (ANRT).

To design this booklet, Roman Seban used his Bertin typeface and Henry by Matthieu Cortat. La petite collection is co-published by the Association Presse Offset and the École européenne supérieure d’art de Bretagne (EESAB), site de Lorient, in partnership with the type foundry 205TF.

1970 album from American drummer and singer Buddy Miles, issued shortly after his membership in the short-lived Band of Gypsys along with guitarist Jimi Hendrix and bassist Billy Cox. The title cut is considered his best-known tune, and was also performed with Hendrix on the Band of Gypsys album.

The title and artist are set in Caslon Open, with a gold embossed effect on the original album cover. On the back cover, the song titles are likewise set in Caslon Open, with credits in an unidentified serif.

Album design by Richard Germinaro, with art direction from Desmond Strobel and photography by Burnell Caldwell. John Craig consulted on the design.

[More info on Discogs]

Gatefold

Back cover

Alternate cover for the Netherlands issue of the album on Fontana, with artist and title in Windsor Elongated

Drexciya was an afrofuturist techno duo from Detroit, consisting of James Stinson (1969–2002) and Gerald Donald. In 2015, Dutch label Clone released a 12″ with “alternate takes of two seminal Drexciya tracks”, “Black Sea” and “Wavejumper”, in their Clone Aqualung Series. The cover features an original design with a particular texture. In the center, the name is set in caps from Cochin.

[More info on Discogs]

Dessous l’écorce / Below the bark is a compilation of the best work of artist Fabien Mérelle until now, presenting around a hundred drawings and four sculptures. The book was published by Lannoo in conjunction with the exhibition Voies de Têtes at Keteleer Gallery in 2019.

For the typography, book designer Denis Decaluwe used Henry by Matthieu Cortat and distributed by 205TF.

Matthew Carter’s Shelley Script on the cover of a paperback edition of The Master and Margarita, published by Grove Press in the early 1990s, in Mirra Ginsburg’s translation from 1967. From Wikipedia:

The Master and Margarita (Russian: Мастер и Маргарита) is a novel by Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov, written in the Soviet Union between 1928 and 1940 during Stalin’s regime. A censored version was published in Moscow magazine in 1966–1967, after the writer's death. The manuscript was not published as a book until 1967, in Paris. A samizdat version circulated that included parts cut out by official censors, and these were incorporated in a 1969 version published in Frankfurt. The novel has since been published in several languages and editions.

Shelley Script (1972) is based on the calligraphy of early eighteenth century English writing master George Shelley. It comes in three degrees of flourish; Adagio, Vivace, and Presto; this being Presto, with the curls on the swash cap M nicely echoing the cat’s tongue. While previous releases had three separate styles, Linotype’s OpenType version merges them into one font, with “Presto” made available via the Swash feature. Fun fact: The roman is another revival made by Carter in the 1970s: Cochin goes back to a design by Peignot & Fils from 1914. Carter reworked it at Linotype in 1977.

The cover was designed by Krystyna Skalski, with an illustration by Robert Goldstrom. The exact date is unclear to me. Cooper Hewitt dates it to 1991. The back cover suggests a printing date in 1992.

Created for the launch of the Voyager 1 and 2 space vehicles, this golden record label was put on the two records launched into the depths of space, containing dozens of audio and music clips as well as visuals representative of all of planet Earth, for anyone who might find and decode it a million years or less from its launch, to learn about the tiny civilization on a spec of dust we call home.

The oldstyle roman caps used for “The Sounds of Earth” are from a filled-in version of Caslon Openface. The sender info (“United States of America, Planet Earth”) is set in bold caps from Futura. The NASA logo is custom drawn (Nasalization from 2000 expands its letterforms to a full font).

[More info on Discogs]