Front of the box

This four-LP compilation box set with recordings of classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski (1882–1977) was released by the International Preview Society in 1986.

For Stokowski’s name, the uncredited designer chose Green Buzzard D, the open style of Norman Green’s 1970 set of elaborately ornamented Art Deco caps, and gave the letterforms a multicolored fill.

“Russian Masterpieces” is in Letraset’s Dynamo Medium, with “conducts” in bold italic caps from Steile Futura. The label name is in Filmotype Yale.

[More info on Discogs]

Detail showing the chromatic treatment of Green Buzzard D

Back of the box. Composer names are in all-caps Dynamo Medium, with initials from Green Buzzard C. The titles are set in PLINC Belwe, which is distinguished from Letraset’s Belwe by a number of design details, including the wavy A bar, an S without top serif, and a flat-roofed T. There are more differences in the lowercase.

The front cover of the booklet has the same typefaces as the front of the box, here in black and white.

Back cover of the booklet, with text set in Times.

From Wikipedia:

Briefing for a Descent into Hell is a psychological thriller by the British novelist Doris Lessing. It was first published in 1971 and shortlisted for that year's Booker Prize.

First edition, published by Alfred A. Knopf.

Author's name and novel's title on front panel and spine of the dust jacket are set in Green Buzzard C, with blue, red and yellow colored fills. The setting on the spine has been simplified to more basic letterforms and rendered in yellow and blue. For the gilt-decorated white cloth hardcover, the front board features the author's initials set in Caslon 540 Swash Italic and the spine features the author's name and novel's title set in Perpetua, which is also featured on the interior title page.

Jacket design by John Gerbino.

Front panel and spine of dust jacket

Back panel and spine of dust jacket

Front board and spine of the gilt-decorated white cloth hardcover

Title page

Green Buzzard’s B style is distinguished by a dot pattern that adds an extra shade to the ornate caps of Norman Green’s 1970 design.

Here it can be seen in fairly early use on the cover of the second album by The Colmanaires, a gospel group formed in 1962 in Washington, D.C., released in 1971 on Cotillion Records. Cover design by Loring Eutemey, with photography by James J. Kriegsman.

The secondary typeface is an interesting one, too: like Green Buzzard, it was presented in PLINC’s Art Deco booklet, issued as no. 11 in their Alphabet Directions series in 1970. A year later, the geometric sans was listed under the name Herculoid, and credited to Ed Benguiat.

[More info on Discogs]

Detail

Text on the back cover is set in reversed Memphis.

From Wikipedia:

Ramón “Mongo” Santamaría Rodríguez (April 7, 1917 – February 1, 2003) was a Cuban percussionist and bandleader who spent most of his career in the United States. Primarily a conga drummer, Santamaría was a leading figure in the pachanga and boogaloo dance crazes of the 1960s. His biggest hit was his rendition of Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon Man”, which was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998. From the 1970s, he recorded mainly salsa and Latin jazz, before retiring in the late 1990s.

For this 1971 album on Atlantic Records, designer Stanisław Zagórski used a title typeface that was added to Photo-Lettering’s library just a year earlier: it’s Norman Green’s Buzzard. Zagórski specified the (relatively) simplified A style. Its letterforms are shown in reverse, with white parts printed in black, and black parts colored in yellow, orange, and pink.

Photography by Jim Cummins.

[More info on Discogs]

On the back cover, Orplid is also shown in reverse. It’s used alongside Vogue with its Futura-style alternates. The “MONGO” sign in the photo is in Matura.

Front cover of 1971 vinyl

From Wikipedia:

Fairyland is a live album by jazz guitarist Larry Coryell. All songs were recorded on June 18, 1971 at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland and originally released by Mega Records on their Flying Dutchman Series. Coryell is accompanied by Chuck Rainey on bass and Bernard Purdie on drums.

Artist name and album title are set in Green Buzzard’s C style . Additional text on the front and back covers is set in Helvetica. The Flying Dutchman Series mark looks to be set in Annlie.

Cover painting by Gage Taylor. Front cover photo by John Knaggs, BBM Associates. Back cover photo by Giuseppe Pino. Design by Haig Adishian.

Back cover of 1971 vinyl

Cover of the 2017 remaster on Audio CD

From Wikipedia:

Three Tough Guys (also known as Tough Guys) is a 1974 crime-action film directed by Duccio Tessari. It stars Lino Ventura, Fred Williamson and Isaac Hayes, who also composed the soundtrack. It is a coproduction between United States, Italy (where it was released Uomini duri) and France (where is known as Les Durs). The film was shot in Chicago.

The film's title is set in Green Buzzard (style A, reversed), with perspective effect to match the art. Additional text is set in Helvetica.

Poster art by Charles Moll.

I Gotta Be Me is the first and only album release by gospel group Gideon & Power. In a feature from August 9, 1971, Newsweek wrote:

Gideon (his full name is Gideon Daniels) is a lanky, black, 30-year-old son of a Georgia church deacon who praises the Lord in a piercing falsetto or a rasping bass, rattling a furious tambourine as he holy-dances across the stage and down through the audience, singing and sermonizing, jerking and jiving in a joyful-noise act that crackles with electricity and drive. Backed by three white and two Filipino singer-musicians who somehow manage to pack all the flailing fervor of a black revival meeting into their voices and gyrations, Gideon conducts his interracial gospel train around the tables and down the aisles, working up “the spirit” with glory-glories and exhortations to the Holy Ghost, bouncing with the vertical jumps made famous by soul-mother Clara Ward, whose songs the group often performs. […] The “power” of their title turns out to come not from the Bible but from New Left rhetoric (“the only reason we picked the name we did,” says Gideon, “is because we can bring power to the people”), and in fact the group’s pitch seems more political than religious.

Album design by Michael Mendel of Maurer Productions, with photography by David Keller and art direction from the Bell staff. Green Buzzard is used with a gradient fill. The heavy sans is Airport Black, used in all caps with so-called sign painters’ quotes.

[More info on Discogs]

Detail: Green Buzzard came in four variants. This is the C style which is distinguished by a pattern of horizonal lines.

Text on the back cover is set in Helvetica.

This performance of Stravinsky’s Petrouchka by the Boston Symphony Orchestra with conductor Pierre Monteux was recorded in January 1959 and originally released in 1960.

For RCA’s 1975 reissue, the uncredited designer combined the heavily decorated Green Buzzard D with Aquarius 2, the lightest style of Ronald Arnholm’s semi-slab.

[More info on Discogs]

Back cover with liner notes by Alfred Frankenstein set in Memphis.

Detail

Green Buzzard A in use for a compilation album by country music singer Glen Campbell (1936–2017), released in 1973 by Pickwick Records.

Song names (and back cover, not pictured) are set in the IBM Selectric version of Univers.

[More info on Discogs]

Detail

“Birthday” (No. 307). Illustration by Tom Sawyer. The typeface is Davison Dimensional.

Covers for various clip books of line art issued in 1978 by Harry Volk Jr. Art Studio, Pleasantville, New Jersey. Each booklet features another face for the cover, typically in an attempt to echo the topic in the typeface choice, see e.g. the graphic Futura Black for “Graphic Arts”, the 19th-century Bracelet for “Western”, or the engraved Bond Shaded for “Money”. This volume uses Kabel Black for the bottom line, framing the logo designed by Herb Lubalin in 1976. The heavy border with rounded (and sometimes inset) corners was introduced in 1976, too, but wasn’t seen on most issues from 1977.

See the previous post about the clip books issued in 1955 for more information on Harry Volk Jr. Art Studio.

“Wedding” (No. 304) ft. Tintoretto.

“Holidays” (No. 305) ft. Caslon Antique.

“Homes-Buildings” (No. 306) ft. caps from Compacta set on an arc. The fanning suggests this was set with phototype, as ooposed to dry transfer lettering.

“Graphic Arts” (No. 308) ft. Futura Black.

“Expressions” (No. 309) ft. Archie in all caps.

“Religion” (No. 310) with what looks like some sort of Normande Italic. Berthold’s phototype version comes close except for the n.

“Winter” (No. 311) ft. Goudy Heavyface in italic all caps.

“Occupations” (No. 314) ft. Dynamo. Originally issued in 1930, this design was revived and extended at Letraset in the late 1970s.

“Spring” (No. 315) ft. Mania. Illustration by Tom Sawyer.

“Marine” (No. 700) ft. Tip-Top.

“Western” (No. 701) ft. Romantiques No. 5 / Bracelet. This ornamented Tuscan originated in the 19th century. It was available for dry-transfer lettering from Mecanorma (as Tuscan Ornate) amd Letraset (as Romantiques No. 5).

“Executives” (No. 704) ft. Columna Solid.

“Tourism” (No. 705) ft. Solemnis. Illustration by Tom Sawyer.

“Couples” (No. 706) ft. Yagi Double.

“Safety” (No. 707) ft. caps from Compacta Outline.

“Christmas” (No. 712) ft. the ornate Green Buzzard.

“Transportation” (No. 715) ft. Compacta Italic.

“Family” (No. 716) ft. Benguiat Caslon with swash alternates.

“Landmarks” (No. 717) ft. Saphir.

“Environment” (No. 718) ft. all-lowercase Charter Oak, tightly spaced.

“Money” (No. 719) ft. a version of Bond Shaded, probably Bond Shaded. Illustration by Tom Sawyer.

“Children” (No. 720) ft. all-caps Mistral.

“Groups” (No. 721) ft. a bunch of people pointing at tightly spaced caps from ITC Zapf Book Heavy.

“Circus/Fair” (No. 722) ft. West Barnum Ultra.

“Contests” (No. G86) ft. more Benguiat Caslon, this time in all caps. The logo of the Grafika subseries is in ITC Fat Face with ligatures for ra and fi, accompanied by Kabel Light with omitted tittles.

“Design Devices” (No. G87) ft. Harlow, a Letraset release from 1977. “ZAP” is probably custom lettering.

“Something Extra” (No. G89) ft. Slim Dandy, a variation of the Mansard theme, by Lettergraphics.

“Lankies” (No. G90) ft. Churchward Design Sparkly.

“Symbols” (No. G91) ft. Cucumber

“Printed Forms” (No. G93) ft. Gonzales Jeanette with Akzidenz-Grotesk Condensed and Windsor.

“Big & Strong” (No. G94) ft. Atlas and more Mania, set on a curve.

“Announcers” (No. G95), again with Slim Dandy.

Grafika 1 (1970), ft. Bauhaus Prisma K from Ed Benguiat’s Bauhaus Prisma & Prisma Bauhaus. This series of multiline faces was introduced in the same year and showcased in PLINC’s Art Deco-themed Alphabet Directions No. 11.

Covers for various clip books of line art issued by Harry Volk Jr. Art Studio, Pleasantville, New Jersey. See the previous post about the clip books issued in 1955 for more information on Harry Volk Jr. Art Studio.

These booklets belong to a subseries titled Grafika. It was introduced in 1970. Until 1972, 18 numbered issues were produced. From No. 19 on, the number was no longer shown prominently, and Grafika were merged into the regular series of clip books. Collector Bart Solenthaler comments:

Volk published several titles in addition to the regular clip books – including Grafika – that started out with a distinct mission, but they all eventually became interchangeable in content to their other offerings.

Although not yet used for the first issues, ITC Fat Face soon emerged as the identity typeface for the Grafika series, and was maintained for later additions, see e.g. No. 113 from 1980. Like ITC Avant Garde Gothic and ITC Ronda, ITC Fat Face is the work of Herb Lubalin and Tom Carnase. These three typefaces were all released in 1970.

Grafika 2 (1971) ft. ITC Avant Garde Gothic, with the numeral 2 from Craw Modern or similar tucked into the counter of the monocular a.

Grafika 3 (1971) appears to use a solid, filled-in modification of Bauhaus Prisma. When compared to Bauhaus Alpha or Bauhaus Geometric (PLINC’s precursors of ITC Bauhaus), the differences are most notable in the counters of R (not round) and A (much larger), as well as the K with more even arms. G was trimmed for tighter spacing.

Grafika 5 sees a return of Bauhaus Prisma K, here with an “Arabic” numeral. This thick-thin-thin-thick-thin face is also used for No. 7.

Grafika 8 (1971) proudly features ITC Fat Face, with ligatures for ra and fi. While the latter was included in the font, the former appears to be a clever custom invention. This eventually became the de facto logo of Grafika.

Grafika 9 (1971) uses a phototype version of Clearface. According to the One Line catalog (1971), Photo-Lettering, Inc. offered the design in 4 weights and 2 widths, plus italics. In 1978, ITC released a version in 4 weights, credited to Victor Caruso. ITC Clearface is narrower than the variant used here. The text in light lowercase letters inside the counter is set in ITC Avant Garde Gothic.

Grafika 11 (1971).

Grafika 12 (1971).

Grafika 14 (1972). “A Gallery of Contemporary Art” is in tightly spaced ITC Ronda.

Grafika 15 (1972).

Grafika 16 (1972).

Grafika 17 (1972).

Grafika 18 (1972).

“America” (No. G20, 1972) ft. tightly spaced caps from Futura Light, with a custom CA ligature. The small text here is set in all-caps Helvetica.

“Design Devices” (No. G22, 1972) ft. Advertisers Gothic.

“Ad Animals” (No. G25, 1972) ft. Mania.