From Wikipedia:

The Silmarillion (Quenya: [silmaˈrilːiɔn]) is a book consisting of a collection of myths and stories in varying styles by the English writer J.R.R. Tolkien. It was edited, partly written, and published posthumously by his son Christopher in 1977, assisted by Guy Gavriel Kay, who became a fantasy author. It tells of Eä, a fictional universe that includes the Blessed Realm of Valinor, the ill-fated region of Beleriand, the island of Númenor, and the continent of Middle-earth, where Tolkien's most popular works—The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings—are set. After the success of The Hobbit, Tolkien’s publisher, Stanley Unwin, requested a sequel, and Tolkien offered a draft of the writings that would later become The Silmarillion. Unwin rejected this proposal, calling the draft obscure and “too Celtic”, so Tolkien began working on a new story that eventually became The Lord of the Rings.

The first edition by Allen & Unwin uses Hawthorn on the book jacket, with emblems drawn by Tolkien himself: Lúthien Tinúviel’s on the front panel, and those of Fingolfin, Eärendil, Idril Celebrindal, Elwë, and Fëanor on the back. The title page is set in Perpetua and Imprint. The latter is also used as text typeface.

This Christmas compilation featuring ten songs by five of their artists was released by budget label Holiday Records in 1981. With the exception of Eckmann, all display typefaces (printed in red) were available from Letraset, with several of them being originals by the British dry transfer pioneer. Annlie (1966), here used in italic with the alternate swash cap, was conceived by Fred Lambert. Revue (1968) and Octopuss (1970) are both designs by Colin Brignall. University Roman by Mike Daines was added in 1972, and Maurice Schlesinger’s Cut-In Bold by 1973.

The secret star of this album cover is Crafton Gothic, though: the narrow sans used for the titles in green was shown by Photo-Lettering already in 1960, in four weights, without designer credits. The label in their 1971 catalog indicates that Crafton Gothic originated elsewhere, but it doesn’t say where.

[More info on Discogs]

Gold foil and a combination of Hawthorn and Fust & Schoeffer Durandus 118G for the cover of this book talking about Tolkien’s ideology in Middle Earth, written by Sébastien Fontenelle and published by Lux Éditeur.

A variation of the publisher’s regular logo is used on the back cover.

Heartbeat (November 1981) utilises contoured Helvetica and Eurostile Extended for the album title and artist names respectively.

Chris & Cosey, sometimes known as Carter Tutti, are a musical duo formed in 1981, consisting of couple Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti, both previously members of industrial music pioneers Throbbing Gristle. Shown here are the covers of their first four albums, released between 1981 and 1985 on Rough Trade.

[More info on Discogs]

Trance (May 1982), featuring Caslon Antique for the title and artist name, and Melior for the name of their side project at the time, Creative Technology Institute (CTI)

Songs of Love & Lust (January 1984) features Phyllis, alongside University Roman.

Techno Primitive (stylized as Technø Primitive, 1985) keeps things simple; using only Antique Olive in two weights, Black and Nord.

Anerca, meaning "to breathe" or "to make poetry" in the Inuit language, is a Canadian small press poetry review. Edited by the trio Kedrick James, Wreford Miller, and Adeena Karasick, the sixth issue features contributions from poets Jill Duerr, Tim Lander, Li Min Hua, Jill Macdonald, Stephen Morrissey, and Christine Stewart.

The cover reveals a hand-drawn logo in outline, accompanied by illustrations. These two visual elements are supplemented by decorative stars (*) sparkling around the text, as well as make-shift guillemets using mathematical operators (< >) highlighting four titles. From the very first page, Anerca establishes itself as an experimental magazine, visually playful with its textual content.

The body text is composed of a set of four typewriter typefaces including Courier, and possibly “Imperial Elite” from an Olivetti Lettera 22 model. Two of them remain unidentified: the condensed version on Sessa’s page and the extended one, composing the mailing address on the back cover. They appear to related to Courier. The layout is complemented by Century Schoolbook for author names, along with University Roman, Pump, and Stam (all available from Letraset), used as illustrative elements on single glyphs and short words.

The layout seeks variation and freedom, incorporating unconventional text placements, shapes, alignment, spacing, as well as handwritings. Guided by the spirit of concrete poetry, the design transforms writings into visual language. Form and content are intricately intertwined, offering readers an intellectual and aesthetic experience through the pages.

The entire 6th issue of Anerca is accessible on JSTOR.

Letraset’s University Roman with Italic is used for “transit–ions”. It’s distinguished by circled i dots, which appear to be repurposed from the ring in Å.

The fish monster on the right page apparently is reproduced from pottery by the Mimbres culture.

The single Hebrew letter aleph (א) is from Stam.

The symbol on this page is a glyph of Mayan origin.

The picture on this page appears to be a Maori mask stencil.

The bold geometric sans is Letraset’s Pump.

This compilation album with “20 original hits” by Harry Belafonte was released by budget label K-Tel Records in Australia and New Zealand. There is no date on the album, but Searching for a Gem dates it to 1980. The singer’s name is in all-caps Bottleneck (Letraset, 1972).

[More info on Discogs]

The track names on the back are shown in a phototype version of Franklin Gothic distinguished by what looks like a non-standard R.

Polish poster for John Carpenter’s Christine, the 1983 horror film adaptation of Stephen King’s novel of the same name. Designer Jakub Erol drew some fabulous fangs for Christine (the jealous, possessive car kills by means other than biting, but who cares?).

The typography is interesting, too. To understand why University Roman Bold (Letraset, 1977) was chosen, it pays off to take a look at the wordmark that was used on the original US poster (shown below) and also in the movie itself, see Nick’s post about the titles.

Erol apparently aimed to approximate this piece of lettering, and University Roman ticks several boxes: it’s serifed and has about the right weight. Its C is round and wide, with a serif at the top but none at the bottom. R has a low waistline. And although the S doesn’t descend, it comes pretty close with its curling bottom part. The only crucial detail that the font didn’t offer is the round “uncial” E. No problem for a skilled Letraset wrangler: the designer simply repurposed a C and added the middle bar from an E – voilà!

Detail from the US one sheet advance poster for Christine. The title is custom drawn, in red serifed caps with a black outline and a heavier white contour. The descending swash forms for C, S, E feature pointed terminals. Other text is set in squeezed Albertus. The poster designer and lettering artist is unknown to me.

The other text was composed from rubdown type as well: “horror amerykański” is in a Letragraphica original, Colin Brignall’s Premier Shaded. And the line below the title in Times New Roman exhibit the typical signs of small-scale transfer lettering: unruly baseline alignment and occassionally blemished glyphs (see the G in “Gordon”)

Erol didn’t vertically center the bar in E, as in the movie logo. He deliberately positioned it higher, so that it aligns with the bar in University Roman’s H.

From Lizzy Young Bookseller:

French periodical/dictionary of of female surrealists from the ’70s. Contains images of artworks, interviews of artists, old letters and advertisements, and more. All text in French.

Front cover of Channel 1, released June 2000

Channel is a series of leftfield, electro and electroclash music compilation mixes released between 2000 to 2005. The channels range from one to four and feature a roster of British and international artists in a tracklist of 10 to 15 tracks, including Yello, LCD Soundsystem, Lopazz, and others.

Trevor Jackson, the founder of the now-defunct “highly acclaimed” Output Recordings (1996–2006), was known for designing the covers himself in the independent label’s art director role.

The first in this installment (released in June 2000) features a hot pink background (except fluorescent orange in the 2005 copies, not pictured) and text set in Berthold’s Akzidenz-Grotesk Bold, which was also used for the CD-R version (not pictured) released with Source UK, a tradename of the French label Source, but in a background of silver filled on the cover and the text being aligned on the centre above.

However, from Channel 2 to Channel 4, the band names on the front and track names on the back are a circus maelstrom of fonts with various backgrounds, including monochrome in two variants (one being white and black, the second being black on white) and metallic gold (pictured) and metallic silver (not pictured).

These fonts include classics from the metal type era as well as the 1970s/80s dry-transfer and phototypesetting years (including designs by ITC, Letraset, Mecanorma, VGC, Fotostar/Fascimile Fonts, and Photo-Lettering) in the styles of Art Deco, Victorian, Art Nouveau, geometric, etc. Note especially the early use of Tank by Canadian type designer Ray Larabie (in the 2004 compilation cover which by the way was possibly inspired by ITC Machine from 1970) and Boback from Nathan Williams’ Baseline Fonts foundry (not released until 2006) [edit: it’s probably the earlier Serifedsans].

Back cover, in left-aligned text and two columns

Channel Two, released April 2003: Centaur (Bruce Rogers, Monotype, 1928), Cooper Black (Oswald Bruce Cooper, Barnhart Brothers and Spindler, 1922), ITC Symbol (Aldo Novarese, 1984), Abbot Old Style (Joseph W. Phinney, ATF, 1901), Albertus (Berthold Wolpe, Monotype, 1936), Cottonwood (Barbara Lind et al., Adobe, 1989), Old English (Monotype, an adaptation of ATF Cloister Black, 1904), Memphis Bold (Rudolf Wolf, 1931), Studio (Dick Dooijes and Dolf Overbeek, Amsterdam Type Foundry, 1946), Too Much Shadow (Bill Seifert, VGC, 1974), Karnak Bold Condensed (Robert Hunter Middleton, Ludlow, 1931), Boback (Baseline Fonts, released ca. 2006, documented early use of an Alternate Gothic with serifs on the bottom) [edit: it’s probably the earlier Serifedsans], Helvetica Condensed (outlined, Stempel/Linotype), ITC Avant Garde Gothic (Herb Lubalin and Tom Carnase, 1970) and Hamilton (Font Bureau, 1993).

Back cover

Channel 3, released in June 2004 (pictured behind is the pink cover): Agraphicus (VGC before 1982, digitized by WSI in 1996 as Arruba), Tank (Ray Larabie of Typodermic, 2004 – the year this album was released in), ITC Busorama (Herb Lubalin and Tom Carnase, the creators of Avant Garde Gothic, 1970), Buxom (Bob Trogman of Fotostar/Fascimile, 1975), ITC Pioneer (Ronné Bonder, 1970), ITC Serif Gothic (Herb Lubalin and Tony Di Spigna, 1972), a condensed sans (probably a bolder style of FF Meta or similar), Shatter (Vic Carless, Letraset, 1973), Futura Black (Paul Renner, Bauer, 1929), Clarendon (Hermann Eidenbenz, Haas, 1953), Umbra (Robert H. Middleton, Ludlow, 1932), ITC American Typewriter Light (Tony Stan and Joel Kaden, 1974), and Raphael (Central Type Foundry, 1885)

Back cover with copyright and remix text in Helvetica (Max Miedinger, Haas, 1957)

Example spread of booklet that comes with the tracklist

Channel 4, released in September 2005: Fiorello (Photo-Lettering Inc., before 1965), Futura Light (Paul Renner, Bauer, 1927), Blackline (Wolf Magin, Berthold, 1973), Shotgun (J. Looney, VGC, 1972), ITC Busorama (see Channel 3 for info, here used with the asymmetrical A), ITC Zapf International (Hermann Zapf, 1977), Isabella (Herman Ihlenburg; MacKellar, Smiths and Jordan; 1892), Novel Gothic (shaded variant as seen in Solotype’s 3-D and Shaded Alphabets; Charles H. Becker and Morris F. Benton, ATF, 1928), Crypt, Sauce (unknown), University Roman (Letraset, 1972), Cooper Black (outlined variant) and ITC Serif Gothic Bold.

Back cover

Spine

Book jacket (front), Albert A. Knopf edition [More info on ISFDB]

Michael Crichton’s historical novel about the Great Gold Robbery of 1855 was first published in 1975, by Jonathan Cape in the United Kingdom, and by Alfred A. Knopf in the United States.

The typography for the book cover and the title page of both editions explores the obvious Western theme, with a different typeface for each line, including a shaded 19th-century slab named Gold Rush, a bold Didone, two Clarendons, and a “railroad slab” (all-caps Figaro) for “Train”.

While Cape used this setup for the dust jacket, too (design by Leigh Taylor), Paul Bacon fancied something else for Knopf’s version, and went with a typeface that has stylistic roots in the 1890s: Hawthorn (Letraset, 1968) is a bolder rendition of De Vinne Condensed.

Book jacket, Jonathan Cape edition

Title page, Albert A. Knopf edition

Book cover with spine, Albert A. Knopf edition

Book cover (front), Albert A. Knopf edition

Book jacket, Albert A. Knopf edition

Berkley Books, New York City, 1983

Anne Tyler’s novel Searching for Caleb was originally published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1975. Shown here are two paperback editions of later dates.

The one issued by Berkley in 1983 features caps from a phototype version of De Vinne. With the relatively thick bars in E F H and the overall restrained modulation (see the low contrast in E or S), I believe the font in use is Lettergraphics’s Devinne Black (before 1976), which seems to be identical to Castcraft’s Devinne Extra Bold Agency (before 1978). Chances are it’s the same font used for The Eyes of Darkness from 1981.

When Pan Books brought out their paperback for the British market in 1990, they – deliberately or not – went with a similar typeface for the cover. This time it’s Hawthorn, drawn by young Mike Daines (b. 1947) at Letraset in 1968. Apart from the added weight, his rendition stays closer to the original De Vinne Condensed, in terms of stroke weight contrast. Rounds in the bowls of B and R bulge out more. Furthermore, S leans a little to the left (just like in metal De Vinne Condensed), and C and G are quite narrow at the top. These characteristics become more evident when comparing Hawthorn to Roslindale, a more recent interpretation by DJR.

Pan Books, London, 1990

Sabre Lager is a brand by the Everards Brewery from Leicester, England. A trademark was registered in January 1975 – the coasters featuring all-caps Hawthorn (Letraset, 1968) were probably produced around this time. The design with a soldier swinging a sabre appears to reference a member of the Royal Leicestershire Regiment from the 1840s – it was in that decade that the brewery was founded. Everards’ most popular beer, the Tiger, is named for the nickname of the Leicestershire Regiment and was first produced in 1972. Unlike the Tiger, Sabre Lager is no longer produced.

Sabre Lager water jug made by Wade England

Anchor’s ca. 1970 paperback edition of Erving Goffman’s The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life comes with a cover design by Jim Cook. Mike Daines’s Hawthorn can easily be distinguished from similar De Vinne interpretations by its single-story g.

The cover for the first edition was designed by George Giusti. Apart from the basic theme of two humans in conversation, shown in profile, the two approaches have little in common.

Yamasa’s Planet T “Pachislo” slot machines use Stack for the logo.

The E.T.-themed model shown above additionally uses Broadway and Futura for the “Medal” labels, Eurostile for “Bar” and “Stop”, and oblique Helvetica caps for “You are champion / Have a good time / Good luck”.

The Super Planet T Type-A shown below features Revue for the logo extensions. “Super Bonus” is in Chromium One, “Bonus Game” and “Stop” in Futura Black, “Medal(s)” in Hawthorn, “Start”, “Medal In” etc. in Optima, “Bar” in ITC Souvenir, and “Super Bonus” in Eurostile. The inline numerals are probably custom (based on a bold extended Helvetica?). All Japanese fonts are unidentified. [edit: according to commentator A, these are Sūbo, Gona, Nāru, and Ishii Gothic.]

Originally published in 1991, The Kitchen God’s Wife is the second novel by Amy Tan. This is the jacket of the German book club edition, issued by Bertelsmann Club under license from Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag. The translation is by Sabine Lohmann. The design combines typography in Hawthorn with an image from the Archiv für Kunst und Geschichte, Berlin.

Cover of the zine Artemis, issue 5

Artemis is a zine apparently produced by St. Bride’s, also known as the Silver Sisterhood, sometime after February 1984. Sadly there seems to be only this one issue available on the internet. The cover is black line art on orange card.

The title appears to be lettering based on Art Deco, an all-caps typeface released by Mecanorma for dry transfer lettering. The round “Artemis” seal on the back cover features letterforms that stay close to the original design. The other occurrences build on the theme of thin-and-thick strokes with geometric construction, and add lowercase forms.

The subtitle, For Women who love Women, is set in Futura Medium Italic. The remaining text is a taster for Silverwolf, the regular story feature in the zine: “AT LAST” is set in Times Bold, “Silverwolf” uses American Uncial Initials, and “STRIKES BACK” is in Runnymede/Motto. All these typefaces were available from Letraset at the time, which would have been a popular choice for making zines like this, but there are no notes showing that it was Letraset type, other than the slightly uneven alignment of the subtitle.

The cover illustration is signed “Michele”, i.e. Michele Dennis. According to Aaron A. Reed, this might have been a pseudonym of Priscilla Langridge.

St. Bride’s was also the group publishing a series of computer games under The Games Mistresses branding.

Spread from the interior, with letters to the editors and an interview. Headlines are in University Roman (Letraset, 1976). The monospaced cursive in the speech balloon is Script (IBM). There are at least three other (proportionally spaced) typewriter faces which are not yet identified. The body text looks like it was produced on one of the variable typewriters, maybe a Diablo or a Selectric.

Spread with a headline in Cathedral (Letraset, 1978).

Silverwolf is a serial story credited to Laeretta Krenne-Genovene, illustrated by Michele Dennis. According to Aaron A. Reed, “one or both of these people may or may not have been Priscilla Langridge.”

Back cover of Artemis 5, featuring Grotesque No. 9 Italic, which was also available from Letraset.

Cover of the English-language edition of Soviet Chess School by Alexander Kotov and Mikhail Yudovich, translated by Lev Kurilov and published by Raduga Publishers in Moscow in 1983.

The typography appears to combine two similar interpretations of De Vinne. The authors’ names are the easy part: They are set in Hawthorn by Mike Daines, released by Letraset in 1968 in a single weight.

The bolder style used for the title looks like a member of the Basta series, started by Georg Salden in 1972. At least that’s the only typeface in this genre with such an angled e that I’m aware of. The heaviest weights named 3.6 and 3.9 come particularly close: In addition to the e, details like the s/S with long, pointed serifs or the t with flat top are a match, too. Basta has a ball terminal on the lowercase c. However, its uppercase C has the same form as seen here, so maybe the c was redrawn to match the C (and the c in Hawthorn). The T with upward-pointing serifs (like in Hawthorn, but unlike in Basta) could be explained in the same way. The descending v and t, the shortened h ascender, as well as the o’s with the knight pieces in place of counters are obviously modified. That’s why I tend to say it’s lettering based on Basta. In any case, Salden’s design comes closer than Brendel’s De Vinne Serial 7, which is digitally available as (TS) Denver (Serial) Black, and might have been around already in 1983, too. I can’t rule out the possibility that the title lettering is a manual extrapolation of Hawthorn. In that case, the similarities to Basta would be coincidental.

Basta was originally developed for the GST-Kreis, a subscription model with new display typefaces added on a monthly basis. These were exclusive to the members – a number of phototypesetting companies. TypeManufactur’s digital Basta focuses on the text styles. It has Leicht, Buch, and halbfett weights, each with matching Kursiv styles (and roman small caps for the two lighter weights), plus a fett. Its design is different from the original numbered Bastas.

GST-Basta 3.9, the heaviest weight of the Basta series, with swash alternates. Shown in a catalog by German phototypesetting company Stulle from 1985.

Self-Taught Chess for Beginners and Intermediates by Milton Finkelstein, Doubleday, 1975.

Self-Taught Chess for Beginners and Intermediates is a book by Milton Finkelstein (1920–2001). Formerly a high school teacher and principal, Finkelstein served as president of the Marshall Chess Club and Director of the New York City Department of Education.

The original edition was published by Doubleday in 1975, with a jacket design featuring tightly set Baskerville Old Face, integrated into a rook piece. Shown below is the cover of the Ishi Press paperback edition. With Letraset’s Unversity Roman (1972) in center-aligned all-caps, it looks like it went back to the 1970s, too. In fact it was published as recently as 2018.

Self-Taught Chess for Beginners and Intermediates by Milton Finkelstein, Ishi Press, 2018.

Creative studio Decade from New York City worked with luggage brand Paravel to create their first campaign. The posters use a range of display typefaces, all paired with Paravel’s brand typeface Post Grotesk.

From first to last image, these are Canopée used for “Montauk”; Salvaje Display is used for “Flushing”; “Chinatown” is set in Zangezi Sans; an unidentified fraktur is used for “Sheep’s Meadow”; House Script for “Everywhere’s a trip!” and “Luggage for explorers”; University Roman (or Mecanorma’s version named Celtic) is used for “The Catskills”.

The campaign was New York City-focused, with subway ads and a station takeover of Broadway/Lafayette, as well as placements in MetroNorth and Grand Central, and was brought to life in various print and digital formats. From the Decade website:

Travel is more than a few trips a year to faraway places—looking at the world through the eyes of a traveler means finding adventure everywhere, everyday. To tell this story, the campaign featured local spots made to feel like exotic destinations. With cinematic images, graphic treatments inspired by vintage travel postcards, and tongue-in-cheek reminders that “everywhere’s a trip,” we communicated the sense of humor and imagination at the heart of Paravel’s approach to travel.

1984 edition.

Paperback cover of Stanislav Kondrashov’s biography of Martin Luther King, published in 1981 by Progress Publishers, Moscow. The title is set in all-caps Futura Display and Hawthorn, with (almost) one word per line. Hawthorn (1968) is Mike Daines’s take on De Vinne. Both faces were available from Letraset at the time. Note the more than generous trapping for the color accents. The serif used in caps for the author’s name and the publisher is unidentified.

First paperback edition, 1981.