A fine Use of all-caps West Nouveau Didot for the cover of The Mean Machine, an album by jazz organist Jimmy McGriff (1936–2008) released on Groove Merchant in 1976. Printed in pale violet and yellow, the curly letters nicely echo the ornamentation on the musician’s garment.

[More info on Discogs]

Source: comics.ha.com Heritage Auctions. License: All Rights Reserved.

The Fantastic Art of Frank Frazetta (August 1975). The small type (and the text typeface) is De Vinne.

West Nouveau Didot is a typeface drawn by Dave West and added to the catalog of Photo-Lettering by 1971.

In August 1975, it was used in all caps for The Fantastic Art of Frank Frazetta, an album with assorted works by the “Godfather of fantasy art”, with an introduction by Betty Ballantine and book design by Robert Blanchard. The book was published by Rufus Publications and Peacock Press, an imprint of Ballantine Books. Scribner’s issued a hardback edition in September 1975.

The typeface subsequently became the backbone of the typographic identity of Frank Frazetta (1928–2010). It was used for all five volumes of The Fantastic Art of Frank Frazetta, as well as calendars, catalogs, jigsaw puzzles, and other items featuring the iconic works by the Brooklyn-born artist.

Source: comics.ha.com Heritage Auctions. License: All Rights Reserved.

The Fantastic Art of Frank Frazetta. Book Two (1977). The secondary typeface is ITC Souvenir.

Source: comics.ha.com Heritage Auctions. License: All Rights Reserved.

The Fantastic Art of Frank Frazetta. Book Three (1978)

Source: comics.ha.com Heritage Auctions. License: All Rights Reserved.

The Fantastic Art of Frank Frazetta, Book Four (1980). Betty Ballantine’s name now is set in all-caps West Nouveau Didot, too.

Source: comics.ha.com Heritage Auctions. License: All Rights Reserved.

The Fantastic Art of Frank Frazetta, Book Five (1985)

Source: comics.ha.com Heritage Auctions. License: All Rights Reserved.

Assorted Frank Frazetta calendars from 1977 to 1982

Source: comics.ha.com Heritage Auctions. License: All Rights Reserved.

The Frank Frazetta Calendar 1977, designed by Robert Blanchard

Source: historical.ha.com Heritage Auctions. License: All Rights Reserved.

The Frank Frazetta Calendar 1978

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The Frank Frazetta Calendar 1979

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The Frank Frazetta Calendar 1980

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The Frank Frazetta Calendar 1982 with box

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The Fantastic Art of Frank Frazetta jigsaw puzzle, “The Death Dealer” (1973). The text in red caps is in ITC Korinna. The title uses another PLINC face, Staudel Xenotype P.

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A collection of 1970s and 1980s Frazetta puzzles from American Publishing Corporation

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The Fantastic Art of Frank Frazetta, Catalog No. 2 (1981)

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The Fantastic Art of Frank Frazetta, Catalog No. 2 (1991)

Benard Glemser’s novel about prospective stewardess Carol Thompson was originally published by Random House as Girl on a Wing in 1960, with a much classier cover. It 1963, it was made into a movie entitled Come Fly With Me and re-issued by Bantam as The Fly Girls. In 1969, Bantam brought out a new paperback edition with a sexist cover design that obviously jumped on the bandwagon of the top-selling Coffee Tea or Me from 1967.

I’m adding it here because of the cover typeface which hasn’t come up a lot on Fonts In Use before: West Roma is wider than Caruso Roxy, but has an overall similar feel. Drawn by Dave West in the second half of the 1960s, Photo-Lettering grouped it together with Roxy, Roxanna, Loose New Roman and Fantasia in a section named “Curled Casual Latins”.

Glemser and Bantam tried to squeeze even more out of the trend, and issued the sequel The Super-Jet Girls and a new edition of Here Come The Brides in 1971. Despite playing it safe with Caruso Roxy on the cover, these books weren’t as big a hit. What they did succeed in was further tainting Roxy as the stereotypical typeface for the lewd aspects of the Swinging Sixties.

The text on the balloon (“HAPPY BIRTHD”) might be in all-caps Franklin Gothic Wide.

This box set with twelve 7″ records containing a total of fifty party playtime songs was released on Playhour, a sublabel of Pickwick Records, and advertised in 1970. The collage on the cover is by Frank Daniel. The three main display typefaces are all from the catalog of Photo-Lettering: “50” uses numerals from West Barnum, “Party Playtime” is in caps from Caruso Roxy, and the Playhour logo on the back, the inner sleeve and the labels features Gonzales Jeanette.

[More info on Discogs]

From Richard Flynn:

If ever an album cover said 1968 release, this is definitely one of them!
The band consisted of Steve Soles, Eric Kaz & Artie Traum. The album is primarily psych pop rock, but very good tunes, and some great musicianship.

The typeface chosen for the cover typography is West Italiano, which was released by Photo-Lettering by 1967. Photography by Joel Brodsky who’s best known for his portraits of Jim Morrison.

Bear was a psych rock band from Boston, originally called Children of Paradise. They recorded the theme music for Greetings, an early Brian De Palma film about young men avoiding the Vietnam War draft, starring Robert De Niro in his first role.

[More info on Discogs]

The art on the back cover is by Michael Soles.

The Art of the Spanish Guitar is an album by Julian Bream, released in 1970 on the RCA Red Seal label. It contains interpretations of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach, Maurice Ravel, Benjamin Britten and others.

[More Info at Discogs]

Fonts from the Flea Market #1443

Georges Chelon (b. 1943) is a French singer-songwriter who released his debut album in 1965. In 1968, EMI Records brought out this compilation album to introduce him and his chansons to a German audience as well. Chelon’s name is set big and tight in caps from West Barnum, an exclusive by Photo-Lettering. Apparently it was important to the marketing department to make the singer’s country of origin crystal clear: not only was Chelon’s face colored in red, white and blue; a tricolore band was added to the sleeve as well.

This anthology of over a hundred poems was edited by Phyllis McGinley (1905–1978), an American author of children’s books and poetry who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1961.

Muriel Nasser designed the book jacket for the first edition by J.B. Lippincott & Co. For the typography, she chose West Cooper Nouveau Swash 10, the bold italic weight of Dave West’s typeface family inspired by Cooper Black.

Several of the letterforms don’t match those in other in-use examples. The S appears to be an enlarged and stretched lowercase form, and the M doesn’t have a descending swash (cf. the album cover to A Message To The Nation). Also compare the P to the one on the Raw Pearl cover and the G to the Gordon Lightfoot cover. And it goes on: c and r have less distinctive terminals, the i dot is smaller, and the y looks different as well. Some of these differences might be explained by the presence of alternates – I haven’t seen a full a glyph set for this typeface style – but I tend to think we’re looking at a case of “lettering derived from typeface”.

A desperate masquerade trapped her in a maze of menace and terror.

The Looking Glass Murder is book #44 in the Arthur Crook series by Anthony Gilbert, the pen name of British writer Lucy Beatrice Malleson (1899–1973). First published in 1966, this is the cover of Pyramid Gothic’s paperback edition from 1968, with cover art by Lou Marchetti (1920–1992). The title typeface is the bold weight of West Cooper Nouveau Swash.

This 1971 book cover uses a funky bold type that has striking similarities to Cooper Black Condensed: it’s West Cooper Nouveau. The small line at the top is in News Gothic. Headings in the book use classic Cooper Black. The text itself is set in Times, with chapter numbers added in the bold italic style of Caslon 3.

The Three Investigators is a juvenile detective book series, started by Robert Arthur in 1964. This book was written by Nick West, which is a pseudonym of Kin Platt (1911–2003). Harry Kane (1912–1988) provided the illustration. The series is continued to this day in Germany – under the title Die drei ??? – where it is particularly popular.

Title page with frontispiece

Detail of a chapter opening in Cooper Black. The number is in bold italic Caslon 3.

Detail of a chapter opening in Copper Black

Packaging design for Xochi Prebiotic Agave Soda made with 100% natural ingredients, respecting the traditions surrounding aguamiel.

The concept aims to capture the essence of Mexican cultural elements and create a brand identity that pays homage to its vibrant heritage from a contemporary point of view. We drew inspiration from the streets, using a wide range of references such as local signage, festive traditional costumes, decorations, flowers, and everyday graphic expressions.

We wanted the cans to feel like a celebration of Mexican culture from a pop perspective, where colors are vibrant and typography is bold, oversized, and playful.

Keith’s Cacao is a specialized platform offering 100% pure, ceremonial-grade Guatemalan cocoa. The site provides premium cacao blocks and educational resources focused on “heart-opening” spiritual practices, creativity, and holistic wellness.

For its branding, made by Kinoto Studio, they used Dave West’s Cooper Nouveau Swash for the packaging headline, Pouler by Alexandre Créquer for titles and subtitles, and Pangram Sans (Mat Desjardins), Trade Gothic (Jackson Burke), and SAA Series for texts.

Series of posters for Hotline, a succession of three events organized by Arte Faact and Combo Bongos at a local club in Nantes called Macadam. The identity had to be inspired by the retro flyers of sex chat line advertising, using a real phone number to give the practical informations for the event.

I used a mix of script fonts from different eras, as it was a good way to tell the story of a phone number quickly written on the napkin of a bar or a restaurant. The generously curved lines of West Cooper Nouveau Swash also provide a feeling of seduction and give coherence to the identity.

Risograph printed at Collectif Bonus.

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Vinyl version, front cover

In July 2016, Australian electronic group the Avalanches released their second album, Wildflower.

While the front cover has no type at all, except for a sticker with Jersey M54 for the band name, all-caps Arnold Böcklin for the album title, and ITC Franklin Gothic for additional text, the typographic party takes place on the back: it features a different style for each track on the album, with embroidered letterforms. Most of the song names are based on fonts, with or without modifications.

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Vinyl version, back cover

The Leaves Were Falling: Brush Script
Because I’m Me: handwriting?
Frankie Sinatra: Benguiat Caslon (or a digital version thereof, like Emfatick NF)
Subways: Arial Bold
Going Home: Gillies Gothic
If I Was A Folkstar: West Barnum
Colours: Electric Circus
Zap!: (similar to) Strand Midnite
The Noisy Eater: Baby Teeth
Wildflower: Arnold Böcklin
Harmony: Tango
Live A Lifetime Love: Allura
Park Music: ITC Avant Garde Gothic (?)
Livin’ Underwater (Is Somethin’ Wild): loosely based on Williamson Skidoo (?) and an unidentified script
The Wozard of Iz: Pretorian and Futura
Over the Turnstiles: Motter Femina and Turnpike or similar
Sunshine: Broadway
Light Up: lettering?
Kaleidoscopic Lovers: Commercial Script
Stepkids: Kabel Black
Saturday Night Inside Out: Druk Condensed or similar?

The headings for the sides of the vinyl version are in Windsor Extra Bold Condensed.

The art direction is credited to Chris Hopkins at Lost Art and band member Robbie Chater. Hopkins also provided design and illustration, the latter together with Emi Ueoka. Fergadelic (Fergus Purcell) did the butterfly logo. Kris Vierra took care of quilting and textiles.

[More info on Discogs]

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CD version, front cover

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CD version, back cover

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Inner sleeve with more octagonal caps

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Inner sleeve ft. a naïve sans and script lettering based on Kalligraphia

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Inner sleeve with more Baby Teeth and lettering similar to Williamson Skidoo. The Biz Markie photo is by David Corio.

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Sheet with five promo stickers

Source: lost-art.com License: All Rights Reserved.

Vinyl record label

West Italiano, slightly backslanted, for the 1972 paperback edition of The Closing Circle: Nature, Man & Technology (Bantam Y7411). The seminal book by ecologist Barry Commoner (1917–1912) was first published by Knopf in 1971.

Source: www.abebooks.com Post-Normal Media. License: All Rights Reserved.

West Fantini, stacked and interlocked, for Collier’s paperback edition of The Boys of Boise. This book by John “Tito” Gerassi (1931–2012) was first published by Macmillan in 1967. In it, Tito would —

investigate the Boise homosexuality scandal in The Boys of Boise, exposing the persecution of homosexuals in the city that was carried out under the guise of a moral panic.

The blurb from Harper’s Magazine describes it as “probably the strongest cast than can be made against the present laws against homosexuality.”

Fantini is a variant of Dave West’s Italiano with less contrast. It was shown in PLINC’s 1967 Alphabet Yearbook.

Source: www.abebooks.com Post-Normal Media. License: All Rights Reserved.

These groovy candles from Avon are undated, although the use of West Casa Blanca could suggest it’s either from or before 1970. Some of the glyphs (A, E, L, M) differ from the sample, though do note that it’s a bit condensed on the packaging. Venus Extended Light also appears below the candle’s name. Although I’m focused on the rare font’s appearance, check out the box design! There’s another version called the Turtle Candle, which is… quite literally how it sounds.

Wowie zowie!

West Casa Blanca in PLINC's One-Line Manual of Styles

The New Trumpet is an album with “works for trumpet with tape and piano”, by
Peter Maxwell Davies, Lucia Dlugoszewski, William Hellermann, Gerard Schwarz, and Ursula Oppens. It was released by Nonesuch Records in 1972. The cover design is by Jo Ann Gruber, with art by Gene Szafran and art direction by Robert L. Heimall.

The typeface chosen for the title is a then recent release by Photo-Lettering. Printed in a brassy yellow, West Buggie perfectly represents the theme: not only do its bracketed serifs resemble a trumpet’s bell, the high contrast of its letterforms also echoes the thick and thin parts of the instruments. Gruber arranged the three lines so that the two initials t’s as well as the two e’s of the first and second word are aligned.

[More info on Discogs]

Detail: musicians and titles are set in LSC Condensed.

The call to action on the inner sleeve uses contoured Benguiat Charisma Script.

From Discogs:

In 1971, Jerry McCann moved to San Francisco, where he released an album on Elektra with a group of musicians with whom he had done a couple of gigs in the mid 60s. When the group was signed to Elektra, they were called Anthrax. In one of the many meetings, Jerry suggested to call the group “Formerly Anthrax”. After arguing, the Elektra staff proposed to call the band “Show of Hands” (which Jerry used during his argument) and call the album “Formerly Anthrax”. The group agreed, but when they played gigs or were asked what the name of the band was, they called themselves “Formerly Anthrax” and called their album “A Show of Hands”. Shortly after the album came out, Jim Morrison passed away, Elektra was sold to Kinney Corp. which owned Atlantic/Atco/Warner Bros./Reprise and Mad Magazine. The new owners came in and fired everybody from the janitors on up and the saga of which came first, the album title or the band name came to a quick and final demise. About 10 years later, Elektra signed another band called Anthrax. (Source: Jerry McCann)

[More info on Discogs]

West Casa Blanca is in use for the debut and only album by Show Of Hands / Formerly Anthrax, released in 1970. Robert L. Heimall is credited for art direction, meanwhile Rita Kuhnke is credited for the cover painting as well as Ed Caraeff for photography.

Casa Blanca was designed by Dave West and appears on page 323 in PLINC's One-Line Manual of Styles. It's somewhat similar to Cheee (2018) by OH no Type Co, specifically the Oldskool / Smortious style.

Back cover. Note that the image was rotated by 180 degrees. The text is actually upside-down, and the image wraps around the gatefold.

Detail

West Ultra Black is presented in PLINC’s 1971 catalog as “Dave West’s blackest wallop”. In some ways, the typeface is a soft version of the equally black Barnum Ultra, which also originated in the late 1960s. The two are not directly related, though. By 1971, West followed up with Elephant Gothic, which is arguably even blacker. His Thud is no lightweight either, and was included in PLINC’s 1972 booklet of Ultrabold Tyght Types.

West Ultra Black can here be seen for the album cover of a collaboration between Teresa Brewer and the Oily Rags, in squooshed caps.

[More info on Discogs]