Front cover, US pressing, 1971

Three and a half years after his first best-of compilation, Stevie Wonder released a second volume of greatest hits on October 21, 1971. Art direction by Curtis McNair, with graphic supervision by Tom Schlesinger.

This album cover has a relatively vast number of rare and unusual fonts from the phototype era of typography.

[More info on Discogs]

Front cover, UK pressing (STML 11196), Jan. 1972

Back cover, UK pressing (STML 11196), Jan. 1972

This double-page ad by The Market Shelf Inc., New York was published in Life magazine’s issue from 21 November 1969. It uses a number of interesting typefaces from the phototype era.

“The Market Shelf” is in Bethany. This face is shown in a single black upright style in Lettergraphics’ 1976 catalog, together with the italic Parker Connie, which is an adaptation of Resolut (Nebiolo, 1937) with closed stencil bridges. Bethany is not yet listed in the Letter-Fan from 1969, indicating that this ad represents an early use. The words are set on a wavy baseline, demonstrating the (then relatively new) possibilities of distorting the letterforms with the use of lenses. There is no digital version of Bethany, but the heavy weight of Nashville – another adaptation and expansion of Resolut that originated at Brendel / Typeshop – comes close.

The display type in blue features two more typefaces from Lettergraphics. The condensed sans with high contrast at the top right is Radius. The other, even narrower sans is Bailey, one of the earliest releases by the phototype company from Culver City, California.

Detail. “Hey, Girls …” appears to be a lighter phototype variant of Grotesque No. 9, set in four curved lines.

Detail. The compressed sans used for “will send you … in cash!” is Bailey Light Condensed with its alternate a and s. The price is probably handlettered. Filmotype Wave is a similar face with such tiny serifs. “Buy these fine products” uses extrabold Helvetica caps.

Prices use Cheltenham, product descriptions are in News Gothic or similar.

Detail. The blue headline features caps from Radius. This family is shown in Lettergraphics’ 1968 catalog in 16 styles.