A heavy sans that was very popular in German-speaking Europe and beyond. First advertised by Francke as Zeitungs-Grotesque in 1874. Initially cast in 7 sizes. Later spelled Zeitungs-Grotesk. Many foundries acquired matrices or copied the design – Reynolds lists over 30. Woellmer, who had the design as Fette Zeitungs-Grotesk, added a Cyrillic version. Several foundries show extensions to the size range, including Schelter & Giesecke (Fette Steinschrift), Rust, Scholz, Reinhold, Amsterdam (Vette Antieke), Stempel (Inseraten-Grotesk; mixed with Flinsch’s Fette Grotesk). In 1892, John, who had the design as Fette Grotesque, added a matching italic design named Fette Cursiv Grotesque. [Reynolds] Also carried by Lehmann (as Газетній Древній Черный, with Cyrillics) [c.1910 specimen], by Reggiani (as Turandot), and by Nebiolo (as Etrusco nerissima).

Similar designs include Royal Gothic (Patent, around 1870) and Fette Grotesk (Flinsch, 1885, possibly a copy of Royal Gothic). [Reynolds]

Black Grotesk (Paratype, 1997; used for sample) is a digital version with Latin and Cyrillic characters. The latter follow Woellmer’s design. See Etrusco Classic 30 Nerissimo (Italiantype, 2020) for another digital interpretation loosely based on Nebiolo’s version. KTF Rublena (Kyiv, 2021) is inspired by versions used in the USSR.