“Holidays” (No. 329) ft. Aesthetic. Having been issued by the Dickinson Type Foundery in 1882, the Victorian face with the ornate caps is the oldest one in the mix. In 1980, it was available from Photo-Lettering, Facsimile Fonts, VGC, and others.

Covers for various clip books of line art issued in 1980 by Harry Volk Jr. Art Studio, Pleasantville, New Jersey.

The booklets from this volume exemplify the dominance of ITC for display typography in the United States in this period. There are nine different typefaces from the library of the International Typeface Corporation, including less common ones such as ITC Uptight Neon (1970) and ITC Quorum (1977).

Letraset (the company that would acquire ITC in 1986) was also influential: There are two originals by the British manufacturer of dry transfer lettering sheets, Compacta (1963) and Cathedral (1978). Many other faces were available from Letraset (as well as from various phototype providers), too, among them revivals like Harrington, Tintoretto, Dynamo, and Peignot, or adaptations of designs that originated in phototype like Tonight, Yagi Double, Checkmate.

Exclusive designs by Photo-Lettering are less frequent than in the late 1960s and 1970s. They are still represented by Benguiat Caslon and Hasler Circus. Filmotype faces – which used to be omnipresent on Volk booklets in the 1950s and 1960s – have largely disappeared, with the exception of Filmotype Quiet (1954), a stencil design that by 1980 had been copied by PLINC, VGC, and others.

All covers feature the logo designed by Herb Lubalin and introduced in 1976, here with the subline in caps from Kabel Black.

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

“Wedding” (No. 328) ft. partly overlapping caps from Harrington. The typeface was first issued by John Haddon & Co. in 1899.

“Graphic Arts” (No. 331) ft. Benguiat Caslon. Because nothing says Graphic Arts like overlapping swash caps.

“Birthday” (No. 332) ft. skewed caps (a contra-rotalic?) from Compacta on candles. Illustration by Tom Sawyer.

“Religion” (No. 334) ft. Cathedral for a cover on a cover.

“Winter” (No. 335) ft. the snow-capped letters of Igloo.

“Show Biz” (No. 336) ft. stacked glyphs from Tonight.

“Occupations” (No. 338) ft. Yagi Double.

“Communications” (No. 340) ft. ITC Benguiat Bold Condensed Italic (1979) and the comeback of the landscape format which would become the standard in subsequent years. The Volk logo is now shown in reverse on a black triangle. “Clip Book of Line Art” is set in ITC Avant Garde Gothic.

“Fitness” (No. 748) with caps from ITC Uptight Neon, set on a curve.

“Marine” (No. 749) ft. Filmotype Quiet. Illustration by Tom Sawyer.

“Summer” (No. 750) ft. ITC Bauhaus Outline with the alternate M, filled with sunbeams.

“Tourism” (No. 751) ft. ITC Bauhaus.

“Couples” (No. 752) ft. tightly spaced caps from Benguiat Caslon, here just with a single swash O and no overlaps. Primary Illustration by Tom Sawyer.

“Executives” (No. 754) ft. Peignot and a border full of handshakes.

“Family” (No. 755) ft. Times New Roman.

“Autumn” (No. 756) ft. ITC Serif Gothic.

“Homemaker” (No. 757) ft. Circus.

“Education” (No. 758) ft. Atrax with middle dot (·), apostrophe (’), and mid-word linebreaks.

“Christmas” (No. 760) ft. Tintoretto, a typeface that was not made to be used in all caps, as the letter I shows: The J-like form works OK in initial form, but sticks out like a sore thumb in the middle of a word.

“Energy” (No. 762) ft. stacked caps from Dynamo.

“Transportation” (No. 763) ft. caps from Wedge Bold by Lettergraphics [edit: it appears to have originated at VGC, see comments], which is Egyptienne Bold Condensed Bold Condensed customized with triangles cut from the letterforms.

“Insurance” (No. 764) ft. Compacta Bold Italic in lowercase, with an omitted i dot.

“Senior Citizens” (No. 765) ft. all-caps ITC Souvenir with initial and terminal swash forms.

“Crowds” (No. 766) ft. ITC Bauhaus.

“Human Relations” (No. 767), again with oblique Compacta in all lowercase and no i dot.

“Money” (No. 769) ft. Molé Foliate. Primary Illustration by Tom Sawyer.

“Circus-Fair” (No. 770) ft. Hasler Circus.

“Spring & Summer Sports” (No. 771) ft. ITC Lubalin Graph and its sans-serif sibling ITC Avant Garde Gothic.

“Drop-Ins” (No. G111) ft. Pabst Extra Bold Condensed. The logo of the Grafika subseries is in ITC Fat Face with ligatures for ra and fi, accompanied by Kabel Light with omitted tittles.

“The Gals” (No. G112) ft. ITC Newtext and a rare photographic cover.

“The Guys” (No. G114) with tightly spaced City caps.

“Contests” (No. G116) ft. ITC Quorum.

“Printed Forms” (No. G117) ft. overlapping caps with swash initials from ITC Bookman Outline. “We’re moving” is in an unidentified (homemade?) variation on the Electric Circus theme, see also Electus.

“Gimmicks” (No. G119) ft. a fairy tale castle à la Neuschwanstein and caps from Checkmate.

“Service” (No. 8416) ft. Frankfurter (Letraset, 1970) served on a platter.

Covers for various clip books of line art issued in 1984 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. 1984 saw the introduction of the Apple Macintosh personal computer. The era of clip art booklets was about to end, and Volk to go out of business after three decades. These booklets might have been the last ones to be issued.

As in previous volumes, almost every booklet’s cover features a different display typeface. In this one, all shown titles are set in all caps. “A Clip Book of Line Art” is in light caps from Kabel.

“Children” (No. 8401) ft. stacked and tilted lowercase letters from Kabel Light, with a capital L for balance.

“Spring” (No. 8404) ft. ITC Korinna (1974) with florettes as middle dots.

“Western” (No. 8406) ft. a version of Mansard, possibly Letraset’s Rodeo.

“Outdoors” (No. 8409) ft. Compacta Black (1976).

“Summer” (No. 8410) ft. Rock Opera.

“Holidays” (No. 8411) ft. Frankfurter Highlight.

“Couples” (No. 8413) ft. ITC Zapf Book (1976).

“Tourism” (No. 8414) ft. ITC Uptight Neon (1970).

“Entertainment” (No. 8417) ft. more ITC Uptight Neon.

“Health Care” (No. 8418) ft. Times New Roman.

“Gimmicks” (No. 8419) ft. Quicksilver (Letraset, 1976).

“Office” (No. 8420) ft. all-caps Crillee Extra Bold Italic (Letraset, 1981).

“Do-It-Yourself” (No. 8422) ft. Windsor Elongated.

“Cora Zilch II” (No. 8424) ft. Sintex.

“Sports” (No. 8426) ft. Windsor.

“Ad Starters” (No. 8427) ft. Hobo.

“Energy” (No. 8428) ft. more all-caps ITC Uptight Neon.

“Christmas” (No. 8429) ft. Knightsbridge, a lesser known stand-alone bold italic style from Letraset.

“Anniversary” (No. 8431) ft. condensed caps from Goudy Heavyface.

“Autos” (No. 8432) ft. a vintage car contrasted with Othmar Motter’s futuristic Motter Ombra (1974).

“Executives” (No. 8433) ft. more Compacta Black.

“Senior Citizens” (No. 8434) ft. more Knightsbridge caps.

“Winter” (No. 8435) ft. Igloo, a snow-capped bold grotesque similar to Norton Frosted.

“Family” (No. 8437) with more Frankfurter, echoing the similar letterforms used in the Volk logo, which was designed by Herb Lubalin in 1977.

“Contests” (No. 8439) ft. all-caps Benguiat Caslon (1965) with swashes.

“Expressions” (No. 8440) with more Windsor Elongated.

“Education” (No. 8441) ft. more Crillee.

Money (No. 8442) ft. Bond Shaded.

“Holidays” (No. 8443) ft. ITC Busorama (1970) with each glyph shown reversed in a box, on a bouncing baseline.

“Leadership” (No. 8444) is yet another issue from this year with Windsor Elongated on the cover.

“Homemaker” (No. 8445) ft. Cooper Black.

“Computers” (No. 8448) ft. more Compacta Black.

“Circus-Fair” (No. 8501 ft. Abbey Scroll. This cover switches to Helvetica as the secondary typeface.

From Klaus Hiltscher:

This is an excellent 1970s UK rock pop LP which reminds me of earlier Bowie times. Robert’s voice is very close to David’s. The backing band is the late Crawler after Kossoff’s departure. Many nice ballads on this LP. One song was one of my most played titles in 1977: “On The Other Side Of Town” – outstanding song!

No designer credited. Sleeve printed by Clout & Baker Ltd.
[More info on Discogs]

Two faces from Mecanorma’s 1970s range, John Hamon’s contoured Roundel and Bronisław Zelek’s impossible Zelek, plus Jack Deskin’s similarly intricate ITC Uptight Neon, which was also available from various manufacturers of dry-transfer lettering sheets, on the Dutch sleeve for Dr. Feelgood’s pub rock song “Back in the Night”. See also the German version featuring Gill Kayo and Penny Farthing.

[More info on Discogs]

Source: starwars.tumblr.com License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: starwars.tumblr.com License: All Rights Reserved.

A set of Christmas cards published by Drawing Board Greeting Card in 1977, according to a Polish Star Wars fan website.

Now I get why ITC Uptight Neon (1970) was picked. With its rounded biline strokes, it looks fairly futuristic. But Herkules? First issued in 1899, this old bottom-heavy fogey is not exactly what I’d associate with droids and lightsabers. It did see a revival in the 1970s.

Via @WeirdlandTales.

Source: starwars.tumblr.com License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: starwars.tumblr.com License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: www.etsy.com Photo: BaxterHill. License: All Rights Reserved.

“Wedding” (No. 292) ft. the festive Saphir caps set on a curve.

Covers for various clip books of line art issued by Volk Corp in 1977. This year marked their silver anniversary. The celebration started already in 1976, indicating that the company was established in late 1951. According to Bart Solenthaler, it went out of business sometime in the 1980s.

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

“Holidays” (No. 293) ft. Paprika, a biline variant of Tabasco.

“Entertainment” (No. 295) ft. Tonight.

“Office” (No. 296) ft. Bobo Bold.

“Hobbies” (No. 297) ft. Abbey Scroll.

“Women” (No. 300) ft. Yagi Double.

“Holidays” (No. 301) ft. Koloss with EndcapS.

“Men” (No. 302) ft. Atrax.

“Spring” (No. 303) ft. Jolly Roger.

“The Farm” (No. 678) ft. Arnold Böcklin in all caps.

“Summer” (No. 679) ft. the Sparkly style from the Churchward Design series.

“Children” (No. 680) ft. Eurostile Bold Condensed.

“Medicine” (No. 682) ft. Columna.

“Sales” (No. 683) ft. Whimzitype 3600.

“Groups” (No. 685) ft. Eurostile Bold Extended.

“Christmas” (No. 688) ft. Benguiat Caslon caps with swash alternates.

“Menu” (No. 690) ft. more Saphir.

“Energy” (No. 691) ft. Frankfurter.

“Homemaker” (No. 692) ft. more Benguiat Caslon, here in caps set on a curve.

“Industry” (No. 693) ft. Old Gothic Bold Italic.

“Teens” (No. 695) ft. ITC Uptight Neon.

“Science” (No. 697) ft. Data 70.

“Spring & Summer Sports” (No. 699) ft. Marvin (Face). Illustration by Tom Sawyer.

“Design Devices” (No. G75) ft. Charrette. The decorated A is taken from Cloister Initials. The logo of the Grafika subseries is in ITC Fat Face with ligatures for ra and fi, accompanied by Kabel Light with omitted tittles.

“Pointers” (No. G77) ft. manicules (☛☞) with caps from Windsor Elongated.

“Symbols” (No. G80) ft. caps from Futura Light with a custom SY ligature. The anniversary note in the counter of O is in Helvetica Condensed.

“John Doe” (No. G82) ft. Augustea Open.

“Jane Doe” (No. G83) ft. Keyhole, which was Formatt’s copy of Sintex with added alternates.

Jack Deskin’s ITC Uptight Neon with a rainbow glow effect for “Guilty” by Mike Oldfield, an instrumental track recorded in New York and released in 1979 on Virgin Records. Sleeve design: Cooke Key. Photography: Christa Peters.

Wikipedia mentions that the recording is “notable for being Oldfield's first obvious attempt to capitalise on a current musical trend, in this case disco/dance music.”