J.R.R. Tolkien’s Silmarillion was first published by Allen & Unwin in London (with Hawthorn for the jacket typography). Shown here is the first U.S. edition, by Houghton Mifflin, with cover art by Tolkien himself. The display typeface is Rubens.

Note how the J towers a little over the other capitals because its base was aligned to the line of the frame, instead of letting it overshoot.

The typography on the spine and inside the book follows the British precursor, with Perpetua and Imprint.

[More info on ISFDB]

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.

Spotted at the Museum of Brands, London. In this board game, players can “join Robin Hood and his Merry Men”. It was issued as a tie-in product, capitalizing on the popularity of The Adventures of Robin Hood, a British TV series starring Richard Greene as the legendary heroic outlaw, which was broadcast weekly between 1955 and 1959 on ITV.

Robin Hood’s name is presented in hand-drawn Old English with colored initials. The accompanying typefaces are Grotesque No. 9 and Imprint Italic.

Maximilian-Antiqua is paired with Monotype Baskerville on the cover.

A fine little item of ephemera this. A small brochure comprising a folded sheet of Reliance Bond paper 18×23″, 18 lbs., printed and sewn, describing the manufacturing and uses of Reliance Bond, a sulphite bond paper, made by the famous papermakers John Dickinson’s at their Croxley Mills in Watford. John Dickinson & Co Ltd were one of the best known names in Briitsh paper making and the company dated from the purchase in 1809 of their first paper mill by John Dickinson, their founder. The company prospered as Dickinson was a highly innovative engineer and was responsible for the introduction of many of the mechanised methods of paper amking that helped bring prices down and improve quality.

The company merged with Robinson’s in 1966 to form DRG but in 1989 was bought by asset strippers and split up. All the mills in Hertfordshire were closed and demolished. The famous Dickinson name and the “Lion Brand” logo seen here, have since been withdrawn although some of their retail brands, such as the famous Basildon Bond that Dickinson’s had acquired in 1918, linger on.

This pamphlet is not dated but feels mid-1950s and no printer is given. However, the cover page uses a fine border and the titling is in Maximilian type and it could be that the Curwen Press are responsible. The inner pages are also decorated by vignettes designed by the well-known artist and illustrator Nicholas Bentley (1907–1978) so it’s a thoughtful little production!

The interior is set in Imprint.

A fine contemporary advert for the Pilkington’s Glass Works product “Vitroflex” issued in 1937. This, thanks to the flexible backing sheet, allowed coloured and mirrored finishes to be fitted to curved surfaces and this rather accorded to the contemporary architectural vogue. It shares a similar tradename to Vitrolite, the coloured glass sheets developed in the US and that Pilkington's had acquired rights to in 1932.

At the time of the advert Pilkington’s were highly successful not just because of their willingness to adapt to new glass making technologies but also their marketing techniques. Glass, as a decorative and semi-structural material, was very much in fashion as the 1930s progressed and modern architecture that made much of ‘light’ and techniques such as curtain walling were a growing market for the company.

The slab-serif caps are from Ludwig & Mayer’s Tempo. Designed by Walter Höhnisch and first cast in 1930, it was marketed as bold condensed companion to Hans Wagner’s Welt-Antiqua. For markets abroad, Tempo was named Luxor Bold Condensed (and Welt-Antiqua was known as Luxor). Tempo also went under the names Nilo (Nebiolo) and Ultra schmal halbfett (Schriftguss).

The body copy is set in Imprint (Monotype, 1913), with loose linespacing, non-lining numerals, and fractions. The bottom line features Erbar-Grotesk (Ludwig & Mayer, 1926) in tracked out caps.

Source: commons.wikimedia.org License: Public Domain.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s D-Day message, Order of the Day: 6 June 1944.

This day marks the 74th anniversary of the landing operations of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II, commonly referred to as D-Day. From Sue Walker White:

My dad Robert William Bishop took part in the D Day landings, he landed on Gold Beach near Arromanches. Here is a copy of the leaflet he was given just before he set sail in a landing craft. He was in France for around 2 weeks before he was blown up by a mortar bomb, and was taken back on a hospital ship.

The leaflet shown above was produced by His Majesty’s Stationery Office (HMSO) and is set in some Caslon version (Imprint? see comments), with Gill Sans used for the heading.

Source: www.delcampe.de danspost (edited). License: All Rights Reserved.

Z.G.45 — “Eine Minute die Dir das Leben retten kann” (One minute that can save your life). The typography combines Welt-Antiqua fett (Ludwig & Mayer, 1934) for headline and numbers with Rockwell 359 Bold Condensed (Monotype, 1935) and Times Bold (can you spot the odd g out?). The earlier Z.G.23 shows basically the same typographic setup. The text has been reset, though. The personal pronouns (“Du”, “Dir”, “Dich”) now are capitalized. The later Z.G.73K changes to Pabst Extra Bold with Cheltenham, Memphis and Gill Sans.

White:

This leaflet was dropped on the German troops telling them how to surrender and that they will be treated well as prisoners of war. It was picked up by my Dad as he took part in the D Day landings 6th June 1944.

The “One Minute” leaflet is part of the ZG series produced by the Psychological Warfare Division (PWD) of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF),

… a joint Anglo-American organization set-up in World War II tasked with conducting principally “white” tactical psychological warfare against German troops in Northwest Europe during and after D-Day. […] The bulk of the aerial propaganda leaflets were printed in the United Kingdom and a dedicated Special Leaflet Squadron of the US 8th Air Force disseminated the leaflets from its base in Cheddington in south-east England.

PsyWar.org states that this Z.G.45 is a reprint of Z.G.23, again reprinted as Z.G.73K in Paris:

This is probably the most successful single PWD combat leaflet of the Western campaign, judging from the returns of prisoners. It is a “battle-type” leaflet, designed for hard defensive fighting (from the German point-of-view). Its lack of any political appeal, and its short-term soldier-to-soldier language may have been responsible for its success.

A copy of this leaflet is also preserved in the Deutsches Historisches Museum.

Source: www.delcampe.de danspost (edited). License: All Rights Reserved.

Z.G.45 — “Die nüchterne Wahrheit über Kriegsgefangenschaft” (The sober truth about being POW).

The blackletter is Schmalfette (Frankfurter) Fraktur, Monotype series 187, from c. 1930. It is somewhat similar to the schmalfett cut of Bernhard-Fraktur (1912). Note that the heading makes correct use of the long ſ and round s as well as of the ch ligature. The text in Gill Sans doesn’t use the eszett (ß) in “verhältnismäßig”, “weiß”, “daß”. The last paragraph features letterspacing for emphasis (“nur”).

In memory of all allied service members who fought and sacrificed their lives against the perils of Nazi Germany, on D-Day and beyond.

Thanks for introducing me to Denton Welch, Sonja!

The cover of this Oxford University Press edition of In Youth is Pleasure from 1982 combines a portrait (after Egon Schiele?) with a rarely seen typeface. It is Jowa-Schreibschrift, or Jowa Script, a solid version of Carlos Winkow’s chalk script Gong (1945). Issued in 1966 by the Johannes Wagner foundry in Ingolstadt, it was named to commemorate the foundry owner who had died the year before. The typeface was sold abroad as Wagner Penscript or Gong Solid—kudos to Michael for sharing a specimen—but it wasn’t a big hit. Some of its letterforms are rooted in the German script tradition of the early 20th century, like the Kurrent-like D or d, the descending P (which has been shifted up in this use), or the barred forms for X x Z z 7. With foundry type already in demise, Jowa Script came too late to make a mark. Unlike other—older—script typefaces, it wasn’t picked up by Letraset or any other manufacturer from the post-metal era, and fell into oblivion. It has been digitized by now, but the interpretation is neither faithful to the original nor very good.

Frontispiece and title page. The interior is set in Monotype Imprint with oldstyle numerals.

First published 1945 by Routledge & Kegan Paul. First issued as an Oxford University Press paperback in 1982, with an introduction by John Lehmann. Printed by Richard Clay (The Chaucer Press) Ltd, Bungay, Suffolk.

Al Que Quiere is Matthew Sullivan’s Los Angeles design firm that makes furniture and other objects. The idiosyncratic but subtle identity and website were designed by Folkert Gorter. The logo uses Imprint, an early 1900s publication text face that seldom gets any play today. The nameplate at the top of interior pages is Gorter’s modification of Imprint, emaciated in the style of Avia and Dala Floda. The site’s text is set in the web version of FF Spinoza, much newer but just as uncommon.