Fake! by Clifford Irving
Front cover
This is one of the first uses of Milton Glaser’s Glaser Stencil typeface, which was released in 1969. In his 1973 book Milton Glaser: Graphic Design, Glaser calls it “Neo-Futura”. Art direction: Harris Lewine. I especially like what he did with the exclam on the title page.
Note the irony: The year after this book was published, the author, Clifford Irving (1930–2017) concocted a scheme to publish a fake autobiography of the famously reclusive and paranoid billionaire Howard Hughes. Irving lied to his publisher, McGraw-Hill, saying that Hughes had told him he admired this book — which is about an art forger.
The plot unraveled, and in 1972 Irving pleaded guilty to “conspiracy to defraud”. After conviction, he spent 16 months in prison.
Back cover
Endpapers
Title page
3 Comments on “Fake! by Clifford Irving”
I have a copy of this lovely book. I especially like the way Glaser used the title word in designing the endpapers. But there is more to the book / story – and that is the film made by Orson Welles called F for Fake. You can see the book in this promo for the extraordinary film on YouTube.
See also the poster for Orson Welles’ film adaptation, F for Fake:
😲!