French sleeve for Scott Walker’s EP Mathilde from 1967. While the musician’s name is shown in (crude and ugly) handmade letterforms, the song titles are set in a typeface. It’s the relatively obscure Roncesvalles, a narrow pen-drawn looking sans with distinct vertical contrast – not unlike Lydian (1938) or Valiant (1940), but much more lively.
Roncesvalles was designed by René Ponot. Named after the municipality in northern Spain, close to the French border, it was issued by the Fundición Tipográfica Nacional in Madrid in 1955, in a solid and a caps-only claro (open) style. Chances are it was conceived as a competitor to Imre Reiner’s Contact (Deberny & Peignot, 1952). I’m not aware of a digital revival.
The recto shows a better-known mid-century typeface from France, Roger Excoffon’s Antique Olive. This cut has a much shorter x-height than the digitally available versions. The cover photo is by Dezo Hoffmann.