Clip Books of Line Art, Volk (1978)
“Birthday” (No. 307). Illustration by Tom Sawyer. The typeface is Davison Dimensional.
Covers for various clip books of line art issued in 1978 by Harry Volk Jr. Art Studio, Pleasantville, New Jersey. Each booklet features another face for the cover, typically in an attempt to echo the topic in the typeface choice, see e.g. the graphic Futura Black for “Graphic Arts”, the 19th-century Bracelet for “Western”, or the engraved Bond Shaded for “Money”. This volume uses Kabel Black for the bottom line, framing the logo designed by Herb Lubalin in 1976. The heavy border with rounded (and sometimes inset) corners was introduced in 1976, too, but wasn’t seen on most issues from 1977.
See the previous post about the clip books issued in 1955 for more information on Harry Volk Jr. Art Studio.
“Wedding” (No. 304) ft. Tintoretto.
“Holidays” (No. 305) ft. Caslon Antique.
“Homes-Buildings” (No. 306) ft. caps from Compacta set on an arc. The fanning suggests this was set with phototype, as ooposed to dry transfer lettering.
“Graphic Arts” (No. 308) ft. Futura Black.
“Expressions” (No. 309) ft. Archie in all caps.
“Religion” (No. 310) with what looks like some sort of Normande Italic. Berthold’s phototype version comes close except for the n.
“Winter” (No. 311) ft. Goudy Heavyface in italic all caps.
“Occupations” (No. 314) ft. Dynamo. Originally issued in 1930, this design was revived and extended at Letraset in the late 1970s.
“Spring” (No. 315) ft. Mania. Illustration by Tom Sawyer.
“Marine” (No. 700) ft. Tip-Top.
“Western” (No. 701) ft. Romantiques No. 5 / Bracelet. This ornamented Tuscan originated in the 19th century. It was available for dry-transfer lettering from Mecanorma (as Tuscan Ornate) amd Letraset (as Romantiques No. 5).
“Executives” (No. 704) ft. Columna Solid.
“Tourism” (No. 705) ft. Solemnis. Illustration by Tom Sawyer.
“Couples” (No. 706) ft. Yagi Double.
“Safety” (No. 707) ft. caps from Compacta Outline.
“Christmas” (No. 712) ft. the ornate Green Buzzard.
“Transportation” (No. 715) ft. Compacta Italic.
“Family” (No. 716) ft. Benguiat Caslon with swash alternates.
“Landmarks” (No. 717) ft. Saphir.
“Environment” (No. 718) ft. all-lowercase Charter Oak, tightly spaced.
“Money” (No. 719) ft. a version of Bond Shaded, probably Bond Shaded. Illustration by Tom Sawyer.
“Children” (No. 720) ft. all-caps Mistral.
“Groups” (No. 721) ft. a bunch of people pointing at tightly spaced caps from ITC Zapf Book Heavy.
“Circus/Fair” (No. 722) ft. West Barnum Ultra.
“Contests” (No. G86) ft. more Benguiat Caslon, this time in all caps. The logo of the Grafika subseries is in ITC Fat Face with ligatures for ra and fi, accompanied by Kabel Light with omitted tittles.
“Design Devices” (No. G87) ft. Harlow, a Letraset release from 1977. “ZAP” is probably custom lettering.
“Something Extra” (No. G89) ft. Slim Dandy, a variation of the Mansard theme, by Lettergraphics.
“Lankies” (No. G90) ft. Churchward Design Sparkly.
“Symbols” (No. G91) ft. Cucumber
“Printed Forms” (No. G93) ft. Gonzales Jeanette with Akzidenz-Grotesk Condensed and Windsor.
“Big & Strong” (No. G94) ft. Atlas and more Mania, set on a curve.
“Announcers” (No. G95), again with Slim Dandy.
4 Comments on “Clip Books of Line Art, Volk (1978)”
Until I saw Archie in upper and lower case I didn’t notice its resemblance to… Archie comics.
Good point! Here’s the Archie logo on issue no. 5 from November 1943. The similarity is mainly due to the contour around the letterforms, plus their general roundedness. It could very well be that the name is more than a coincidence. Archie (the typeface) had a contourless cousin named Super Cooper. That name was probably chosen in reference to the godfather of chubby faces, Cooper Black.
Nolan Pelletier has drawn a decorative alphabet based on Green Buzzard:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CE7DMGmhD1L/
Could the artist for “Big & strong” be Jack Davis on a tight leash?