The Protestant Ethic and Modernization. A Comparative View by S.N. Eisenstadt
First-edition jacket
By the end of the 1500s, blackletter (and specifically Fraktur) became associated with Protestantism – in contrast to roman type styles, which were preferred in those countries associated with the Roman Catholic Church. Sans serif, in turn, has often served as a typographic shortcut for expressing “modernity”.
The cover typography for a book edited by sociologist Shmuel N. Eisenstadt (1923–2010) taps into both these stereotypes: “The Protestant Ethic” is set in the blackletter Goudy Text (a Textura, not a Fraktur), while “and Modernization” is in the sans-serif Alternate Gothic. The subtitle and author credit use Monotype Baskerville, in roman and italic.
The book design is credited to Jackie Schuman (1935–2001), a 1957 graduate from Cooper Union.
The paperback cover uses the same design.
