Empire of the Atom by A.E. van Vogt (Manor)
Empire of the Atom is a science fiction novel by A.E. van Vogt, first published in 1957 by Shasta Publishers. This is the cover of a paperback edition by Manor Books (3rd printing) from 1974.
The spectular lettering for the author’s name is very likely custom drawn. It has a similar energy as Philip Castle’s work for Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange from 1971 (which was made into a digital font named Timepiece). The concentric treatment reminds me of Les Lawrence’s Stack (1970).
For the title, the uncredited cover designer worked with a typeface that is equally geometric and multilinear: Teruoki Yagi’s Yagi Double. The “seal of guaranteed reader satisfaction” and the excerpt are set in Helvetica. The Manor Books logo is based on ITC Avant Garde Gothic, with its right-leaning M, an OO ligature, and a custom round-top A. From the back cover:
Atomic war had destroyed the world. History and records had been lost; the few war-shocked people who were left could not even recall what had started the destruction. But even these desperate circumstances could not change the basic nature of man. Out of the still-smoking ruins came one who was stronger and more ruthless than the rest. From his plans to rule the universe grew the seeds of the last great war of all, the one that would finally wipe man off the face of Earth.
