Jan Cingroš letterhead
A letterhead for Jan Cingroš, a masonry plant in Plzeň, founded in 1866 by Czech stonemason and businessman, Jan Cingroš (1841–1906). It was the largest plant of its kind in Austria–Hungary, dealing primarily with the construction of tombstones and monuments. Production continued until World War II.
This little piece of ephemera presents a beautiful use of the typefaces Quaint, and its outline version, Quaint Open, both cut by John F. Cumming in 1886, and cast by Dickinson (and later by the American Type Foundry).
I think the C and G are quite noteworthy for their angular direction in those curves, but the G catches my eye in particular, since its high waist and consequently long stem reminds me of De Vinne. I thought this was merely a personal association, but then I found out that he also designed (or cut) Howland (1892), which was published as a companion series to De Vinne (c. 1892). So there is some connection, although Howland doesn’t actually feature that characteristic high-waisted G. I also want to point out that the S somehow reminded me of Skjald (1890). And guess who was responsible for that?
Design and typesetting: Ant. Kalaše
Printing and lithography: Stiller a Erben v Plzni
The letterhead can be found in Typografia Vol. 15, published in 1903.
Interesting to note is that the high-waisted version of R with its horizontal bowl is used in ‘Cingroš’ alongside the more Art Nouveau-inspired P, with its angular bowl. Yet a variant of R with that same angular bowl also exists (which you can see in the smaller text of the tagline).
A sample of 18-point Quaint, showing both versions of B and R.
The Art Nouveau border is constructed from elements of a metal ornament type that looks like it could be part of Patrick (serie 109), sold by the Klinkhardt foundry in Leipzig.
1 Comment on “Jan Cingroš letterhead”
Thanks a bunch, Eva!
You know this already, as we chatted about it. I’m adding this background here for other readers:
While the typeface design originated as Quaint at Dickinson in Boston, the specific version used here is very likely the copy made by the Karl Brendler foundry in Vienna. Plzeň is just about 300km away, and belonged to the same state at the time. In the days of metal type, most printers bought regional (although overseas imports are not unheard of). Also, it’s unlikely that the American original offered Czech diacritics. Brendler sold their version as Othello (= solid Quaint) and Desdemona (= Quaint Open).
Fun aside: while Quaint (as well as Quaint Open and Othello) fell into obscurity, the name Desdemona lived on – arguably because Brendler’s open cut was included in Petzendorfer’s Schriftenatlas Neue Folge as published between 1903 and 1905, a type and lettering sampler that became an influential source when the Art Nouveau aesthetic saw renewed interest around the 1960s. The copy’s name was used when the design was revived by Face Photosetting. They added a solid style. Ironically, it’s neither named Quaint nor Othello, but Desdemona Solid. In the early 1970s, Letraset issued a Desdemona Solid, too, boosting its popularity.
In the Typografia periodical, this letterhead is presented as one of several examples for good typographic design. If one looks on the preceding page, there’s an ad(vertorial) by the Klinkhardt foundry for the Patrick ornaments used by Kalaše. And two pages on, after another exemplary use of Desdemona, ond can find an ad by the Brendler foundry, featuring Othello and Desdemona! I don’t think this is a coincidence. The material used in the typesetting examples was probably sponsored by the ad buyers.