Schicht’s Kochbuch
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Embossed all-caps Reklameschrift Block (Berthold, 1908) on the covers of a series of five booklets with “selected recipes”, issued as promotional items by German Bohemian food manufacturer Schicht, probably in the late 1920. The booklets were printed by A. Haase, Prague.
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The Block typeface came with various width alternates (and ligatures) that helped to quickly justify a block of text, hence the name. This feature was used here, too, at least to some extent. On the cover for the fifth volume, compare the wide E N D F in the fourth line (“Pikante und sauere Früchte”) to the narrower glyphs for the same characters in other lines. It’s particularly noticeable with the two instances of “und” in lines 3 and 4.
Another curious detail is the inconsistent handling of the eszett (ß) in all caps: in “süße” (vol. 5), it’s converted to a double S, as it’s the standard in German orthography. On the cover of vol. 3, however, “Soßen” is spelled “SOSZEN” with SZ – a non-standard alternative that goes back to a suggestion by the Brothers Grimm.
Schicht was one of the largest Sudeten German industrial enterprises. Started in 1882 by Johann Schicht as a small soap factory in Aussig (Czech: Ústí nad Labem), it massively grew under the direction of his sons Heinrich and Georg. Among its brands were Schichtal, Hirsch-Seife (soap), Frauenlob (laundry detergent), Ceres (food products incl. fruit juice and coconut oil), and Ominol (scrubbing agent). Shown below is a calendar for the year 1929, likewise printed by A. Haase in Prague.
Alt K in Krankenkost too.