Wer stirbt schon gerne unter Palmen by Heinz G. Konsalik
Wer stirbt schon gerne unter Palmen? (“Who Would Want to Die Under the Palm Trees?”) is an adventure and romance novel written by Heinz G. Konsalik. It was first published in 1972 in two volumes: Der Vater (“The Father”) and Der Sohn (“The Son”).
The dust jackets for Hestia’s first edition were designed by Herbert Carl Traue. For the typography, he selected a typeface of unclear origin. Yum-Yum is an extrabold display face shown in a 1973 catalog by Typeshop, without credits. Chances are it’s an original by the German typesetting chain. With its hand-drawn contours and the tiny counters and apertures, it reminds me of lettering examples by Secessionist artists such as Wenzel Hablik and Alfred Roller.
Konsalik (1921–1999) is one of Germany’s best-selling authors of all time, and was immensely popular in the postwar decades in West Germany. He’s far from being uncontroversial, though: As a young man, he worked for the Gestapo. Literary scholar Matthias Harder identified numerous Nazi tendencies in Konsalik’s works and worldview. He has also been criticized for his misogynistic stance.
