Lichtbild-Ausweis für die Wankbahn und die Kreuzeckbahn in Garmisch-Partenkirchen
A mid-1930s photo identification from the collection of Flickr user altpapiersammler. The pass entitled the holder to discounted tickets for two aerial tramways in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria.
The titling typeface is Narziß, an open Roman by Walter Tiemann, released in 1921 by Gebr. Klingspor. There are two different digitizations, both under the English name Narcissus. Neither Jim Spiece’s (Spiece Graphics, 1993, with a Solid cut) nor Brian Lucid’s version (Font Bureau, 1995) is a 100% faithful rendition: ‘Q’ and comma are closer to the metal original in the former, ‘Æ’ is more authentic in the latter. Diacritics and guillemets are off in both revivals. So is the eszett. The digital versions lack the long s (ſ) and most of the ligatures included in the original (ch, ck, ff, fi, fl, ft, ſi, ſſ, tz). Their hyphen is single, not double as depicted above.
Narziß itself is a revival. In “Decorated types” (The Fleuron, Vol. 6, 1928), Stanley Morison mentions that “Tiemann re-drew … shadowed letters which Fournier had made in 1760”. After the Pelican Press had introduced it in 1922, the typeface became quite popular. Morison: “To-day no printer who works for advertisers can afford to be without ‘Narcissus’, and it has arrived in the United States, doubtless because it possesses more spirit than the ‘hand-tooled’ Goudy”.
The roman is Tages-Antiqua, designed by Louis Hoell and released in 1913 by Flinsch (re-released a decade later by Bauer after the takeover). There is no digital version yet, but Bauer Types SA still claims a trademark.
The only blackletter here is from the stamps by the Ortspolizeibehörde (local police department) and the Marktgemeinderat (local council). These stamps must have been new, because the twin city didn’t exist before 1935. “Garmisch and Partenkirchen remained separate until their respective mayors were forced by Adolf Hitler to combine the two market towns … in anticipation of the 1936 Winter Olympic games.”—Wikipedia. The typeface used for the police stamp is National schmalhalbfett, released in 1933 by Ludwig & Mayer.
