The Magic of Xanth by Piers Anthony
The Magic of Xanth is the title of an omnibus edition with the first three books in Piers Anthony’s Xanth series of fantasy novels; A Spell for Chameleon, The Source of Magic, and Castle Roogna. It was published by Nelson Doubleday in 1981. The jacket art by Tony Fiyalko depicts a centaur shooting arrows at a fire-breathing dragon, with a spider watching the scene.
The title is shown in Makart, set on a curved baseline inside a scroll. First cast in 1886, Boston’s Makart is similar to the foundry’s slightly earlier and wider Duerer – the two typefaces were presented side by side in an 1892 specimen. Makart is distinguished by the foliate trifurcated terminals that were so popular at the time, see also Cleveland’s Argent and Dickinson’s Algonquin. In this cover design, the decorated ends of M or X echo the dragon’s claws, while the pointed tops of h and t correspond to its tail tip.
Makart survived into the 20th century as part of the T.J. Lyons Antique Type Collection. In 1968, VGC adopted it for phototypesetting. The author’s name is added in Makay. It’s hard not to imagine that the designer grew a little tired after deciding on Makart, and simply picked the next face listed in VGC’s alphabetically sorted catalog.
