In 1931, Les Editions Guérinet in Paris brought out a book titled Publicité Vignettes Lettres Chiffres Monogrammes (“Advertising, Vignettes, Letters, Numerals, Monograms”). One of the alphabets reproduced in it is titled “variante de la ‘Boule’ en moderne” and credited to lettering artist A.Bardi. Sometime between 1950 and 1960, Photo-Lettering in New York turned it into a typeface named Halloween (shout-out to Jay Mellor for finding the source).
In 1967, the Halloween typeface was used for Houdini’s Magic Kit. This beautifully designed paper assembly kit was issued by Platt & Munk, a publisher of children’s books, jigsaw puzzles and educational materials, probably best known for The Little Engine That Could. The box set includes a magician’s wand and a forty-eight page instruction book and allows for 75 different magic tricks.
The other typefaces on the box lid are from Photo-Lettering’s library, too: the sans-serif caps used for the words “Amazing” and “Delightful” in the ribbons are from Ventura. The numerals for “75” belong to Xenotype 3471, PLINC’s adaptation of Neptun. Last but not least, the rounded sans is the Shaded A style of Republic, a family that appeared already in PLINC’s 979 Basic Alphabets catalog from 1946.
I don’t know. There’s no designer credit. It does have some traits that can also be found in works by Push Pin Studios (and Milton Glaser, Chwast’s colleague, did use Halloween more than once), but there were others working in such a style as well.
2 Comments on “Houdini’s Magic Kit”
Could it have been designed by Seymour Chwast?
I don’t know. There’s no designer credit. It does have some traits that can also be found in works by Push Pin Studios (and Milton Glaser, Chwast’s colleague, did use Halloween more than once), but there were others working in such a style as well.