The Mormon Tabernacle Choir – The Holly and the Ivy album art
A purely typographic cover – if one counts the ornaments and border elements as type – for The Holly and the Ivy, an album with Christmas carols performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (today known as the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square). First released in 1960 (as ML 5592), this is the 1965 stereo reissue (as MS 6192), with unchanged cover design.
Both typefaces originated in post-WWII West Germany. The uncial is Günter Gerhard Lange’s Solemnis (Berthold, 1953) – note that the O’s in “Stereo” and “Holly” were accidentally used upside down. The condensed sans with the squarish build is Paul Renner’s Steile Futura (Bauer, 1952).
Just like Futura Display, the latter isn’t really related to Futura, but was named as such to capitalize on the popularity of Renner’s late-1920s geometric sans. Steil translates to “steep” or “abrupt”, and isn’t a term commonly used in type terminology. Bauer Alphabets in New York apparently felt the German name is rather confusing than helpful, and sold the 1950s design as Bauer Topic in the United States.
