wiedler.ch

book (design) story #129

jan tschichold:
eine stunde druckgestaltung

akademischer verlag dr. fritz wedekind & co., stuttgart, 1930
printer: heinrich fink, stuttgart
size: 30 x 21 cm
designer: jan tschichold

generally all books presented here are from my personal collection – here an exception to this rule: paul barnes kindly provided these great photos of a great copy of a great book. (meanwhile i own a copy, too – see below).

jan tschichold (1902-1974) published this typographical handbook two years after his legendary "neue typographie" (story 29). he seemed to like silvery jackets in those years – see story 73.

this copy is signed by the author. the dedication includes tschichold's munich address were he lived before his emigration to switzerland in 1933.

the title page is an asymmetric composition of sans-serif typefaces in different sizes and weights.

the fat page numbers and bold underlinings are design elements that tschichold soon dropped in favour of a more elegant style. many of the spreads explain "good" and "bad" examples of graphic designs (the good one is on the right).

i was looking for a copy of this rather rare and sought after book for quite a while. all recently offered copies i know of sold for at least 500 euros, sometimes considerably more. and there is a dealer in the u.s.a. offering one for $5000 ... well ...

i guess i was quite lucky when i found the nice copy shown below for – as the bill says – 26 euros plus postage.