wiedler.ch

book (design) story #109

michail scholochow:
neuland unter dem pflug

genossenschaft büchergilde gutenberg, zürich/wien/prag, 1933
printer: christoph reisser's söhne, wien
size: ?? x ?? cm
designer: georg teltscher

we have come across russian nobel-prize winning author michail sholokhov (1905-1984) before (see story 7 for details). this is a translation of his 1932 book podnyataya tselina (virgin soil upturned) which is about the don cosack area where sholokov comes from, like most of his works.

this is an edition published by the "exiled" büchergilde gutenberg based in zürich (with operations in vienna and prague), in the year of its separation from the nazi-controlled büchergilde berlin.

the title on the earthy brown dustjacket looks a bit like a square field getting "ploughed" by bold slab-serif letters.

on the back an advertisement: you must read traven! and after listing ten available editions: b. traven's books are exclusively available from büchergilde gutenberg, zürich, vienna, prague.

the jacket's designer is credited on its front flap: g. teltscher. austrian graphic artist georg teltscher (1904-1983) – also known as george adams-teltscher – had studied at the bauhaus and is probably best remembered for his project "mechanisches ballet" (mechanical ballet). teltscher became a professor for graphic design and photography; in 1938 he fled to britain. like many german and austrian refugees he was treated as an "enemy alien" during ww2 and put into an internment camp.

the cover features a different brown, and a different typeface.

again a different typeface on the modern, asymmetric title page.