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book (design) story #112

jakob job:
sardinienfahrt

büchergilde gutenberg, zürich, 1944
printer: benteli ag, bern
size: 24 x 17 cm
designer: richard paul lohse

jakob job (1891-1973), a writer and radio station director, had travelled to sardinia when the mediterranean island was not yet discovered by mainstream tourism.

richard paul lohse (1902-1988) designed many books for the büchergilde gutenberg zürich, especially in the 1940s. the photographic dustjacket (maybe inspired by story 48) protects a cloth cover with a line drawing that is very similar in style to georg trump's in story 111, and lohse used a slab-serif, too. i have got two copies of this book – one with a blue cover, one with a greenish one. both look fresh and unfaded, so i guess they are variants.

the beautiful title spread is typical for lohse's style: a pictorial montage by printing monochrome photographs – often the same in different sizes – in different colours. the earthy brown colour of the picture also appears in the title (set asymmetrically in garamond).

the photos show some of sardinia's magnificent architectural sites, but also the hard and simple life of the rural population.