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book (design) story #188

william corcoran:
ein mann namens murray

büchergilde gutenberg, zürich, 1940
printer: unionsdruckerei bern
size: 23 x 17 cm
designer: richard paul lohse

"this man joe murray" by us-author william corcoran was first published in 1937. the novelette was selected in a literary contest from over a thousand entered manuscripts.

the german edition was published by the büchergilde gutenberg zürich in 1940. like in many novels published by the büchergilde, the hero is a working class bloke. railroad worker joe murray struggles after losing his fiancée who is hit by a train – visualised on the jacket in a photomontage: a white rose lies next to the tracks which are tinted light-red. the script writing is white, too.

the design is by richard paul lohse (1902-1988) who was involved in many book designs for the büchergilde zürich. this lohse jacket seems to have been influenced by john heartfield – as were others, i.e. book 35.

the script title is repeated in red on the asymmetrically arranged title spread.