wiedler.ch

book (design) story #246

owen + elinore lattimore:
la formazione della cina moderna

giulio einaudi editore, roma, 1946
printer: a. staderini, roma
size: ?? x ?? cm
designer: max huber

this is an italian translation of "the making of modern china" by owen lattimore (1900-1989) and his wife eleanore lattimore (1904-1986), first publishes in new york in 1944. owen lattimore grew up in china and was a leading expert on east asia. in the mccarthy era owen was suspected to be a soviet spy. later he was a professor for chinese studies in leeds, england.

the book is shown here for its nice cover by swiss graphic designer max huber (1919-1992) who worked in italy for most of his career. he designed numerous books for einaudi – this one is part of the "problemi contemporanei" (contemporary problems) series, like books 214 and 217.

unlike those later publications the inner pages of this earlier one doesn't reveal any influence of modernist typography, yet.

as usual with italian books, the date of the completed printing is stated: december 1945.

here a copy with the original belly band still present.