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book (design) story #336

hermann müller-franken:
die november-revolution

der bücherkreis gmbh, berlin, 1931
printer: vorwärts buchdruckerei, berlin
size: 22 x 15 cm
designer: jan tschichold

it's always exciting to find another "bücherkreis" book with the fragile dustjacket still present. these are not easy to find, and i am still looking for some of them. if you have a copy not featured here and consider selling or trading please contact me!

between 1930 and 1933 the majority of bücherkreis books and jackets were designed by jan tschichold (1902-1974).

for the front of this particularly nice jacket design tschichold used reviews of the book set in fraktur, the standard newspaper typeface at the time, as a backdrop for a bright red, asymmetric sans-serif title.

first published by the bücherkreis in 1928, this edition is the second printing of the book – hence the line "31th-38th thousand" on the jacket.

only this 1931 edition came with a dustjacket and a new cover both designed by tschichold.

although the impressum credits tschichold for the cover design only, also the title and table of contents pages bear his mark.

the inner pages were obviously produced with the printing blocks of the first edition – no "new typography" yet.

the book tells the history of the 1918/1919 revolution in germany. the author is hermann müller-franken (1876-1931), a social democratic politician who served as reich chancellor twice in the weimar republic years.

at the end we see other bücherkreis books listed: on the left older editions set in the "old typography" style, on the right the latest editions in "new typography" – this spread looks almost like one of the "bad/good example" pairs in this tschichold book!