wiedler.ch

book (design) story #457

jan tschichold:
typografische entwurfstechnik

akademischer verlag dr. fritz wedekind & co., stuttgart, 1932
printer: chr. scheufele, stuttgart
size: 29 x 21 cm
designer: jan tschichold

those familiar with my book stories know that jan tschichold (1902-1974) marks one of the cornerstones of this collection, although i am concentrating on his modernist phase only.

i have been looking for this book for quite a while – years actually! – it seems to be rather hard to find. now i was lucky to catch it on ebay for a reasonable price.

with "typografische entwurfstechnik" tschichold was aiming at graphic designers and typographers to teach them "how to draw layouts" - that's the title of the 1991 english edition translated by ruari mclean.

tschichold's examples start with sans-serif (futura) but also include roman and fraktur typefaces.

note the ads for other publications by tschichold including books 129 and 164 – both very rare today. the third one is the legendary "foto-auge" i didn't bring myself to buy yet (this important photo book is actually regularly offered, but mostly not in the price range i stick to ... well maybe one day ...)

the cover design is a manifesto for the din a norm formats tschichold propagated at that time (but soon declared unsuitable for books). on the back a typographic ruler and grid.