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book (design) story #170

erwin guido kolbenheyer:
deutscher almanach für das jahr 1933

verlag von philipp reclam jun., leipzig, 1932
printer: philipp reclam jun., leipzig
size: 18 x 11 cm
designer: georg salter

the word almanac is probably of spanish-arabic origin and means "calender". this almanach is basically a promotional brochure for the new books the reclam pubishing house planned for 1933. the opening text on the german idea of freedom is full of the zeitgeist that would rule germany for the following years: its author erwin guido kolbenheyer (1878-1962) was a well-known nazi writer.

the book is not here for its rather dubious content – but for its nice jacket design by georg salter (1897-1967) who soon was to loose his job because of the nazi's racial laws and emigrated to the usa: a bit like in book 168 salter employs a decorative, small script on the background. and the colour scheme is really striking – silver, burgundy, ultramarine!

according to the impressum, georg salter was responsible for the entire "buchausstattung" (book design), not only the jacket.

note the hefty contrast between the delicate blackletter and bold erbar-grotesk for the unconventionally placed chapter titles.

promotional flyers for some of the publisher's books are still laid in. there is also an ad section using the same typefaces.