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book (design) story #221

charlot strasser:
geschmeiss um die "blendlaterne"

büchergilde gutenberg, zürich, 1933
printer: genossenschaftsdruckerei basel
size: 24 x 17 cm
designer: johann kohlmann, (jacket:) jenny

after swiss psychiatrist and writer charlot strasser (1984-1950) met (and later married) the russian revolutionary vera eppelbaum he started to write books in a socialist and anarchist vein.

this book – its title could be translated vermin around the "darklantern" – is a novel which is rather critical about the dada scene.

the moderately modernist typographic design is credited to "j. kohlmann": johann kohlmann (1877-1941) was teacher for typography at the kunstgewerbeschule zürich.

the flashy dustjacket, designed in the zurich kunstgewerbeschule tradition of ernst keller and walter käch, is signed "jenny", a person i couldn't identify yet. on the jacket's back a statement by b. traven addressed to the working classes that can also be found on other büchergilde jackets of the time.