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book (design) story #249

martin gleisner:
tanz für alle

prometheus-bücher, hesse & becker verlag, leipzig, 1928
printer: hesse & becker, leipzig
size: 19 x 13 cm
designer: walter dexel (cover + jacket)

the "prometheus-bücher" was a book series for which modernist graphic designer and artist walter dexel (1890-1973) developed a standardised cover concept – clearly influenced by constructivism, as is the "pb" (prometheus-bücher) logo on the spine.

although dexel is only credited for the cover he probably also designed the jacket which features the same handwritten sans-serif and a photo of modern dancers with a drawing of an ikosaeder.

the typography of the inner pages is traditional with the fraktur typeface.

the book "dancing for everybody" is about the modern dance movement of rudolph von laban (1879-1958), written by martin gleinser who worked with laban. in the picture below the ikosaeder which was important in laban's theory, next to an example of laban's dance notation system – known as "labanotation" and still used today.

below photographs from laban's dance pieces.