wiedler.ch

book (design) story #259

victor margueritte:
die junggesellin / "la garçonne"

erich reiss verlag, berlin, 1932
printer: karl prochaska, gesellschaft m.b.h., teschen west
size: 19 x 13 cm
designer: georg salter (jacket + cover)

the design of this this photographic dustjacket is so fresh and modern that you could easily think it is from recent years – but it was printed in 1932! i especially like the half-transparent look of the red title "label" which lets the great photograph shine trough.

although salter's name doesn't appear anywhere in the book, it is featured in jürgen holstein's book on salter's berlin-era jackets and covers (isbn 300010772X). it is a perfect jacket for this novel by ...

... french author victor margueritte (1866-1942), originally published in 1922 as "la garçonne".

it is a nice novel that eptomizes the "flapper era" of the 1920s – about a young liberated woman who decides to live like a man, i.e. not conforming to the traditional role model but having sex with changing partners etc.

at the time such ideas were considered quite scandalous – it even caused victor margueritte to lose his medal of the légion d'honneur! nobel prize winner anatole france supported margueritte's book – his open letter to the légion serves as a foreword to this german edition.