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book (design) story #265

vincenzo rossetti:
städte wachsen aus dem sumpf

ernst rowohlt verlag, berlin, 1938
printer: leipziger verlagsdruckerei ag. vorm. fischer & kürsten
size: 22 x 14 cm
designer: herbert bayer

this german edition of a book by italian doctor vincenzo rossetti, originally published with the tite "dalle paludi a littoria", bears the suggestive title "cities rising from the marshes – diary of a doctor".

it describes mussolini's prestigious project, the draining of the pontine marshes: clean, modern cities were to replace an area where diseases and poverty had ruled.

former bauhaus teacher herbert bayer (1900-1985) kept working in germany for several years after the nazis had seized power. obviously his modernist graphic design style was acceptable as long as it served the right ideology.

bayer designed this photomontage jacket showing a modern city placed in a green-tinted swamp landscape shortly before he left for the u.s. in 1938. in those years bayer designed several books for rowohlt (see story 33).

there was a cloth bound edition with green and and red cover, and a cheaper one with simple wrappers. jackets were the same on both.

there are interesting photographs: below farmers and the water buffalos famous for their milk which is used to produce the real mozzarella cheese, ...

... the "duce" with plans, ...

... the marshes before and after: "once a death zone / today full of life" (according to the captions).