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book (design) story #27

gabriele buffet-picabia:
les derniers 9 dessins de sophie taeuber-arp

allianz-verlag, zürich, 1943
printer: benteli ag, berne-bumpliz
size: 19 x 19 cm
designer: max bill

the year sophie taeuber-arp (1889-1943) died, the allianz-verlag in zürich published this book with reproductions of her last nine drawings.

the text is in french. after the title page there is a letter gabrielle buffet-picabia wrote to jean arp after she heard of taeuber's death, dated 23-2-1943.

the allianz-verlag was related to the "allianz" association of modern swiss artists, founded in 1937. sophie taeuber and jean arp were members.

in the early 1940s, the allianz verlag published several limited edition print portfolios and books, under the direction of max bill (1908-1994) who was also responsible for the typographical design. bill often used a square format, and sans-serif type – pure lower-case, of course.

this book was produced in a limited edition of 250 numbered copies. according to the impressum, numbers 1–50 were printed on "hollande spéciale", numbers 51-250 on "vélin".

this copy bears the hand-written number "152".