wiedler.ch

book (design) story #290

herbert ihering:
die vereinsamte theaterkritik

verlag die schmiede, berlin, 1928
printer: h. s. hermann & co., berlin
size: 18 x 11 cm
designer: georg salter (cover)

another stunning brochure cover by graphic design virtuoso georg salter (1897-1967).

for this book by dramatic advisor and theatre critic herbert ihering (1888-1977) – here spelt "jhering" – he chose a purely typographic design: below the red title the first paragraph of the book is printed but suddenly breaks off in the middle of the word "publi-(kum)" – so you have to buy the book to read on!

at the top there is another paragraph printed in grey (actually greyscale) like the random choice of short words on the right. although the bold rules and bold bodoni typeface was common for modernist "new typography", this cover seems to have another idea behind it: for me it almost looks like letterpress printing blocks with spacing "furniture" – referring to the "tool" of the theatre critic?