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book (design) story #336

hermann müller-franken:
die november-revolution

der bücherkreis gmbh, berlin, 1931
printer: vorwärts buchdruckerei, berlin
size: 22 x 15 cm
designer: jan tschichold

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it's always exciting to find another "bücherkreis" book with the fragile dustjacket still present. these are not easy to find, and i am still looking for some of them. if you have a copy not featured here and consider selling or trading please contact me!

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between 1930 and 1933 the majority of bücherkreis books and jackets were designed by jan tschichold (1902-1974).

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for the front of this particularly nice jacket design tschichold used reviews of the book set in fraktur, the standard newspaper typeface at the time, as a backdrop for a bright red, asymmetric sans-serif title.

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first published by the bücherkreis in 1928, this edition is the second printing of the book – hence the line "31th-38th thousand" on the jacket.

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only this 1931 edition came with a dustjacket and a new cover both designed by tschichold.

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although the impressum credits tschichold for the cover design only, also the title and table of contents pages bear his mark.

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the inner pages were obviously produced with the printing blocks of the first edition – no "new typography" yet.

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the book tells the history of the 1918/1919 revolution in germany. the author is hermann müller-franken (1876-1931), a social democratic politician who served as reich chancellor twice in the weimar republic years.

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at the end we see other bücherkreis books listed: on the left older editions set in the "old typography" style, on the right the latest editions in "new typography" – this spread looks almost like one of the "bad/good example" pairs in this tschichold book!

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