wiedler.ch

book (design) story #39

richard wright:
twelve million black voices

lindsay drummond limited, london, 1947
printer: printed by the replika process by lund humphries, london/bradford
size: 25 x 17 cm
designer: john heartfield

"twelve million black voices: a folk history of the negro in the u.s." by african american writer richard wright (1908-1960) was first published in 1941 by viking press, new york. in 1947 this british edition was published by lindsay drummond in london. the designer of the dustjacket is photomontage genius john heartfield (1891-1968) who worked for lindsay drummond during some of his his london exile years.

this important book features great photographs from the files of the farm security administration (fsa), u.s. department of agriculture. these photographers – jack delano, walker evans, dorothea lange, ben shan, etc. – are famous today.

the title page only mentions edwin rosskam, although he contributed not more than 5 of the 88 photos.

the captions are set in paul renner's futura, chapter titles in futura schlagzeile. below: two chicago street scenes, photos by edwin rosskam and russell lee.

although this collection only includes german-language publications, this book is included to be compared to the first german-language edition printed in switzerland (see story 38). the russell lee photo below on the right was used by richard paul lohse for the title spread of the swiss edition – it is a blow-up of the girl's face in the photo shown below on the right. lohse's layout and visual direction is different from the original – and he didn't hesitate to cut up the photographic masterpieces to fit them into his grid-based design concept... well, both versions are great!