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book (design) story #42

hermann drechsler:
aus der werkstatt der natur

büchergilde gutenbeg, berlin, 1930
printer: buchdruckwerkstätte gmbh, berlin
size: 24 x 17 cm
designer: jan tschichold

jan tschichold (1902-1974) designed two books for the büchergilde gutenberg. the first was published in 1925 (see story 28), and this book five years later. here we can see some refinements in tschichold's design style: the thick bars and dots have gone, and the page numbers are smaller and placed symmetrically. the spine with its silver writing and a vertical line betwenn author and title is similar to this book tschichold designed 37 years later.

There is a contrasting mix of type: bold sans-serif for titles and numbers, light sans-serif for the index and captions, antiqua for text.

the book is an introduction to the natural sciences, written by hermann drechsler. i am not quite sure if this is hermann drechsler (1876-1951), a german socialist politician from gera/thuringia and teacher in the worker's education movement. there are many photos taken in switzerland. the picture below shows a rockfall near the village of matt, canton glarus.