wiedler.ch

book (design) story #517

friedrich glauser:
gourrama

schweizer druck- und verlagshaus, zürich, 1940
printer: buchdruckerei carl meyer, rapperswil
size: 19 x 13 cm
designer: ? schelling (jacket)

swiss writer friedrich glauser (1896-1938, see also previous story) was a member of zürich's dada circle and later got into trouble because of his drug addiction.

in the early 1920s glauser spent three years with the french foreign legion in morocco.

his 1936 novel "gourrama" is based on this experience and was first published in 1940. this copy is from the 3rd printing.

the photomontage jacket with foreign legion documents and the legion's slogan "honneur et fidelité" on a flag note sports a title typeface with a "corroded" look, as it had been through a sandstorm! the jacket is signed "schelling" on the back in lowercase sans-serif. unfortunately i don't know anything about a designer with this name.