wiedler.ch

book (design) story #550

alphonse de chateaubriant:
schwarzes land

die schmiede, berlin, 1925
printer: ohlenroth'sche buchdruckerei erfurt
size: 21 x 14 cm
designer: georg salter, jacket + cover

another example of georg salter's striking dustjackets for the novels of the 20th century series of publisher "die schmiede", with turquoise wave design similar to books 542 and 543.

while those jackets sport typeset titles, this one features a round woodcut/linocut style design, overprinted in black.

french aristocrat alphonse van dredenbeck de châteaubriant (1877–1951) published his bestseller "la brière" in 1923. it is about brittany's beautiful marsh lands, a national park today. the title of the german translation means black country, referring to the peat bogs.

one reason why chateaubriant's books are ignored today: after a visit to germany in 1935 he became an enthusiastic advocate for national socialism – he even went to visit hitler, whom he considered a kind of new messiah ... in 1945 chateaubriant was condemned to death but managed to hide in an austrian monastery until his death.