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book (design) story #60

archibald joseph cronin:
die zitadelle

büchergilde gutenberg, zürich, 1940
printer: genossenschaftsdruckerei, zürich
size: 22 x 14 cm
designer: richard paul lohse

scottish novellist archibald j. cronin (1896-1981) had been a trained surgeon before he became a beststeller author. his "citadel" (1937) was based on his experiences as a doctor in a mining community. it proved a big success and was made into a film in 1938. the romantic novel is quite critical about britain's medical system of that time.

this german edition was published in 1940 (the first german translation was published by zsolnay in 1938). the design of the dust jacket reflects the huge success: "in 23 countries", "more than one million copies sold". the names of the countries are printed inside rectangular shapes that look like bricks in a wall – a "constructive" design approach.

the title is set vertically in a wide, fixed-width, uppercase sans-serif – a striking assymetric typographical construction: the "i" is shifted to the right, "counterbalanced" by the author's name/definitive article at the left. variations of this title construction is repeated on the blind-stamped white cloth cover and on the title spread.

no designer is credited. but if you remembered book 35, you might have guessed that this one is by swiss painter/graphic designer richard paul lohse (1902-1988), too. lohse wrote an article in the swiss trade magazine "typographische monatsblätter" (1/1943) about his book design work for the büchergilde zürich – featuring "die zitadelle", among others.