Der Mauerläufer by Nell Zink, Rowohlt

Zamenhof is one of many digital versions of Jakob Erbar’s Lichte fette Grotesk (“open bold sans serif”), better known under its catchier export name Phosphor. More precisely, CastleType’s take is “inspired by Russian hand-lettering that appears to have been based on [Phosphor]”, making Zamenhof “essentially a Latin interpretation (with Cyrillic and Greek) of a Cyrillic interpretation of a Latin type design, with many changes along the way.”

It comes in five styles made for layering. This book cover for the German translation of The Wallcreeper uses two styles separately, skipping the possibilities of combination for chromatic effect. While the Inverse style used for the author’s name works just fine on its own, the Solid cut appears heavy-handed. In fact, CastleType recommends using the latter only in combination with the Inline or Inverse. The clumsiness is here reinforced by Zamenhof’s tiny umlaut dots.