Civil Wars. A History in Ideas by David Armitage
Contributed by Florian Hardwig on Feb 18th, 2017. Artwork published in
February 2017
.
License: All Rights Reserved.
A highly original history of the least understood and most intractable form of organised human aggression, from ancient Rome to our present conflict-ridden world
Via Casual Optimist’s Book Covers of Note February 2017. The typeface in use is Weiß-Lapidar mager, designed in 1931 by E.R. Weiß for Bauer, and internationally better known as Weiss Initials No.2. The font in use is Castcraft’s digitization from 1991, OPTI Weiss Initials Two.
5 Comments on “Civil Wars. A History in Ideas by David Armitage”
Hi, what about these ones? I found it in Phil’s Photo Homage To The Alphabet, page 389/2nd edition (1985).
Hi Johnny, good question! This series probably was made by Headliners. It is shown in their 1978 catalog as neo-Weiss Initials, in 6 styles (Light, Medium, Bold, Extra Bold, Outline, Outline Shadow). It looks like the caps are loosely based on Bauer’s Weiss Initials No.2, with added lowercase and numerals. (They really should have reconsidered the name at that point.) The design was then expanded quite linearly to span several weights, as it was a common practice at Headliners. They also had a neo-Weiss Antiqua (in 6 weights from Light to Black, derived from Weiß-Antiqua). The lowercase and the numerals of neo-Weiss Initials are vaguely similar in some details, but sturdier, with much less contrast. The dots in neo-Weiss Antiqua are round, not diamond-shaped.
Hi Florian, Thank you for these informations. I was looking for the bold or extra bold weights for a personal project. I assume that I will have to redraw it, maybe font it if some are interested. Anyway, I’m quite sure to have seen it used in some publications, book, album sleeve or other role-playing games during the 80–90s – but I can’t remember precisely what. I will try to find more informations about it in any case.
Glad you took the time to enlight me.
I’m not aware of a digitally available version. You might try checking with Treacyfaces, who acquired the Headliners collection.
For the Extra Bold, see also the bolder weights of Flange AKA Flower. They are quite similar in some details.
Johnny released a digital revival and expansion of Weiss Initials ExtraBold as Weiss Modern Gothic.