Di yidishe arbetorin-bavegung in Erets Yisroel
Contributed by Philipp Messner on Apr 26th, 2017. Artwork published in
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Ada Fishman: Di yidishe arbetorin-bavegung in Erets Yisroel, Warsaw: HeHalutz / Al-HaMishmar, 1931
An early use of the Haim typeface on the cover of a book by Ada Fishman on the Jewish Working Women’s Movement in Palestine. The book, originally written in Hebrew, was published in a Yiddish translation in Warsaw in 1931.
Following Yiddish orthography the typeface is set with diacritical marks (for letters used as vowels). For Mandatory Palestine the acronym א״י (Erets Yisroel) is used. In Yiddish (as in Hebrew) acronyms are formed with a double apostrophe called Gershayim.
3 Comments on “Di yidishe arbetorin-bavegung in Erets Yisroel”
Curious to note the apparent “optical sizes” / weight changes between the main title, set in the standard bold weight, and the the opening title word “די” (Die/“The”) which is set in a noticeably lighter weight, probably to better fit the entire title block, while the footer is set in a bolder weight. Knowing Haim originally didn’t feature any weights other than bold, I wonder if this is a property of the original foundry type, or an adaptation for this particular cover design.
Ooh, interesting. I don’t know anything about this typeface, but is there any possibility that “די” isn’t part of the typeface but set up in printer’s rule to get that effect?
I think Blythwood is onto something. Such elements are used in the design for the fat underline at the top, the rule at the bottom, and the decorative vertical line. Using them also for the initial would have been an obvious choice – they’re a perfect match for a geometric design like Haim. If the glyph were type (a lead sort), this layout would require serious (physical) kerning. Not so when constructing the ד from a vertical and a horizontal rule.