Creme Elcaya ad by Jünger & Gebhardt
The indestructible Berthold Block and the filigree Tiemann-Antiqua, combined in an ad for Creme Elcaya, “the most exquisite skin care product […] excellent in summer for travelling, for marches and automobile rides, […] indispensable in winter”.
Designed by Hermann Hoffmann and released by Berthold in 1908, Block came with a number of narrow alternates that helped to justify a block of text, hence the name. “CREME ELCAYA” shows both the wide and the narrow form of E. Can you spot the two variants of S?
Walter Tiemann’s eponymous Antiqua was first cast by Klingspor in 1909. Its Kursiv – which is here used for captions – followed in 1912. “Erste Deutsche Fabrik …” is set in a narrow grotesk that was known as Moderne Steinschrift, among other names. The advert measures 43 cm in height.
