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The Eleventh Commandment by Lester del Rey

Contributed by Florian Hardwig on Jun 2nd, 2024. Artwork published in
January 1962
.
The Eleventh Commandment by Lester del Rey
Source: www.flickr.com Uploaded to Flickr by Steve. License: CC BY-NC-SA.

Lydian in Bold and Bold Condensed styles [edit: the latter is actually Valiant, see comments] for the cover of The Eleventh Commandment, a 1962 science fiction novel by Lester del Rey (1915–1993). Cover design by Leo and Diane Dillon.

From Joachim Boaz’s 2012 review for Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations:

The Eleventh Commandment is a thought-provoking piece of 60s social science fiction — the themes of religion, bioengineering, overpopulation, pollution, are all discussed in depth. Although in no where as poignant, experimental, and brilliant as John Brunner’s Stand on Zanzibar (1968) which discusses similar themes, del Rey’s contribution to the overpopulation subgenre is worth reading.

[More info on ISFDB]

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  • Valiant
  • Lydian

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2 Comments on “The Eleventh Commandment by Lester del Rey”

  1. The bold condensed face you’re talking about seems to be Valiant instead.

  2. Oops! I failed to check properly. Right you are: it’s not Lydian Bold Condensed (ATF, c.1946), but the similar Valiant (Monotype, 1940).

    Here’s a comparison, for future reference:

    Partial glyph sets for Valiant (top) and Lydian Bold Condensed (bottom) [McGrew 1993]

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