Proco Prozess ad by Wilhelm Huch (1907)

You think the text below was written with a typewriter? I tell you No!

Quite a dramatic use of Eckmann in this ad in an issue of Deutscher Buch- und Steindrucker from April 1907. First cast in 1900, the typeface by the Rudhard’sche Gießerei (from 1906 known as Gebrüder Klingspor) was available in sizes ranging from 6 to 96 pt. This is definitely one of the larger ones, if not the largest.

Wilhelm Huch in Hanover, Germany was the general distributor of the typewriter-style printing device “Proco Prozess” for Central Europe. It allowed printers to produce direct mail advertising on a letterpress machine, which was much cheaper and more convenient than manually typing the text and copying it (by means of mimeograph and hectograph machines, or carbon paper). The “Proco Prozess” promised a very accurate imitation of typewritten text, which apparently was favored over plain typographic text for its perceived authenticity and intimacy. The ad copy provides a convincing demonstration, featuring small irregularities and slightly uneven ink spread across the letterforms.

The wide sans is unidentified. The extended styles of Akzidenz-Grotesk are somewhat similar, but came later, in 1909/1911. Thanks to the fantastic database of sans serifs sold in 19th-century Germany compiled by Dan Reynolds, I’m confident that the sans used for Huch’s name is Breite magere Steinschrift by Krebs. The last line is set in a Schmale runde Grotesk, or condensed rounded sans, possibly the one available from AG für Maschinenbau und Schriftgießerei.