Fontamara by Ignazio Silone (Signet)

Fontamara is the first novel by the Italian author Ignazio Silone, written when he was a refugee from the fascist police in Davos, Switzerland, and first published in 1933. This is the cover of a paperback edition published by Signet Classics in 1981, in a translation by Eric Mosbacher and Gwenda David, and with an introduction by Irving Howe.

The cover typography pairs two typefaces that carry the name of Caslon. The eroded one used for the title has nothing to do with the types cut by William Caslon and his successors, though: designed by Berne Nadall, it was released by Barnhart Brothers & Spindler in Chicago around 1896, originally as Fifteenth Century. Only later was it renamed to Caslon Antique.