Book Jackets & Record Sleeves by Kurt Weidemann (ed.)

In 1969, Kurt Weidemann had served his first four years as professor at the Stuttgart Academy, working under his former teacher Walter Brudi. This book titled Book Jackets & Record Sleeves. An International Survey is a compendium of Weidemann’s favorite designs from these two fields. On 165 pages, he presents 427 b/w illustrations, of works by Willy Fleckhaus, Pierre Mendell, Rudolph de Harak, Seymour Chwast, Paul Rand, Wim Crouwel, Kurt Wirth, S. Neil Fujita, Heinz Edelmann, Hannes Jähn, Crosby/Fletcher/Forbes, Bob Gill, F.H.K. Henrion, Ellen Raskin, Milton Glaser, Imre Reiner, Erwin Poell, Robert Massin, Yusaku Kamekura, Leo Lionni, Saul Bass, John Berg, Holger Matthies, Günther Kieser, Reid Miles, Andy Warhol, and many others, including Weidemann himself. (Apparently he didn’t go to great lengths to include more women designers.)

There are at least three different editions, all in 1969, and all with text in English, German, and French; by Frederick A. Praeger, New York; by Thames & Hudson/Andre Deutsch, London; and by Verlag Gerd Hatje, Stuttgart. The latter has a trilingual title, Buchumschläge & Schallplattenhüllen / Book Jackets & Record Sleeves / Jaquettes de Livres & Couvertures de Disques. The typeface chosen for the dust jacket is Torino, used in all caps, and combined with a minimalist illustration of three books and a record.

On this day, Kurt Weidemann (1922–2011) would have celebrated his 100th birthday. Typographische Gesellschaft München has published a congratulatory blog post and announced a publication titled 100KW, initiated by Olaf Leu and realized by Horst Moser, with contributions by Silvia Werfel, Susanne Zippel, Erik Spiekermann and others. A pdf version (German) is already available.