Hypnose und Suggestion by Erwin Le Mang
1919 edition, featuring Nero (Schriftguss, before 1914), a typeface also sold by various other foundries. Poppelbaum in Vienna had it under the name Block.
Erwin Le Mang’s Hypnosis and Suggestion offers “a course through the whole field of hypnotism”, in “12 teaching letters for self-study”. The booklet was printed in a number of editions, many of which show distinct cover designs. The general layout is similar: the title is set in all caps, stacked and justified, with the word “und” framed by lines or ornaments; and the whole text block is enclosed in decorative border elements. The fonts in use are different for each of the designs.
1921 edition featuring Neue Römische Antiqua halbfett, a wider variant of Grimm-Antiqua (Klinkhardt, c.1908)
1922 edition, featuring Messe-Grotesk (AG für Schriftgießerei u. M., 1921) and Clio (Ludwig Wagner, c.1904)
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The typeface designs by Richard Grimm-Sachsenberg (1873–1952) are all stylistically related. Saxonia (c.1906) comes in two weights. Neue Römische Antiqua (c.1908) is basically the same design, with a few new forms for some characters. These might have been included as alternates in Saxonia. Magere römische Grimm-Antiqua (1911; with Grimm-Cursiv, 1913) is a lighter and narrower style. A fifth style, Grimm-Antiqua schmal halbfett, was added in 1914. Originally issued by Klinkhardt, the series was later continued by Berthold. By the mid-1920s, the Neue Römische Antiqua styles were also sold under the name Grimm-Antiqua.
The most spectacular cover design probably is this one from 1922. It doesn’t use any fonts, though. It’s signed, but I can decipher the name.
In the year 1936, Rudolph’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung still offered Hypnose und Suggestion. This tenth edition isn’t credited to Erwin Le Mang, but to Dr. K. Andersen. Did Le Mang fall out of favor? Did he have to flee the country, or go into hiding? And did the publisher find a new author, or did they introduce a pseudonym, allowing them to continue publishing what apparently must have been a good seller? I don’t know if this book was banned by the Nazis, but several others by the publisher were. The new cover is more modern, featuring photography – but no typefaces.
After World War II, the book was still in print. The publisher had relocated to Lindau in West Germany – Dresden then was located in socialist GDR. This cover from around 1960 isn’t half bad either. It features lettering in a low-contrast slab with one-sided serifs, similar to City, but condensed.