Henry Mancini – A Warm Shade of Ivory album art
Contributed by Quinn Davis on Nov 5th, 2023. Artwork published in
.
From Wikipedia:
A Warm Shade of Ivory is a 1969 album by American composer and arranger Henry Mancini issued by RCA Records. The album peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Album Chart on 2 August 1969. Mancini’s arrangement of Nino Rota’s Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet topped the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart on June 28, 1969, and remained there for two weeks.
This album interests me because the version of Bookman on it is condensed. No idea where it comes from – Letraset’s Bookman Bold Condensed wasn’t released until 1980. There’s also a smaller made-for-text version for the purple and black text.
Detail with the typography
3 Comments on “Henry Mancini – A Warm Shade of Ivory album art”
Hi Quinn,
This swashy Bookman appears to be neo-Bookman, a phototype version issued by Headliners in the 1960s. It came in five weights and seems to have the right swash alternates, including the A with the curved top. Its top swashes reach slightly above the cap height, like in the H and M in this use. (I should add that I haven’t seen a complete glyph set, and there were other possible candidates, like PLINC’s Bookmans.)
You are correct that the proportions are condensed. Keep in mind that phototype could easily be condensed (and extended, slanted, and otherwise distorted) by means of lenses. This wasn’t the case for dry transfer lettering; that’s why Letraset felt the need to offer a Condensed variant of their Bookman Bold Swash.
The other font used for text is (a phototype version of) the classic ATF Bookman Italic.
Thanks for the input Florian.
I am now noticing the ball terminal endings to the swashes do look a little vertically stretched, I initially posted this thinking the headline Bookman was drawn that way. Also thanks for identifying ATF Bookman Italic as well! Fonts that are drawn for small sizes like the one here give off a neat rhythm that I admire.
I am lucky enough to live nearby to a library with PLINC’s Alphabet Thesauruses and One Line book. If I get the chance I’ll drop in and check them out to see if I can find this specific Bookman.
You’re welcome! I did briefly check my PLINC catalogs. The challenge is, for many of their Bookman variants, there is only a one-line sample, with two or three caps. When those letters don’t appear on the album cover, you have exactly zero glyphs to compare.