Brotkultur im Kaffeehaus

2 Comments on “Brotkultur im Kaffeehaus”

1. Florian Hardwig says:

   Jun 19th, 2015 9:19 am

   Thanks for sharing your lettering photos, Florian!

   Herzog von Graf (“Duke of Earl”) has an interesting pedigree. This wide advertising blackletter by Nick Curtis (2000) is a reworking of the freebie Poseidon (James Fordyce, 1993). [Fontspace]

   The basis for Poseidon in turn is Werbekraft (“selling power”). It was designed by Arthur Schulze and first cast by Ludwig & Mayer in 1926. Smaller sizes of the metal original have plain capitals. From 16 pt upward, the caps are decorated with highlights and thorns. For letters like ‘b’ or ‘k’, there are alternates with extra long ascenders, see the image below. In this regard, it is similar to Titanic AKA Hercule(s).

   In addition to Poseidon, there is another related freebie digitization, Neptun (Dieter Steffmann, 1999). Both appear to be based on a showing in Hoffmanns Schriftatlas (1930) — its text includes “Neptun”. Unlike Werbekraft and its digital revenants, Herzog von Graf’s contours are not rounded and it has straight instead of wedge-shaped ascenders. Caps have highlights, but no thorns.

   

   Source: Image courtesy Collection Jan Middendorp

   Specimen for Werbekraft, praised as “the typeface for the thinking advertising expert”.
2. Florian Hardwig says:

   Jun 19th, 2015 9:51 am

   

   A visual comparison. From top to bottom: Werbekraft, Neptun/Poseidon, Herzog von Graf. Note the absence of ligatures in the digital versions