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Spend Your Alphabets Lavishly!

Spend Your Alphabets Lavishly!
Spend Your Alphabets Lavishly!
Spend Your Alphabets Lavishly!
Spend Your Alphabets Lavishly!
Spend Your Alphabets Lavishly!
The Work of Hermann & Gudrun Zapf
By Jerry Kelly, David Pankow

"Spend Your Alphabets Lavishly,"—a quote from Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables—aptly describes the lifework of two principal figures in contemporary graphic arts: Hermann and Gudrun Zapf. The Zapfs' 50-year relationship with Rochester Institute of Technology is feted in this exhibition and catalogue, sponsored by RIT’s Melbert B. Cary, Jr. Graphic Arts Collection. The show presents rare holdings of Zapf materials held at the Cary Collection—the foremost Zapf archive outside of Germany.

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Overview

"Spend Your Alphabets Lavishly,"—a quote from Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables—aptly describes the lifework of two principal figures in contemporary graphic arts: Hermann and Gudrun Zapf. The Zapfs' 50-year relationship with Rochester Institute of Technology is feted in this exhibition and catalogue, sponsored by RIT’s Melbert B. Cary, Jr. Graphic Arts Collection. The show presents rare holdings of Zapf materials held at the Cary Collection—the foremost Zapf archive outside of Germany. Distinguished typographer Jerry Kelly, curated the exhibition and designed the catalogue of type specimens, calligraphic exemplars, sketches, bindings, and book layouts. Cary Collection curator David Pankow, contributed an introduction describing the Zapfs' association with RIT since 1957, when Hermann Zapf was first invited as professor in its college of printing. The exhibition is on view at the Cary Collection through summer 2007, and the catalogue is available for sale through RIT Cary Graphic Arts Press. Blessed with strong holdings in German type and book design, the Cary Collection has grown tremendously over the years due in part to the Zapfs' continued support. The archive’s most recent addition of Zapfania is the Cary Graphic Arts Press offices' glass wall—etched with a series of texts about books and typography, for which Hermann Zapf acted as designer. Drawings for this piece are among some 40 works featured in the exhibition, which includes sketches for the famous Optima typeface, mock-ups for the Manuale Typographicum, and calligraphic compositions by both artists. The Spend Your Alphabets Lavishly catalogue is elegantly set in Gudrun Zapf's Nofret typeface, with cyan Zapfino headings and ornamental letters scattered throughout the book. Printed in an edition of 800 copies on Mohawk paper, it also includes reproductions of 21 pieces from the show. The cover jacket is printed on a tactile, slate-blue laid paper, with gold foil stamping which highlights Hermann Zapf's characteristic alphabet roundel in Zapfino.

 

Details

Publisher: RIT Cary Graphic Arts Press (05/2007)
ISBN-13: 978-1-939125-54-5
Binding: Paperback with foil stamping
Pages: 48
Illustrations: 21
Size: 5.75 x 9 in.
Shipping Weight: 0.4lb
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Table of Contents

Introduction

Catalogue

  1. Manuscript trial page for Die Schicksal, c. 1937
  2. Trial page in uncial letters for Feder und Stichel, c. 1940
  3. Trial page in fraktur for Feder und Stichel, c. 1940
  4. Hermann Zapf, Feder und Stichel. D. Stempel AG, Frankfurt am Main, 1949
  5. Friedrich Hölderlin, Griechenland, 1939
  6. Alphabet design, c. 1940
  7. Metal engraving for Ex Libris: Dr. Hans Schubert, 1948
  8. Metal engraving for personal greeting card, 1947
  9. Trial page for Manuale Typographicum [I], 1954
  10.  Hermann Zapf, Manuale Typographicum [I]. D. Stempel AG, Frankfurt am Main; and Museum Books, New York, 1954
  11.  Paste up for About Alphabets, 1960
  12.  Hermann Zapf, About Alphabets. The Typophiles, New York, 1960
  13. Sketch for the Optima typeface, c. 1950
  14.  Optima nova type specimen. Linotype GmbH, Bad Homburg, 2003
  15.  Hermann Zapf, Typographic Variations. Georg Kurt Schauer, Frankfurt am Main, 1963; Museum Books, New York, 1964, and Editions Hermann, Paris, 1965
  16.  Hermann Zapf, Kleine Autobiographie in Lettern, 1956
  17.  Letter to Paul Standard, New York, 5 February 1950
  18.  Hermann Zapf, Calligraphic Salutations. Cary Graphic Arts Collection, Rochester, NY, 1993
  19.  Layout sketch for the Galileo page in Manuale Typographicum [II], c. 1965
  20.  Layout sketch for the Da Vinci page in Manuale Typographicum [II], c. 1965
  21.  Hermann Zapf, Manuale Typographicum [II]. Z-Presse, Frankfurt am Main; and MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1968
  22.  Layout for the SATOR magic square page, Orbis Typographicus
  23.  Hermann Zapf, Orbis Typographicus. Crabgrass Press, Kansas City, MO, 1990
  24.  Layout for August Rosenberger
  25.  Hermann Zapf, August Rosenberger. Cary Graphic Arts Collection, Rochester, NY, 1996
  26.  Palatino type specimen. D. Stempel AG, Frankfurt am Main, 1953
  27.  Palatino nova type specimen. Linotype GmbH, Bad Homburg, 2005
  28.  Hermann Zapf, Alphabet Stories. Linotype GmbH, Bad Homburg, 2007
  29.  Glass panel wall for RIT Cary Graphic Arts Press, Alexander S. Lawson Publishing Center, 2007
  30.  Full leather binding by Gudrun von Hesse for Friedrich Hölderlin’s Hyperion. Insel Verlag, Leipzig, 1937
  31.  Das Hohelied Salomos. Manuscript book written and bound by Gudrun von Hesse, 1936
  32.  Gertrude von Le Fort, Plus Ultra. Trajanus Presse, Frankfurt am Main, 1950
  33.  Full leather binding by Gudrun von Hesse for Charles de Coster’s Tyll Ulenspiegel und Lamm Goedzak. Eugen Diedrichs Verlag, Jena, 1936
  34.  Nofret type specimen. H. Berthold AG, Berlin, 1986
  35.  Carmina type specimen. Bitstream, Inc., Cambridge, MA, 1987