Zapf, Hermann (1918-2015); Text by Douglas C McMurtrie, Jean Cocteau and Emanuel Geibel - Abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz. Original Broadside

Frankfurt/M: 1959. Letterpress on card stock. 35.5 x52 cm. 14" x 19 7/8" broadside. Philip Hofer. Broadside of an Alphabet with quotes by Douglas C McMurtrie, Jean Cocteau and Emanuel Geibel about letters and the alphabet in a variety of languages. Calligraphed by Hermann Zapf and commissioned by Philip Hofer. Printed in 7 colors. The colophon line is in German, and can be translated as "For Philip Hofer in Cambridge, written by Hermann Zapf, Frankfurt am Main 1959". Hermann Zapf (pronounced "tsáff," born November 8, 1918) was a German typeface designer who lived in Darmstadt, Germany and was married to calligrapher and typeface designer Gudrun Zapf von Hesse. Zapf's work, which includes Palatino (1948, named after 16th century Italian writing master Giambattista Palatino) and Optima (1952, a flared sans-serif, released by Stempel in 1958. Zapf disliked its name, which was invented by Stempel's marketers), has been widely copied, often against his will. The best known example may be Monotype's Book Antiqua, which shipped with Microsoft Office and was widely considered a "knockoff" of Palatino. In 1993, Zapf resigned from ATypI (Association Typographique Internationale) over what he viewed as its hypocritical attitude toward unauthorized copying by prominent ATypI members. In 1935, Zapf attended an exhibition in Nuremberg in honor of the late typographer Rudolf Koch. This exhibition gave him his first interest in lettering. Zapf bought two books there, using them to teach himself calligraphy. He also studied examples of calligraphy in the Nuremberg city library. In 1938, Zapf designed his first printed typeface for D. Stempel AG and Linotype GmbH of Frankfurt, a fraktur type called Gilgengart. In 1976, the Rochester Institute of Technology offered Zapf a professorship in typographic computer programming, the first of its kind in the world. He taught there from 1977 to 1987, flying between Darmstadt and Rochester. There he developed his ideas on digital typography further, with the help of his connections in companies such as IBM and Xerox, and his discussions with the computer specialists at RIT. Zapf used his experience to begin development of a typesetting program called the "hz-program", which Adobe Systems acquired and later incorporated in their InDesign program. Expertise by: Dominique COURVOISIER, Expert de la Bibliothèque nationale de France. Membre du Syndicat Français des Experts Professionnels en Å“uvres d'art 5, rue de Miromesnil 75008 Paris.. Provenance: from the estate of Raymond Gid who died Sunday November 12, 2000 in Paris. Born on November 25, 1905, Raymond Gid became first known through his posters, after having studied at les Beaux-Arts. As a film enthusiast, he designed many movie posters, for example Vampyr de Dreyer (photomontage, 1932), Le Silence de la mer by Melville (1949), Les Diaboliques by Clouzot (1955). But a meeting with Guy Levis Mano (editions GLM), editor and typographer, soon directed Gid towards the book. In 1935, he publishes, together with the photographer Pierre Jahan Devot Christ de Perpignan and Chats, Chiens by Ylla. It is an intensive period of his life period: he meets Dufy, Corbusier, Hake, Lurcat and receives the gold medal for a poster at the International exhibition of Paris (1937). He reacts to the Civil War in Spain with a poster " Help to the civil populations ". Together With Father Carre, « bete-a-bon-Dieu » of the Resistance, Raymond Gid began to design liturgical texts. Apocalypse Six (an extract of the biblical text of Saint John) appeard after the war. It is one of his major works, composed in the Peignot typeface, which was designed by Cassandre in 1937. He designs several post-war period posters, for example Week of absent, a simple Lorraine cross surrounded by barbed wire on a dark background. Right from the beginning of the symposiums in Lure (Provence) in 1954, Raymond Gid participates in discussions on typography, particularly with Maximilen Vox, Charles Peignot, Roger Excoffon. Raymond Gid puts on page and illustrates the Dialogues of the Carmelite nuns by Bernanos (1954), then some pages in Caractere Noel 1955, dedicated to his friend Jan van Krimpen, the creator of dutch type faces. He plays with the breathing of the text, in the manner of Mallarme, as in his Book of hours (1959) or his Apocalypse (1964), adapting medieval text to present day tastes. He also designs posters like those for the Club Mediterranee (1961), Bally (1976) or, heavier fare, like that of Amnesty International (1973). During his whole life, Raymond Gid remained attached to the typographical arts. He liked to try out new characters in his compositions, mixing them with his very free drawings, as for example in Messidor published by the Imprimerie nationale (1989). Jean-Francois Porchez, type designer; translated from french by Babelfish and cleaned up a bit. Links Art and Poster Bally posters Chicago Center for the Print Bally posters Poster Auctions International, New York Catalogue from the personal exhibition at the Bibliotheque Forney, Paris, in 1992. .

See/Hide Conditions of Sale

Following conditions of sale apply:
Terms of Sale

Payment may be made by credit card or bank transfer in various currencies.
Returns allowed for any misdescribed item. Otherwise, there is a 20% return fee. Detailed trade terms at www.art-books.com