Elsner+Flake and SchumacherGeber, Studio for Typography, Typesetting and Media, Munich, as well as Eckehart SchumacherGebler himself, have made a contract for the exclusive collaboration of the digitization of hot metal typefaces.

In 1961, Eckehart SchumacherGebler added a typesetting business to his book printing company which had been established in 1950. An attractive collection of typefaces, thorough adherence to typographic standards and painstaking quality control soon made the Typestudio SchumacherGebler a leading specialty shop in the Southern German region. Its success was, last not least, furthered by the adoption of Monotype technology as this allowed SchumacherGebler to offer not only the types of renowned European type foundries but also the British type program which was internationally regarded as the most unique in the world. In collaboration with well-known book designers many award-winning original book were printed such as the “Bibliothek SG”. All in all more than 80 awards were won, including the “Antiquaria-Prize, 1997”, and the “Förderpreis” of the Society for Print and Paper Technologies, 2000.

Working methods changed; in very short order phototypesetting overtook hot metal typesetting. This change in technology was taken into consideration early on by SchumacherGebler. The first headline phototypesetting systems were soon replaced by Diatype systems, very quickly thereafter they also employed a Diatronic, machine number 100, by the way. From then on practically the complete product development of the then H. Berthold AG in Berlin was installed. No sooner had a system been installed when it was already obsolete again. Later, other systems were also incorporated (Harris, Linotype, Macintosh.) Hot metal typesetting was continued since not all typefaces associated with it were available for phototypesetting. For aesthetic reasons, a number of clients did not want to give up the specific qualities created in the hot metal typesetting and printing process.

In an effort to bring the importance of typography and design to larger audiences, exhibits concerning these themes were organized on the studio’s premises. They profiled the results from competitions like the TDC-Show or outstanding works of renowned designers or teams of designers. The same direction was pursued with many publications and lectures on the subject of type and its history. This intensive concern with the medium “Type” turned SchumacherGebler into a profound expert in the area of typesetting and printing technology, and their counsel was highly regarded within the professional field. Most of all, Eckehart SchumacherGebler engaged himself in the preservation of traditional tools, systems and machines as precious testimony to a cultural era that had existed for hundreds of years. He made it possible to save steel punches and typesetting matrices, some of which went as far back as the time of Baskerville and even earlier, from destruction. Some people believe that instead of red blood, hot metal, antimony and zink flow through the veins of this passionate and knowledgeable savior, and that he must have a truly erotic relationship with small caps. In any case, in 2009, SchumacherGebler donated the contents of the comprehensive and decades-old collection to the Museum for Printing Arts in Leipzig as the “SchumacherGebler Collection.”

Today, SchumacherGebler is the managing chairman of the Board of Directors of the firms “Buchdruckerei und Verlag SchumacherGebler“ und “SchumacherGebler, Studio für Typographie, Satz und Medien“ Munich, and, beyond that – together with Manfred Richter – of the individually functioning company “SchumacherGebler, Studio für Typographie, Satz und Druck, Dresden.“ This company was founded in 1991 together with Manfred Richter and other colleagues from the traditional type foundry “Typoart“. Their business is located on the former premises of “Typoart”. In addition, a portion of the technology could be taken over, among others die digitized fonts of “Typoart”, which are available on-line from www.fonts4ever.com. From all of these roots, a modern enterprise has evolved which today offers the full complement of prepress, printing, and post-printing services. In addition to offset-printing with the newest CTP (process free) technology classic methods of book printing are nurtured.

In 1992, the rich assortment of handsetting types and the Monotype matrices of the Munich companies were combined with the equally important assets of the tradition-rich Offizin Haag-Drugulin in Leipzig. An additional extension was made possible through the acquisition of huge amounts of text typesetting faces of the Federal Printing Office in Berlin towards the end of 2008. What evolved from that is a unique treasure trove of types which is dedicated to the methods of the Monotype technology and artisan book printing. The majority of orders answers the demand for qualitatively demanding bookwork and graphic prints for professionals and connoisseurs and for national and international publishers and artists.

From the beginning, Eckehart SchumacherGebler was engaged in the “Bundesverband Druck und Medien” (“Federal Organization for Print”). For 27 years, he was a member of the board and the task force “Technology and Research” as well as acting Chair of the “Fachbereich Satzherstellung” (“Professional Typesetting area.”) As part of the Bavarian Landesverband he was a member of the board and for many years, he was the Chairman of the Bezirk Munich/Upper Bavaria. Since 1981 he has been Acting, and since 1989, Head of the Department for Norms for the Printing and Reproduction Technology Forum at the German Institute for Norms (DIN); for a time, he was a delegate to ISO; from 1982 to 1987 a delegate to the Federal Organization as Technology Counsel for Typesetting FOGRA and its Chairman. He was also a member of several other professional organizations, among others of the desirable Double Crown Club of London. As a juror he worked with Stiftung Buchkunst, International Printing Types Competition, Typography Germany, iba 1989.

This is the background for the above mentioned collaboration. Of mutual interest, however, is the use of shared professional expertise for the benefit of our clients. The most important aspect is the fact that the Typostudio SchumacherGebler in Munich acquired the rights to the specimen, founders- and product insignia for the typefaces of the typefoundry Ludwig & Mayer GmbH and Co. in 1986, as well as for those of the Typefoundry Krebs, as long as they belonged to Ludwig&Mayer. We want to make these typefaces, at least as many as possible, available to the clients in digital format. In order to realize this, the Veronika Elsner, Günther Flake GbR has written a contract with SchumacherGebler for the license rights for the digitization of the “SchumacherGebler Type Collection.”

This concerns the following typefaces:
Aeterna, Aharoni-Grotesk, Alemannia-Fraktur, Allegro, Altenburger Gotisch, Altenburger Werkgotisch, Aristokrat, Aster, Augenheil Antiqua, Banderole, Stahlstich-Antiqua Beatrice, Original-Breitkopf-Fraktur, Bücherfreund Antiqua, Cissarz Latein, Delia, Deutsche Kraft, Deutsche Werbeschrift, Firmin Didot Antiqua, Domino, Ehmcke Latein, Ehmcke Initialen, Erbar Feder Grotesk, Erbar Fraktur, Erbar Kanzlei, Erbar Mediaeval, Erbar Lautsprecher, Erbar Lichte Grotesk, Erbar Lumina, Erbar Lux, Erbar Koloss, Etienne, Excelsior, Express, Finesse, Germroth-Deutsch, Fette Gotisch, Hölderlin, Jost-Mediaeval, Kombinette, Kombi, Krimhilde, Kronen-Mediaeval, Landtags-Fraktur, Lautenbach-Gotisch, Lautenbach-Kursiv, Lyrisch-Antiqua, L&M Antiqua, L&M Grotesk, L&M Kanzlei, L&M Schreibschrift, Magnet, Mainperle, Markant, Mediaeval-Antiqua, Meta Kartenschrift, Miracula, Mode, Motor, National, National-Werkschrift, Oberon, Original-Schwabacher, Pharos, Prägefest, Rasse, Reklame-Fraktur, Richter-Antiqua, Richter-Mediaeval, Romana, Sonderdruck-Antiqua, Die Schlanke, Schöndeutsch, Schreibmaschine Fraktur, Stop, Universal, Werbe-Grotesk, Werbekraft, Werbe-Kursiv, Weltfraktur und Wolfram.

Since January 1, 2010 new regulations have been instituted for clients from non-German European Union countries.

As of January 1, 2010, based on a change in business law, it is obligatory to include the added value tax identification number (VAT Number) on any order you place with a German company. If this number is not included or if there is a mistake in the number, your invoice will be increased by 19% (German VAT). If you do include your correct added value tax identification number you will not be charged the 19%. The added value tax identification number you indicate will be checked automatically by the Central Federal Office for Taxes for its correctness. You can also contact the German chamber of foreign trade for further information.

»Web-To-Print« has created new challenges for the manufacturer of typefaces. In its December edition, the trade magazine »Page« introduces new concepts which will force type manufacturers to meet the conditions of a changed marketplace.

Starting in the 1980’s users of the so-called »Desktop Publishing« were able to create printed matter with software, images and type on their own PCs. Now, it will be possible to offer software, images and type directly on a web server. It all began with the »Books-On-Demand« capabilities with the help of which, among other applications, short print runs of books can be produced with digital printing techniques. The author sends his texts or pdf-files to a web server, while retaining complete control over the design process.

Internet Web-To-Print-solutions make it possible for the user to individualize templates for such items as calendars, business cards, coffee cups, photo albums, private and commercial printed matter, T-shirts and advertisements on-line. For such usage, the software, graphics and fonts exist on the web-site of the provider and can be used by any number of customers. Simple license agreements for the software do no longer suffice for the owner of the portal. In order to guarantee legal security for the use of typefaces, type providers develop individualized license solution for each case.

Elsner+Flake, for instance, offers several font packages via FontShop Berlin under the heading »Fonts2Web« which have been customized to meet the requirements of the Web-2-Print provider and also counsels Web-2-Print providers on the selection of appropriate typefaces. Fonts from Elsner+Flake are also used in the »Mailingfactory« in the »Schreibcenter« (writing center) of the German postal service. The »Mailingfactory« can create printed matter such as bulk mailings, menus and invitations for the professional user. The »Schreibcenter« is better suited to meet the needs of the private user. »Optimalprint«, another portal for the creation of commercial and private printings, and to whom Elsner+Flake has licensed a number of fonts, already provides this service in twelve European countries.

The organization for »Lichtdruck-Kunst Leipzig« (Collotype Printing Leipzig) plans to exhibit the results obtained by members taking part in the second collotype symposium 2009.

On Friday, November 20, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. the exhibition »Die Kunst des Lichtdrucks« (The Art of Collotype Printing) at the Museum für Druckkunst Leipzig will open and feature the works of the second Leipzig Collotype Printing Symposium 2009.

In the course of the Collotype Printing Symposium which took place between October 12 and 16, 2009, each of five Leipzig artists had the opportunity to work for five days on a large-format original print. These prints were reproduced in small numbers and are available for sale.

The exhibit will be augmented by an introduction into the technique of collotype printing as well as by actual works by the involved artists in the areas of painting, sculpture and printmaking. For the first time, there will also be a showing of the prints which were created in the course of the first collotype printing symposium held in 2006.

The exhibition will run from November 22, 2009 to January 24, 2010. It is a collaboration of the Museum, the Bund Bildender Künstler Leipzig, e.V. and the Lichtdruck-Kunst Leipzig e.V. The event is sponsored by the Department of Culture of the city of Leipzig.

In concert with its motto »Economic Upturn happens in the Head« the association of communications professionals (Gesamtverband Kommunikationsagenturen) awarded this year’s »Effies« on October 9, 2009. »Effies« are among the most coveted awards presented in the field of advertising.

The jury honored, among others, Grabatz & Partner for its campaign for Edeka Groceries »Wir lieben Lebensmittel« (»We love Groceries«), and to Philipp and Keuntje for its introductory campaign for the Gas and Electricity provider »E WIE EINFACH«.

Elsner+Flake congratulates these companies on their success and proudly notes that they developed the typefaces for these campaigns.

For the end of the year, we are offering a selection of Christmas Fonts and, as an update, the long-anticipated ‛‛extended search option’’ for all the fonts available on the fonts4ever website. Even if typographically ambitious lay people wonder, and if experts question, the meaning for the user, the creative surges of type developers and designers continue. Almost every day, new replicas, revivals, re-designs, and sometimes even new designs appear on the worldwide net, available for use. To keep an overview and to find the desired fonts at the right time becomes increasingly difficult when faced with this plethora of offerings. Now, the user-oriented search option on the fonts4ever website allows the user to reach this goal more easily.

By means of buttons the user can access variable defined subsets from the complete font offering. You can, for instance, find such subjects as ‛‛releases 2009’’, ‛‛exclusives’’, ‛‛special offers’’ or some lower-priced options of complete ‛‛Font-Families and Subsets’’. And, at this time, of course, a selection of our less expensive ‛‛fonts4christmas’’.

In addition, you can search in one or all of the libraries for specific classifications such as Sans, Serif or, for instance, Sign&Symbols and then drill your search down with the selection of criteria like keyboard layout, language, type size, width, weight and angle.

The graphic design magazine »Novum«, in its September 2009 issue, dedicates, once again, a double page spread to Typography and features, among others, the typeface family »Novice« by Helen Ebert.

»Novice« was created by the type designer who now lives in Zürich on the basis of a book type. Helen Ebert expanded the »Novice« into a comprehensive font package incl. OpenType Pro versions. The manifold, playful forms break up the severity of the curveless design and offer the typographer flexible design opportunities beyond the offerings from Light Condensed to Bold Expanded.

At the same time, Novum points to the 11. Tage der Typografie (»11 Days of Typography«) conference which took place from October 9-11, 2009 in Düsseldorf (page 11). The event was presented by the Verband Druck+Medien (The Association for Print and Media) of Nordrhein-Westfalen. The subject was »schön und wieder« (beautiful and back again). Speakers were, among others, Tanja Huckenbeck, Peter Reichard, Oliver Linke, Robert Strauch, Boris Kochan, Ben Santo, Martin Schonhoff, and last, not least, Akira Kobajashi. Lars Harmsen offered the workshop »Typeroad«.

The 4th DTL FontMaster Conference will take place on November 18th, 2009 at the Steigenberger Kurhaus Hotel in Den Haag.

The event is being sponsored by the Dutch Type Library (DTL). The motto is »Type[&]Design 2009« and addresses professional users of type such a graphic designers, typographers, printers, type designers and manufacturers. This year, the conference will focus on OpenType and its applications for different systems and software as, for instance, Apple®, Adobe®, Microsoft® and Quark®.

At the same time, the IKARUS System celebrates its 35th year of existence. Developed by Dr. Peter Karow in 1974, its concept laid the cornerstone for important capabilities such as hinting and kerning for modern font technologies.

Dr. Peter Karow will be an honored guest at this conference and will present the second »Dr. Peter Karow Award for Font Technology and Digital Typography«. The winner is Thomas Milo who has come up with outstanding developments in the automation of setting Arabic languages (ACE Technologie). Furthermore, there will be the introduction of Fontmaster 3.0, which extends the Adobe® Font Development Kit for OpenType (AFDKO) beyond Version 1.5 of the DTL OTMaster.

»Die geteilte Form«, the new book by Günter Höhne with the subject of German-German design affairs between 1949 and 1989 illuminates the development of product culture on both sides of the divided Germany.

For the exploration of this theme, Höhne was able to use examples from the extensive collection of German products which he, together with his wife, publishes on his private website www.industrieform-ddr.de.

Günter Höhne works as publicist, photographer, exhibitor, speaker, consultant, restorator, documentor and juror, as he did at the presentation of the Lilienthal award in Wismar. All of this is mirrored in his encompassing web presence. Worthwhile reading is especially his interview in the »AIT« (Zeitschrift für Architektur, Innenarchitektur, Technischer Ausbau). Höhne’s Newsletter can be ordered directly through the contact form.

Anyone who wishes to hear the author »live«, can do so on November 1, 2009 at 8:15 p.m. Günter Höhne will be the guest of the mdr-broadcast »Damals war’s«. In this Oldie-Quiz (Guess-Oldie-Show), produced in Leipzig, a certain year between 1955 and 1999 is showcased. The answer to which year is featured, can be guessed based on tips about popular songs, newscasts, witty contributions and a puzzle. The moderator is Hartmut Schulze-Gerlach.

The Bund Deutscher Grafik-Designer (BDG) and the Verband Deutscher Industrie Designer (VDID) invite you to attend a panel discussion on the subject »Das Beste für den Werktätigen? Design in der DDR – Anspruch und Bilanz« (»What’s best for the Worker? Design in the DDR – Claims and Conclusions«). The event is scheduled for November 11, 2009 at 6 p.m. in the legendary film theater Babylon in Berlin Mitte (Underground Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz).

The moderator for this evening of lecture and discussion at the Babylon is the renowned design theoretician Professor Dr. Rainer Funke from the Fachhochschule Potsdam. Lecturers and discussion partners are Lutz Brandt (Architect), Günter Höhne (Publizist), Reinhard Otto Kranz (Head of the Design Atelier formbund), Dr. Anita Kuehnel (Art Historian) and Dr. Sylke Wunderlich (Professor of Art and Design with a specialty in the design of posters in East Germany after 1945.)

Readings on Sounds and Noise. The Leipzig author Werner Pollandt will read from papers on addressing that subject on October 28, 2009 at the Museum für Druckkunst in Leipzig.

In an attempt to paint the scene, the listener will be treated to the true sound of historical printing presses. The performance will take place at 6:30 p.m. at the Museum für Druckkunst in Leipzig. It will be free of charge.

Werner Pollandt was born in 1949 in Halle and studied technical acoustics in Dresden. Following the death of his father, he began to write down his childhood and homeland recollections. In 2006, his »Reisegeschichten: Bei Zeus, die Götter sind noch da, was published by Projekte Verlag Cornelius, and in 2007, he self-published Land, das Luft zum Atmen gibt«, a collection of remembrances of his childhood. In 2008, the »Engelsdorfer Verlag brought out »Warum Rogenwieser sich umbrachte«. Von Opernpannen, Mietnomaden und anderen Katastrophen, amusing stories and small mishaps from the theatre world of Leipzig.

October 2, 2009 Macworld published its article »Font Problems in Snow Leopard«. Users find a vivid discussion at Apple's website concerning this topic. Amongst others they have to be prepared to face spacing problems in existing documents after installing Snow Leopard. It is said that the beta-version of this operating systeme did not show these problems. Therefore we are positive that Apple plans an update soon.

The Association Typographique Internationale (ATypI), a network of typographers, graphic designers, type manufacturers and teachers, is planning its 53rd annual conference with the goal of furthering the culture, history and traditions of typographic development.

This year, the conference will take place between October 26 and October 30 in Mexico City – for the first time in a Latin-American country. The event is organized by Roger Black who was also responsible for the Type90 conference, and Ricardo Salas Moreno. The motto for this year’s event is Typ09 | »The heart of the letter«. It encompasses a three-day program at the MIDE (Museo Interactivo de Economía) located in the center of Mexico City’s old town (Centro Histórico) and a two-day TypeTech, Web-Font forum with workshops at the University Anáhuac beautifully situated on an idyllic hilltop. David Berlow, John Downer, Richard Kegler, Christian E. Schwartz, Erik Spiekermann and Yuri Yarmola will be among the presenters.

In 2010, the ATypI will take place in Dublin.

ATypI Conference-PDF (60 KB)

Dr. Edward Rondthaler, the co-founder of the International Typeface Corporation (ITC) died on August 19, 2009 in New York in his 105th year.

The son of a Bishop of the Moravian Church and his wife, who was the daughter of a pharmacist from Philadelphia, Ed became familiar with the printing industry early in his life when he was given a small printing press at age 5. In the 1930s, he worked for the Rutherford Machinery and, lateron, founded Photo Lettering, Inc. (1936). Based on his own words, Ed believed that his long life was due to a healthy lifestyle, his good gene pool and the cold shower he took every day. He was married to his wife Dorothy Reid for 72 years. From 1946 to 2008 he lived in his »Sears Roebuck Catalog Home« outside New York City.

The idea to form the International Typeface Corporation in 1969 was revolutionary as ITC was the first type foundry that no longer concerned itself with hot metal type. Elsner+Flake Designstudios also digitized many typefaces for ITC in the company’s early years. For many years enormous gray mailbags arrived every three months with the insignia »U.S. Mail« imprinted on them - they were filled with hundreds of copies of the large format publication »U&lc« (Upper and Lower Case) with which the company advertised to its German customers.

Veronika Elsner, who had known Ed from the early days of the ITC, saw him for the last time at the TypeCon 2005 in New York. He made a presentation called »Photo Lettering: Back to the Future« together with Ed Benguiat and Ken Barber. If you would like to hear his voice, you might want to tune into his interview on Typeradio. Ed wrote several books, among them »Life with Letters – as they turned photogenic«. This book provides a good insight into his life, in part autobiographic and in part type-historic.

We mourn this pioneer of typographic development and will always remember him as a driving force in typographic history.

The film producer Christian Bau is in the process of creating a documentary film about Jimmy Ernst (1920-1984), who, between 1935 and 1938, worked as a typesetting apprentice at the Augustin company in Glückstadt, Germany. Jimmy Ernst was the son of the renowned painter Max Ernst (1891-1976) and the art historian Louise Straus-Ernst (1893-1944 in Auschwitz) who, because she was Jewish, fled from Germany to Paris in 1933. The 13-year-old Jimmy remained in Cologne under the care of his grandparents. Because of his partial Jewish heritage, he had a difficult time finding an apprenticeship but Heinrich-Wilhelm Augustin (1878-1938) offered him both protection and an education as a typesetter. When Jimmy managed to flee to America in 1938, he found his first employment with the Augustin subsidiary in New York.

The location for the film is the main building of the 377-year-old Augustin J. J. Druckerei GmbH which goes back to the founding of the company and which still houses many pieces of 100-year-old equipment used for the typecasting, typesetting and printing of primarily non-Latin printing materials. It is largely thanks to the efforts of Heinrich-Wilhelm Augustin that the company established its reputation as the »Technical Assistant to Linguistic Scientists« and has maintained it since 1912. The Augustin company offered typesetting expertise in more than 100 foreign languages including Arabic, Syrian, Persian, Malaysian, Tibetan, even hieroglyphs and American Indian languages. The typesetter Artur Dieckhoff made it a point to study Chinese, and, together with a Sinologist, developed a rational method of setting Chinese type with 18,000 symbols, the so-called »Chinese Compass«.

It is to the credit of the present owner of the house, Walter Prueß, that the printing company has retained its historic form. The film which carries the working title »Zwiebelfisch«* is expected to be available on DVD at the end of this year. The accompanying paper contains excerpts from Jimmy Ernst’s autobiography. Of course, set in hot metal type by Augustin.

* In America, a »Zwiebelfisch« is known as a »Printer’s Pie« or »Pied Type« – pieces of metal type which have been misfiled in a type case or misplaced during the typesetting process.

Karl-Heinz Lange was born on July 29, 1929 in Riesenkirch, West-Prussia. After graduating from high school, he studied at the Werkkunstschule Halle until 1951, among others under Professor Post. After 1951, he continued his studies at the Hochschule for Grafik und Buchkunst in Leipzig. Karl-Heinz Lange worked as a lecturer in the areas of Typography and Commercial Graphics, was Artistic Director at the Henschel Verlag in Berlin, and, until 1994, still in Berlin, he held the position of Professor of Type and Typography at the Fachschule für Werbung und Gestaltung (Institute for Advertising and Design). From 2005 to 2007 he taught at the Fachhochschule Magdeburg/Stendal.

In 1984, Karl-Heinz Lange was awarded a Silver Medal for his typeface family Publica at the Biannual of Graphic Design in Brno. Typoart had asked him also to design the telephone book typeface Minima, and he re-designed, among others, the Super-Grotesk (Arno Drescher 1930) as well as the newspaper typeface Magna by Herbert Thannhaeuser for use on digital typesetters.

Today, Karl-Heinz Lange lives in Berlin and continues to work as a type designer. Among other projects, he developed the re-design of the typefaces which had been commissioned by Typoart: Publica, Typoart Super Grotesk and Minima, which he then published in 2009 as Publicala, Minimala and Superla in cooperation with Ole Schäfer. Between 2006 and 2009 he designed the typeface family Rotola and the calligraphic versions of the Viabella family in collaboration with Elsner+Flake.

The Team at Elsner+Flake and the editors of fonts4ever wish to congratulate Karl-Heinz Lange with this publication and to convey their best wishes for the coming, and, hopefully continually rich and productive years.

View Viabella

Georg Hartmann (1870–1954) led the foundry to new heights by allowing typographers such as Paul Renner (Futura), Emil Rudolf Weiß (among others Weiß Antiqua, Weiß Rundgotisch), Heinrich Wieynck (Phyllis), Heinrich Jost (Beton, Bauer Bodoni), Lucian Bernhard (Bernhard Antiqua, Bernhard Schönschrift, Bernhard Modern, La Salle) Konrad F. Bauer mit Walter Baum (Volta, Folio, Impressum) und Friedrich Hermann Ernst Schneidler (Schneidler Mediäval, Zentenar Fraktur, Legende) to design printing types which are still to be found to this day in the libraries of the most important type manufacturers. The typeface Futura by Renner has certainly become one of the most successful type designs of the past 90 years. In addition to the Bauer Type Foundry, Hartmann acquired several other foundries before World War II, among them A. Numerich & Co., Flinsch, Wilhelm von Maur, Brötz & Clock, Schriftgießerei Otto Weisert, Stuttgart, and he established the Bauer Type Foundry in New York in 1927. In the course of his business endeavors numerous bibliophile publications appeared in which the company’s own designs were used. Readers interested in type will find information about the typographic aspects of the foundry profession, the threat that typesetting machines meant to the trade, the cooperation with type designers, and the political influences of the two world wars in this biography.

After the liquidation of the Bauer Type Foundry in 1972, a portion of the matrices and the international user rights of these types were sold to the Fundicion Tipografica Neufville in Barcelona. This company was part of the Bauer Type Foundry when it was acquired by Georg Hartmann in 1898. His son, Carlos Hartmann, took over the management of Neufville in 1923, from which point on the company functioned as an independent foundry in Spain. His grandson Wolfgang Hartmann has been its sole owner since 1995 and develops classical Bauer-types as well as contemparary fonts in digital form under the label Neufville Digital (ND).

The enthusiastic collector Eckehart Schumacher-Gebler acquired a further part of the collection for the Museum für Druckkunst (Museum for the Printing Arts) he had founded in 1994 in Leipzig. In 2008, the manufacture of hot metal printing types was discontinued in Barcelona. In Leipzig, however, hot metal type casters demonstrate to this day against the use of type casting machines within the context of the Museum’s operations.

As part of the program of the Members Meeting 2009 of the Förderverein (Sponsoring Society) of the »Museum für Druckkunst Leipzig«, and in response to a request by the Museum, Veronika Elsner, after a short presentation by Günther Flake, handed over digital replica of the seven cuts which make up the »Kristall Grotesk«. The family of text typefaces based on these designs will be available by the end of this year and can be ordered from www.fonts4ever.com.

The »Kristall Grotesk« family of typefaces is a so-called »house cut« of the type foundry Wagner & Schmidt, Leipzig. Wagner & Schmidt offered, much like the American company ITC (International Typeface Corporation) in the seventies and eighties, analog and digital designs, matrices to type foundries all over Europe, which then sold these fonts under their own company names.

The first cuts of the design appeared during the nineteen thirties under the name of »Polar« at the type foundry J. John Söhne, among others. After the company became bankrupt in 1956, it was acquired by the type foundry Johannes Wagner in Ingolstadt. The »Polar« designs of the J. John Söhne foundry were, however, no longer offered. At the end of the nineteen thirties, the »Kristall Grotesk« appeared, with an extended set of cuts, at the Norddeutsche Schriftgießerei GmbH, Berlin, which was headed by Johannes Wagner.

From a combination of the Norddeutsche Schriftgießerei, the company founded by Johannes Wagner, Berlin-West, and parts of the Ludwig Wagner AG of which Johannes Wagner was part owner and which had been transferred from Leipzig to Berlin in 1954, the Type Foundry Johannes Wagner, Ingolstadt, was formed in 1971 after the death of Johannes Wagner. It was initially led by its Financial Officer Arnold Dröse who later became the owner of the company. The company managed to extend its type collection and foundry rights when it was able to take over matrices of the C. E. Weber foundry which was closed in 1971, and of the H. Berthold AG.
Until the closing of the foundry activities in the Johannes Wagner GmbH, the »Kristall Grotesk« was offered by its sales office, Lettern Service Ingolstadt.

The matrices as well as the foundry and reproduction rights of the type foundry Johannes Wagner, Ingolstadt, were bought and are now owned by Stiftung Werkstattmuseum für Druckkunst Leipzig.

View Kristall Grotesk

The motto for this year’s TypeCon is »Rhythm« – TypeCon is a conference for everybody who loves type and typography, and for everybody who works with, and uses, type and typography. The conference takes place from the 14th to the 19th of July in Atlanta, Georgia.

Seventy of the most notable members of the type industry will take part in the conference. Among them: Gail Anderson, Matthew Carter, John Downer, Peter Enneson, Shelley Gruendler, Stefán Kjartansson, Akira Kobayashi, Kevin Larson, Gerry Leonidas, Mathieu Lommen, Brian Lucid, Bruno Maag, Vítor Quelhas, Hank Richardson, Stuart Sandler, Paul Shaw, Jim Sherraden, Ilene Strizver and Gerard Unger. You will be able to attend a large number of presentations on subjects such as: Screen Types; Dutch Design; Advertising Typography; Wood Type; the first showing of Kartemquin Films' documentary »Typeface« about the Hamilton Woodtype Museum in Two Rivers, Wisconsin; different displays and a variety of workshops, panel discussions and guided tours.

On the menu, look for »Foundries« where you will find a Custom Font Library now offered by Veronika Elsner and Günther Flake. Here, the user has the opportunity to acquire licenses for exclusive as well as non-exclusive house typefaces.

A growing number of firms increasingly use their own Custom Fonts, Corporate Fonts, Corporate Types, and Corporate or House Fonts which respond to the respective needs and image of the company. In the course of more than 30 years, Veronika Elsner and Günther Flake have developed a large complement of Corporate Identity Fonts, which are partly now available to clients for downloads. Please check them out under »Libraries/Custom Fonts« on the menu. In order to access these fonts, a special access code is necessary which, as a rule, will be provided by the corporation who is holding the rights for the Custom Font or the leading agency. For further information, please contact the fonts4ever-Team via e-mail.

Within the framework of the 8th Jewish Week the Museum für Druckkunst (Museum for the Printing Arts) in Leipzig will exhibit valuable papers from the time before the founding of the state of Israel.

The exhibit will open on Friday, June 19th 2009 at 3 p.m. in the rooms of the museum located at Nonnenstraße 38 in Leipzig (postal code 04229). Dr. Susanne Richter, the Director of the Museum, and Michael Weingarten, Head of the Corporation for Papers of Historic Value, Wolfenbüttel, will make the introductions to the exhibit. Svitlana Kapitanova will enhance the event with the performance of Jewish folksongs and dances. The exhibit will be open daily until July 5th with the exception of Saturdays.

The documents shown in this exhibit also give an excellent overview of the typographic culture of Hebrew. In this context you will be able to view a project which was conducted by Veronika Elsner and Günther Flake in collaboration with Dr. Ittai Tamari in the early 90s. This project incorporates more than 60 Hebrew typefaces which were developed in accordance with historic samples. In this case, typefaces such as Aharoni EF, Amir EF, Aviv EF, Chaim EF, David EF, Drugulin EF, Frank Rühl EF, Hadassah EF, Koren EF, Saphir EF and EF Tiqua are presented. These fonts are available for Apple Macintosh and can be used in programs such as InDesign Middle East for Hebrew typesetting. A version for latin-based systems is also available.

In addition to the broadened functionality, we are now going to make most of the complete Typoart Library accessible to the public. This library contains the typefaces created by the designers who worked for Typoart during the time of the German Democratic Republic. Temporarily, the library contains not only typefaces created during the hot type area, but also the digitized typefaces of the 1980s.

In this new version of fonts4ever, our clients not only have the opportunity to store their own data in their own customer’s area, to supervise it and view it at any time, but they can also profit themselves from our partner program. Furthermore we have added a magnifier to the detail page to obtain a much clearer impression of the individual characters.

Go ahead and embark on a journey of discovery!

Museum of the Printing Arts Leipzig and Elsner+Flake Designstudios signed a cooperation contract to digitize and distribute type faces from the museum's unique collection of type matrices and hot metal type.

The museum is unique for its collection of lead and wood type, type matrices, composing and casting machines, hand-, platen-, and cylinder presses, rescured by Eckehart SchumacherGebler since the end of the German Democratic Republic and gave them a new home in the former factory building of Offizin Haag-Drugulin. This way, SchumacherGebler saved precious relicts from the past and gave them a new home and a new field of application. It is not yet well known, that besides these casting and printing machines the valuable collection of thousandes of lead and wood types for hand composition, European and Oriental type matrices, letter patterns and masterfully-cut steel punches has been continuously growing over the last 20 years. The museum's new director Dr. Susanne Richter initiated to save these untapped treasures by conserving them for future generations. This will be done in cooperation of Elsner+Flake Designstudios. As active members of the foundation of the museum Veronika Elsner and Günther Flake will support and associate this project.

Hans Eduard Meier, Designer of Syntax and ITC Syndor, developed a ground breaking concept for handwriting education in primary schools as an alternative to Schnürlischrift, which was used for many years in Swiss schools.

ABC Schule started as a cooperation between Meier and Elsner+Flake in 2002 to improve and extend \"Basisschrift\", a previous version of ABC Schule, which was first introduced in schools in the Aargau canton of Switzerland. Many suggestions and improvements from teachers, publishers and experts have subsequently been incorporated. ABC Schule is now in widespread use throughout Switzerland. In contrast with the old Schnürlischrift, the idea is to guide a child in three steps to learning handwriting. ABC Schule 1 is for the first grade, ABC 2 starts to introduce the first connections and ABC 4 Ligaturen is designed with many ligatures to serve as a good example for handwriting. ABC Schule is also available with ruling and for visually impaired students.

ABC Schule is now also attracting attention in German schools and is licensed by Germany institutions. Authorized versions are available only through www. fonts4ever.com. Please contact Veronika Elsner about licensing issues and other questions (www.elsner-flake.com).

View ABC Schulschrift

Prof. Gert Wunderlich, the well known German typographer and book designer, has extended his typeface Maxima (1962 – 1989) to become a comprehensive font family.

The sans serif font family Maxima was the most popular typeface in East Germany until the unification of Germany in 1989 . Its success started in 1962 as a hot metal version, which was digitized in 1979 for various phototypesetters and the Digitset CRT typesetter. The first weights of Maxima were introduced to the Western desktop publishing world in 1985. All the original versions had been made available in digital form by 1989, which included Greek, Cyrillic and Vietnamese. Now Wunderlich has commissioned Elsner+Flake to update and extend the family to prepare it for the 21st century.

View Maxima Now

On December 2, 2008, one of the most well-known and highly-regarded typographers of the 20th century passed away in Munich. He was 87 years old. His artistic legacy consists of more than 100 typefaces which he developed primarily under the Berthold label. They include »AG Buch« (1969-1980); »Concorde« (1968-1978); Berthold »Imago« (1979-1982); and revivals of Garamond, Walbaum, Caslon and Bodoni types. An eloquent and commanding speaker – Manfred Klein called him »Gutenberg’s Machine Gun« – he fascinated his audiences with his powerful talks about type and typography.

Günter Lange and I met for the first time in the mid-seventies when Berthold evaluated the newly introduced IKARUS System as a possible way to support its design team with digital technology. The very first typeface I ever digitized and edited was the »AG Buch Regular« (»Akzidenz Grotesk«) and, as a test, double outlines and shadows. Later, Günter Lange evaluated light to heavy interpolated weights and compared them to »Poplar Alleys« while he fondly called me the »Digital Nurse«. (http://www.gglange.de)

We mourn the passing of a dear and true friend whose life and work educated and enriched us in many hours of working together.(Veronika Elsner)

The typefaces »Aniene Vecchia« and »Aniene Nuova«, designed by Adriane Krakowski, received the TDC medal at the Type Director’s Club, New York.

Round shapes underline the feminine appearance of the font family. The characters have been created with a wide pen which underlines the hand-written ductus. »Aniene Vecchia« is firmly rooted in its historic background, »Romana«, which was already used in Roman times. The name »Romana« derives from the word »Roma« (lat. for Rome) and »Romanus« (lat. for Roman). It is based on the »Capitalis Monumentalis« as well as the »Roman Majuscle« which was the letterform used by Romans for the writing of letters. The characters had a slight italic angle to enhance writing speed. This, as well as a more casual attitude, led to shapes like ascenders and descenders. The »Roman Minuscle« derived from the »Roman Majuscle« – thus the upper- and lower case characters. The »Aniene Nuova« shows signs of derivation from the »Aniene Vecchia« and includes letters which adopt recent character shapes. Both typefaces have been developed in Regular and Bold weights with Small Caps and Old Style figures, and the body sizes are optimized for use in longer texts. The »Aniene« is well suited for historical and cultural contexts as well as for areas such as gastronomy and packaging design. A special feature of the typefaces is that the user can combine characters from both the «Aniene Vecchia« and »Nuova« designs.

»Aniene Vechia« and »Nuova« are produced in four font formats and are available exclusively from www.fonts4ever.com.

View Aniene

The new millennium also created a new Roman Type – Indigo Pro designed by Swedish type designer Johan Ström, available for text- and display sizes.

Indigo was developed for the third edition of the Swedish Bible, previously printed in Fraktur, and improved to achieve optimal legibility at ordinary type sizes, i.e. the sizes most frequently used (6 pt to 16 pt).

The typeface is a perfect symbiosis from characters of the 15th and 16th century adapted to modern reproduction techniques. Sources of inspiration were Guillaume le Bé (France), Miklós Kis (typeface: Janson), Christoffel van Dijck (typeface: van Dijck) and Peter Valpergen (typeface: Fell). While designing Indigo, Ström was aware that the modern printing process shows a tendency to thin out typefaces, so he slightly exaggerated the weight of the type, which improves the legibility.
In addition, a Display weight was designed for sizes 16 pt and up.

Ström’s efforts have been the subject of several awards. The latest prize he received was the Berlingpriset 2008 in Sweden.

View Indigo

For years now Petras Script designed by calligrapher Petra Beisse has been successful in the Mac and PC-world. Now Petra has been inspired by the handwriting of the famous womanizer Casanova – and designed a font called Casanova Script.

Petra Beisse lives and works in Wiesbaden, Germany. Most of her art is hand-made, her digital fonts being an exception. Since the success of Petras Script she decided to release another handwritten typeface which has been turned to an OpenType Pro font with 1400 characters by Günther Flake and Jessica Franke.

View Casanova Script