J. T.
JOHANNES TZSCHICHOLD
IWAN TSCHICHOLD
JAN TSCHICHOLD

Philipp Luidl

Philipp Luidl: J. T., JOHANNES TZSCHICHOLD, IWAN TSCHICHOLD, JAN TSCHICHOLD [EINE JAHRESGABE DER TYPOGRAPHISCHEN GESELLSCHAFT, MUNCHEN]. Munchen: Typographischen Gesellschaft, Munchen, 1976. First edition. Text in German. Dark blue and black silk cloth with paper title label affixed to spine. Uncoated dust jacket printed on both sides, with montage of Tschichold's personal bookplate designs to verso. Rear pastedown with added diagonally cut pocket housing facsimiles of two letters - one sheet from Tschichold to El Lissitzky, and Lissitzky's two sheet response [both from 1925 on the respective color letterheads]. 88 pp. 6 tipped-in plates. Multiple text illustrations. Ten essays on Tschichold from various contributors. A fine copy in a lightly handled dust jacket. A beautiful, uncommon production.

6.25 x 9.5 hardcover book with 88 pages, 6 tipped in plates and facsimile correspondence between between Tschichold and El Lissitzky on their respective letterheads. Short essays by Heinrich Hussman, Werner Doede, Kurt Seelmann, Edith Tschichold, Hans Schmoller, Gunter Gerhard Lange, Alfred Andersch, Max Caflisch, Max Frisch and Paul Valery.

In a special issue of the German printing journal Typographische Mitteilungen, entitled "elementare typographie" and dated October 1925, editor Jan Tschichold proposed a radically new direction for German typography and advertising art. Amidst reproductions of avant-garde books and Constructivist-influenced periodicals, as well as manifestos by L‡szl— Moholy-Nagy and El Lissitzky, Tschichold presented his own manifesto of ten principles and rules for a new typographic practice that summarized convictions about elemental forms and clarity of communication which avant-garde artists in Germany had called for earlier.

Tschichold's special issue provoked considerable debate in subsequent numbers of Typographische Mitteilungen and in 1928 he followed it with an entire book, De neue Typographie (The New Typography), which was brought out by the Bildungsverband der Deutschen Buchdrucker, the educational wing of the German printing trade union who also published Typographische Mitteilungen. By 1931, the book was out of print and was not reprinted in German until 1987.

Tschichold's principal claim for the new typography is that it is characteristic of the modern age. Writing at a time when many new mass produced products appeared on the market, his intention was to bring typography into line with these other manifestations of industrial culture. Similar to the Russian Constructivists, Tschichold lauds the engineer whose work is marked by "economy, precision," and the "use of pure constructional forms that correspond to the functions of the object."

Due to his solid training in typography, Tschichold was a much greater technician than either Lissitzky or Moholy-Nagy; his own assertions on modernist design were based on an intimate knowledge of typesetting techniques such as leading, spacing, and the overall arrangement of type on a page. One look at Moholy-Nagy's essay titled (curiously enough) Die Neue Typographie in STAATLICHES BAUHAUS 1919-1923 (Bauhausverlag Weimar-Munchen, 1923, p. 141) clearly proves that Tschichold could run circles around the type cases of his peers.

Tschichold strongly believed in the Zeitgeist argument that each age creates its own uniquely appropriate forms. That belief allowed him to formulate a set of principles for his time and reject all prior work, regardless of its quality. One of the characteristics of the modern age for Tschichold was speed. he felt that printing must facilitate a quicker and more efficient mode of reading. Whereas the aim of the older typography was beauty, clarity was the purpose of the New Typography.

Tschichold was the most eloquent spokesman of the Neue Werbergestalter (circle of new advertising designers) established by Kurt Schwitters in 1928 and helped to disseminate Constructivist principles with his books. He favored asymmetrical layouts and an orderly presentation instead of the centered arrangements of classical book printing or the fluid individualism of Art Nouveau. Grolier Club, A Century for the Century, 36 (in reference to the 1935 edition of Typographische Gestaltung):".with its mixture of types and asymmetrical composition, clearly exhibits the modern sensibility. Basically revolutionary in its design, such work was to push printing in a new direciton, and Tschichold was one of the first and one of the best practitioners of modernist style."

The Circle of New Advertising Designers (ring neue werbegestalter) was a group who coalesced after the first statements on the new typography by Tschchold and Moholy-Nagy, and their purpose was the promotion of a common vision of the avant-garde. Ring neue werbegestalter intentionally echoed the name of The Ring, a group of Berlin-based architects which had been formed a few years earlier.

In Heinz and Bodo Rausch's Gefesselter Blick (1930), The Ring's point of view was defined by Paul Shuitema , acknowledging that modern design involved the separation of hand and machine which previous generations had so strongly fought against: "the designer is not a draughtsman, but rather an organizer of optical and technical factors. His work should not be limited to making notes, placing in groups and organizing things technically."

Tschichold was more succinct: " I attempt to reach the maximum of purpose in my publicity works and to connect the single constructive elements harmoniously -- to design."

Spreads from this volume can be viewed here.

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