SCHWEIZER SIGNETE / TRADE MARKS AND SYMBOLS
Walter Herdeg [Introduction]
Walter Herdeg [Introduction]: SCHWEIZER SIGNETE / TRADE MARKS AND SYMBOLS [EINE AUSWAHL DER SINNFALLIGSTEN UND SCHONSTEN MODERNEN SCHUTZMARKEN, SIGNETE, DRUCKER- UND VERLEGERZEICHEN / A COLLECTION OF THE FINEST AND MOST EXPRESSIF MODERN SWISS TRADE MARKS, SYMBOLS, EMBLEMS AND COLOPHONS]. Zurich: Amstutz & Herdeg, Graphis Press, 1948. First edition. Text in German and English. Square quarto. Gray cloth stamped in gold. 92 [xii] pp. 92 full-page trademark designs. Japanese-style folded pages. Former owners signature on front free endpaper. First and second signature split at binding, with title page/ colophon loose and laid in, otherwise a very good copy indeed.
8 x 9.75 hard cover book with 92 black and white trade marks printed one per Japanese-folded page. Also includes Walter Herdeg's Introduction, List of the Trade Marks and Index to Designers. Each trade mark's caption lists the designer, client and describes the client's business. Beautifully designed and printed in Switzerland -- with a name like Graphis, it's got to be good.
From the Introduction: "A distinction must be made between the thought-content and the artistic conception. Exaggerated importance is often attached to the former. It is a fatal error to bind an artist to a definite idea and thus to hobble his imagination."
Designers include Carlo L. Vivarelli, Hermann Eidenbenz, Pierre Gauchat, Walter Grieder, Hans Hartmann, Walter Herdeg, Honegger-Lavater, Walter Kach, Helmut Kurtz, Herbert Leupin, Hans Neuburg, Celestino Piatti, Imre Reiner, Albert Ruegg, Robert Sessler, Jan Tschichold, and Kurt Wirth among others.