TYPOGRAPHISCHE MITTEILUNGEN,
SONDERHEFT ELEMENTARE TYPOGRAPHIE
Jan Tschichold
Mainz: H. Schmidt, 1986. First edition thus [reprint of Oktoberheft 1925 edition with new prefaces by Olaf Leu and Friedrich Friedl]. Text in German. Slim quarto. Thick French folded wrappers. 36 pp. Illustrations in two colors throughout. A nearly fine copy.
9.25 x 12.25 softcover reprint of the October 1925 issue of the printing trade journal 'Typographische Mitteilungen,' guest-edited by Jan Tschichold, for which he designed a twenty-four-page Sonderheft (special issue) insert entitled 'elementare typographie.'
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 László 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 1986.
Features important contributions and compositions by Tschichold ("Die neue Gestaltung,"), Natan Altman, Otto Bamberger, Herbert Bayer, Max Burchartz, El Lissitzky, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Farkas Molnar, Johannes Molzahn, Kurt Schwitters, and Mart Stam. Tschichold is listed as "Ivan" Tschichold on the title-page, and "Iwan" Tschichold at the head of his text.
"Two years after the 1923 Bauhaus exhibition, Tschichold was invited to serve as guest editor for the October 1925 issue of the printing trade journal 'Typographische Mitteilungen,' for which he designed a twenty-four-page Sonderheft (special issue) insert entitled 'elementare typographie.' Originally intended as a Bauhaus special edition, this issue of 'typographische mitteilungen' (the name of the journal being set in lowercase letters on this occasion) was entirely devoted to 'Die neue Typographie'. . . . Printed in red and black, the Sonderheft helped to clarify, demonstrate, and display the principles of the New Typography for professional printers, typesetters, and typographers. In addition to Tschichold's own typography, it presented work by the avant-garde designers Max Burchartz, Johannes Molzahn, Schwitters, Moholy-Nagy, Lissitzky, Bayer, and the Swiss poster designer Otto Baumberger. These images were accompanied by Tschichold's own articulate comments and observations.
"Other texts included 'typo-photo' by Moholy-Nagy; 'die reklame' (advertising) by Lissitzky and the Dutch architect, urban planner and chair designer Mart Stam; and 'elementare gesichtpunkte' (Elementary Perspectives) by the Russian painter, sculptor, typographer and teacher Natan Altman . . . . Although Tschichold was fully aware of van Doesburg and De Stijl, it is notable that he omitted this Dutch group. Lissitzky was delighted to have been included, and this helped to solidify the friendship between him and Tschichold.
"Since most German typography was still symmetrical, with medieval Textura being the most popular typeface, 'elementare typographie' caused a senseation and engendered much enthusiasm and controversy among a wide audience. At the age of twenty-three, Tschichold had become the leading spokesman and guiding force of what would be known as the New Typography. . . . 'My dear Tschichold, bravo, bravo,' Lissitzky responded from Moscow in a letter dated October 22, 1925. 'With all my heart I congratulate you on the beautiful brochure "elementare typographie." To me it is a physical pleasure to hold a publication of such quality in my hands, fingers, eyes. All my nerve antennae extend and the whole motor speeds up. And in the end this is what counts -- to overcome inertia.' It was also well received at the Bauhaus by Moholy-Nagy and Gropius" [Alston W. Purvis, in Jong].
Herbert Spencer notes that 'In this publication, Tschichold introduced the typographic work of Lissitzky to a wide audience of practical printers for the first time."
Jan Tschichold (German, 1902 – 1974) was a typographer, book designer, teacher and writer. Tschichold was the son of a provincial signwriter, and he was trained in calligraphy. This artisan background and calligraphic training set him apart from almost all other noted typographers of the time, since they had inevitably trained in architecture or the fine arts.
Tschichold's artisan background may help explain why he never worked with handmade papers and custom fonts as many typographers did, preferring instead to use stock fonts on a careful choice from commercial paper stocks. After the election of Hitler in Germany, all designers had to register with the Ministry of Culture, and all teaching posts were threatened for anyone who was sympathetic to communism.
Tschichold was an assistant to Hermann Delitsch at Leipzig Academy, and started freelance work (1921-23). He was active as a freelance typographer and calligrapher in Leipzig, identified himself as Iwan (1923-25). He edited “Elementare Typographie” published as a special number of Typographische Mitteilungen in 1925. Worked as a freelance in Berlin (1925-26). In 1926, he married with Edith Kramer and was invited to German Master Printer’s School, Munich, to teach typography and calligraphy. Identified himself as Jan. Started to design posters for Phoebus Palast in 1927.
After Tschichold took up a teaching post in Munich at the behest of Paul Renner, both he and Tschichold were denounced as "cultural Bolshevists.”Ten days after the Nazis surged to power in March 1933, Tschichold and his wife were arrested. During the arrest, Soviet posters were found in his flat, casting him under suspicion of collaboration with communists. All copies of Tschichold's books were seized by the Gestapo "for the protection of the German people.” After six weeks a policeman somehow found him tickets for Switzerland, and he and his family managed to escape Nazi Germany in August 1933. Apart from short visits to England in 1937-1938 (at the invitation of the Penrose Annual), and 1947-1949 (at the invitation of Ruari McLean, the British typographer, with whom he worked on the design of Penguin Books), he lived the rest of his life in Switzerland. Jan Tschichold died in the hospital at Locarno in 1974.
His major publications include: Die neue Typographie (1928); Typographische Gestaltung (1935); Der frühe chinesische Farbendruck (1940); Geschichte der Schrift in Bildern (1941); Meisterbuch der Schrift (1952); Willkürfreie Maßverhältnisse der Buchseite und des Satzspiegels (1962); Die Bildersammlung der Zehnbambushalle (1970, won the Gold medal of the Leipzig International Book Design Exhibition in 1971).