Comments (0)Proper Fontsl
October 23, 2009I was struck by Jack Rosay’s Oct. 9 letter “Offensive Font,” which spoke of remembering the German newspapers in Poland, printed in the Gothic typeface that had continued into mid-twentieth century to be used in Germany and for texts in the German language.
The BALTIMORE JEWISH TIMES’ use of Gothic in the article about the Ten Commandments, I suppose, was suggested as a decorative style appropriate to religious texts as it has been used in English-speaking England and America. Gothic architectural styles also were for a long time felt to be the only appropriate style for Christian churches, particularly Anglican ones, and Roman Catholic churches in English-speaking countries.
I opened a circa 1950 Dover edition of Alexander Nesbitt’s “The History and Technique of Lettering.” He described this printed Gothic, fraktur, as specifically German. “It is difficult, perhaps, to understand chauvinism in typography, but one must realize that it exists,” he wrote. This type of design, he added, is used when “a definite Germanic effect is desired,” but he also noted its association with other Gothic elements, such as in the theories and works of the pre-Raphaelites and Arts and Crafts artists.
My own childhood memories of its use are of decorative signage in Tijuana and Baja, Cal. in the 1940s and 1950s. Buses and taxis, and also shop signs, were lettered in this Gothic style. Later, when I studied German in college and some of my books were in this distinctive typeface, I realized that it must have come to Mexico with the documents and possessions of Jews and others from German refugees. Its baroque quality coincides with other elements of popular styles in Mexico and South America.
Today, as I turn the pages of the prayer book of my children’s great-great-grandfather, Jacob Greenebaum, Jr., I see it is printed in Hebrew and German and was published in Furth in 1854. The German text is in the Gothic typeface, of course. In this case, its use was neither chauvinistic nor religious—the Hebrew, and the words translated, are religious—but simply the everyday written language.
I have no book similar to Nesbitt’s about the history of Hebrew typefaces, but the art of Hebrew type design must be flourishing with the revival of Hebrew through its use in Israel. Decorative styles based on Israeli publishing and especially poster and advertising design might be rich typographical sources for American Jewish publications.
Edna E Heatherington
Glen Ellyn, Ill.