[ART NOUVEAU ? GERMAN TYPOGRAPHY AND ADVERTISING] Edelgotisch: mit besonderem im Atelier Albert Knabe gezeichnetem Zierat zur modernen Ausstattung aller Druckarbeiten [Noble Gothic: with special ornamentation designed in Albert Knab's studio for the modern design of all printed works] Knab, Albert and J. G. Schelter & Giesecke Book Arts and Design,Germany,Graphic Design,Modern Art,Typography

Leipzig: J.G. Schelter & Giesecke, 1901. Quarto (28.5 ? 22.7 cm). Original pictorial wrappers on red card stock; cloth spine strip; pp. 585?616 [i.e. 24 pp.] of specimens on heavy card stock of orange, green, and tan color; one folding insert. With added distributor information for "Schomburg y Caballero, Bilbao and Madrid" printed to bottom of front wrapper and neat company stamp to lower right corner of one leaf. Light dust-soiling; else about very good. Striking specimen of an Art Nouveau typeface drawn by German poster artist Albert Knab (1870?1948), known for his association with the circle around Ernst Growald, a Berlin-based advertising magnate and supporter of a new generation of poster designers. Sometimes referred to as the "Sachplakat", these posters were inspired partly by Art Nouveau specimens by Toulouse-Lautrec and Alfons Mucha and strove to focus squarely on the advertised object, in a way that would influence the New Objectivity poster and even Pop Art (see Ori Z. Soltes, "Sachplakat" in Enzyklop?die j?discher Geschichte und Kultur). The font showcased here precedes the better-known Arnold 3556 typeface by the foundry of Otto Weisert, created in 1904 in honor of the Swiss painter Arnold B?cklin. A US-based digital type foundry is offering a digitized version of Knab's font, which is here used both for display and as a text font. The type foundry and machine factory of J. G. Schelter and C. F. Giesecke was founded in 1819 and had become an important, internationally active concern by the 1880s. In addition to a variety of fonts, ornaments, and other printing equipment, it produced letterpress, cylinder proof, and other types of presses. It continued to thrive, with major typographers including Jan Tschichld, Arno Drescher, and Heinz Keune creating exclusive fonts for distribution, before being nationalized in 1946 and becoming part of a "state-owned enterprise" (VEB). For an overview of its history and a list of important typefaces, along with some scans, see the article on Luc Devroye's Type Design Information Page. As of September 2025, KVK, OCLC show one copy in Germany and two in North American libraries of this specimen.