Cannery Row by John Steinbeck, first editions

时间：2015-06-26 11:30:55| 新闻|浏览：182|来源：Fonts in Use|作者：Florian Hardwig

导语Source: http://www.royalbooks.com.Royal Books. License: All Right

New York: The Viking Press, 1945. First Edition. Second issue with canary yellow cloth.

When John Steinbeck's famous novel was published in January 1945, ATF'sBrush(1942) wasn't brand-new anymore, but it still was fresh and certainly far away from being the overused stereotype of informal script typefaces that it became in later years. In fact, the jacket design by Arthur Hawkins, Jr. may have been among its first uses of note.

The book and the typeface are strongly linked: "Cannery Row" in Brush can be seen on the dust jacket and the cover — front and spine — as well as on the title page of the first US edition by The Viking Press. Brush also adorns the jacket and the cover of the first UK edition by William Heinemann. It even appears in print ads accompanying the book release — it's not just a one-off cover face, but acquires logo-like qualities. Unsurprisingly, this strong visual identity is maintained in later editions, see e.g. this Viking Compass Book from 1969.

In American Metal Typefaces of the Twentieth Century, Mac McGrew notes that Robert E. Smith's design "has a handlettered, freely-drawn appearance, with the letters joined skillfully so the connections are not obvious." Off-the-shelf, its connections weren't considered good enough, though. If you look closely, you'll see that the exit stroke of the second 'n' is flatter than of the first one, allowing it to flow more smoothly into the loop of 'e'. Furthermore, the 'ow' pair is joined at the top. To my knowledge, Brush didn't come with such alternates or ligatures — the title must have been fine-tuned by hand. With these modifications, the "Cannery Row" wordmark essentially isn't type, but lettering — closely modeled after a typeface that in turn emulates lettering.

"First Edition First Printing (January 1945) in the First State buff-colored cloth binding, one of only 2500." — Fine Editions

Cover (William Heinemann, London/Toronto, 1945)

Title page (William Heinemann, London/Toronto, 1945)

First Edition Third Printing (January 1945). Printed in U.S.A. by the Haddon Craftsmen.

Like the title on the jacket, the cloth binding now is in bright canary yellow as well — too good a pun to miss. There was also a Wartime Edition in blue boards.