Legend : a new typeface: specimen booklet : Soldans Limited : London : nd [ca. 1937] : Bauersche Gießerei : Frankfurt am Main : Deutschland : designer - F.H. Ernst Schneidler : Specimen 2 - A descent into the maelström

A beautifully printed and presented multi-page publicity brochure for the Legend/Legende typeface that was designed by F.H. Ernst Schneidler for the famous Bauer Typefoundry in Frankfurt-am-Main and first issued in 1937. This particular brochure was issued by the company's London agents Soldans Limited as shown on the front cover.

 

The typeface is titled with its English/American nomenclature Legend but it was issued as Legende for the German and Continental market. It was designed by Friedrich Hermann Ernst Schneidler (1882–1956) the German typographer, calligrapher, typeface designer, and influential teacher at the Stuttgart Academy (1920–1948).

 

No date of publication is given but one of the specimen adverts has a 1937 date and introduction speaks of a "new typeface - different, eye-arresting, vivacious" and so it seems likely this was close to the date of being issued. The final specimen page notes a new 'y', and I suspect additional to the fount, that has been cut as well as alternative h and th. The specimens show Legend/e at 18 point through to 72 point as well as the characters in the complete fonts. I have also scanned a selection of the display pages under the title "How to use Legend".

 

This page is a quotation from Edgar Allan Poe's "A descent into the Maelström" with the two protagonists having reached "the summit of the loftiest crag".

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