Seeking additional specimens of "Fafner" by Schelter & Giesecke

Oliver Weiss (Walden Font Co.)

Hello, 

I'm in the process of reviving "Fafner", an angular Art Nouveau typeface issued by Schelter  & Giesecke. It appears in my 1912 Hauptprobe (see attachments), but may have been issued earlier.  The two samples below provide me with most of the characters, I'm only missing F, J, Q, X, Y, j, p, q, x, y. Would anybody have any material that shows at least some of these glyphs? 

Thanks! 

Oliver 

George Thomas

The Tholenaar specimen collection now resides at https://letterformarchive.org/

[email protected]

Jan Tholenaar had quite a number of S&G specimen books. There is a $25 dollar charge per page for library-quality images.

Dan Reynolds

According to Hans Reichardt’s data, Fafner was published in 1905 (http://www.klingspor-museum.de/KlingsporKuenstler/HR_Schriftbuch/HR_Kapitel_F.pdf). That might help narrow it down … I mean, as you are looking for other specimens of the typeface. You can probably rule out any catalogues published before then.

The 1923 Die deutsche Schriftgießerei, eine gewerbliche Bibliographie implies that the only “catalogue” Schelter & Giesecke published between 1898 and 1912 was a “Schriftprobe in gedrängter Form”, in 1906, and that catalogue’s page format was quarto. Of course, Fafner is probably in type specimen catalogues S&G printed after 1912, too. But maybe not after the 1920s?

The above-mentioned Bibliographie lists a Fafner brochure from 1907 in its S&G sectionm, too (the exact line of text reads “Fafner. 16, Querheft, 1907. 8º.”) Perhaps the Letterform Archive has that? Or perhaps you can find someone who’s got it?

Generally speaking, these artistic typefaces don’t have so many specimens available for them, as you of course already know. If an ad for Fafner was ever run in trade journals, it probably would not have had too much type on it 😞

Olexa Volochay

https://issuu.com/archiviotipografico/docs/schelter___giesecke_ag_leipzig

page 145 for scan, page 167 in real book.

Stephen Coles

We do indeed have the Fafner brochure. Here are some snapshots. As George said, we can provide hi-res scans or photography upon request.

Stephen Coles

BTW, our copy of the 1912 S&G catalog has a tipped in sheet showing the addition of smaller sizes. 



Also, your image above doesn’t quite indicate that the Schraffierte style is made of tightly spaced horizontal lines to created the gray effect. Here’s a (poorly shot, sorry) close-up from a later specimen also at LfA:

Dan Reynolds

Oh, Stephen, those photos are great!!

Claudio Piccinini

Stephen Coles said:

We do indeed have the Fafner brochure. Here are some snapshots. As George said, we can provide hi-res scans or photography upon request.

I've never been a "huge" fan of Fafner, but that brochure is beautiful, Stephen!

Oliver Weiss (Walden Font Co.)

Thank you, one and all! That is a wonderful wealth of material served on a platter!!! I think this gives me everything I need. To echo Claudio, that brochure really is gorgeous.

Cheers,

Oliver

Claudio Piccinini

Oliver Weiss (Walden Font Co.) said:

Thank you, one and all! That is a wonderful wealth of material served on a platter!!! I think this gives me everything I need. To echo Claudio, that brochure really is gorgeous.

Cheers,

Oliver

I am 99% sure that Fafner was used/featured in early 20th century issues of "Archivio Tipografico" (Augusta/Nebiolo's "house organ") and maybe in some "Il Risorgimento Grafico". I might have a pair of "Archivio", but right now not definitely at hand… :-(

Florian Hardwig

Your memory didn’t deceive you, Claudio. Fafner was cast by Augusta as Ovidio.

Claudio Piccinini

Florian Hardwig said:

Your memory didn’t deceive you, Claudio. Fafner was cast by Augusta as Ovidio.

I’m pretty sure it’s there, I just did not recall if Augusta recast it or if it was an official Schelter & Giesecke import (the "Risorgimento Grafico" ads show that by 1908-1909 some S&G types were officially imported already). Probably the copies coexisted with originals from German and American foundries up to the 1920s here. :-)

Claudio Piccinini

As an example, a Benjamin Krebs ad from 1909 featuring their Ridingerschrift.
It shows the only official Italian importer was Achille Putti, in Bologna (hey, near me!). :-)

Oliver Weiss (Walden Font Co.)

All done. May I introduce WF Fafner. It'll be available when the rest of the fonts in this set are finished.