What is the font used on these covers?

December 24, 2004 2:57 PM

What is the font used on these covers? I've tried the usual online automated font-identifiers, with no luck.
posted by majcher to writing & language (8 comments total)

Herold Condensed, perhaps?
posted by fandango_matt at 3:15 PM on December 24, 2004

(It's not an exact match, but I'll keep looking through my library.)
posted by fandango_matt at 3:16 PM on December 24, 2004

It's an Art Nouveau font. It isn't on Dover's CD of 24 Art Nouveau fonts and it's not listed under that category on myfonts.com. I don't find it on the fonts.com listing of Agfa fonts either.

Just ruling out some obvious searches. I think it was an Art Nouveau font that was revived in the 1960s and might not have made it into the digital era. Hope I'm wrong on that.
posted by zadcat at 3:38 PM on December 24, 2004

Another close-but-not-quite: Heraut.
posted by fandango_matt at 3:49 PM on December 24, 2004

It's not automated, but if you can't find what you're looking for - why not try the nice folks (read: experts) on the Typophile Forum?
posted by carabiner at 4:04 PM on December 24, 2004

You might try emailing Michael Whelan (who painted the Lovecraft covers) and asking him if he knows anything.
posted by interrobang at 4:14 PM on December 24, 2004

You may want to try What The Font.
posted by font_snob at 1:59 PM on December 26, 2004

Book cover illustrators and book cover designers are rarely the same person.
posted by jjg at 4:15 PM on December 26, 2004