Bauer Beton, Type Specimen, Bauer Type Foundry Inc., 235-247 East 45th Street, New York, USA and Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 1931. 8.75 x 11, thick stapled covers, unpaginated [24] including (4) fold-out pages with English text. A “King Typographic Service Corp.” and NYC address stamped on the title page. Printed in Germany.
Typeface design by Heinrich Jost (1889–1948), the German typographer, graphic designer and art director of the Bauer Type Foundry from 1923 until 1948. Specimen boldly designed by Oktogon, Imre Reiner (1900-1987), Paris.
From the Introductory text: “The Bauer Beton [German for concrete] is the true interpretation of the spirit of our technical age. It shows the same abstract qualities as modern architecture, automobiles and airplanes.”
Featuring (5) weights for the Bauer Beton typeface: Light, Medium, Bold, Extrabold, and Open ... for a range of sizes from 8 to 84 point with upper and lowercase (except Open) letters and full alphabets with numerals. Followed by “How to Use Bauer Beton” with superb black and white, colored and photomontage advertising examples showing the diversity of the typeface.
A good type specimen with thick, stapled covers, which have pulled the first page along the binding. A few closed tears along the edges and some paper loss to the corner covers. Two 1” splits to the spine head and heel and slight handling to the interior pages. Despite any flaws, still a lovely and important specimen!
