This cover immediately reminded me of Helen Crawford-White’s cover A Half-Baked Ideaby Olivia Potts published last year…
And then I thought maybe it was a nod to the cover of The White Album by Joan Didion, published in 1979 […] But maybe I am over thinking it…?
The font in use looks like one that could have been released just recently, by a boutique foundry / type design beginner: bold and of high contrast, with letterforms like E that will prevent even color no matter how much kerning you throw at them, spiced up with some trendy details like fox brush terminals on r and y, and wacky ones like the “light trap” spikes or the triangular i dot.
In fact, the typeface is already 125 years old. Now one could insert a pessimistic remark about typographic culture going in circles and not getting any wiser. I, for one, find it fascinating that a face first released in 1895 can pass as contemporary in 2020. This aspect is pretty unique to our field.Edwards is the work of Nicholas J. Werner, who already had about a dozen released typefaces under his belt at the time, including his collaboration with Gustave F. Schroeder on the De Vinne series. When Barnhart Brothers & Spindler reissued the face in 1925, they aptly renamed it Bizarre Bold. There are several digitizations.