In Irland gibt es keine Schlangen by Frederick Forsyth (Bertelsmann Club)
In Irland gibt es keine Schlangen (“There are no snakes in Ireland”) is the German title of No Comebacks, a collection of ten short stories by English novelist Frederick Forsyth (b. 1938), translated by Rolf and Hedda Soellner. Shown here is the dust jacket of a book club edition published by Bertelsmann Club in 1982, under license from R. Piper & Co. Verlag.
For the typography, Werner Rebhuhn used Pharaon. This ultrabold and tight-setting slab serif was designed by Albert Boton at Hollenstein in 1972. A 1974 catalog by the French phototype company shows two variants, Pharaon 1 and 2. The latter can be seen here: it’s distinguished by straightened bowls and shoulders as well as shorter caps. To my knowledge, it never was digitized. The other style, Pharaon 1, was once available in digital form from Monotype, but is currently no longer available.
Posted as part of a series that pays tribute to Albert Boton, one of the preeminent French type designers of the past sixty years. Albert Boton died on July 20, 2023, at the age of 91.
Pharaon 1 and 2 as shown in the 1974 Hollenstein catalog. In the latter, some details were streamlined: for example, the top serif on a is merged with the roof, n is spurless and also lacks the unilateral bottom left serif. Compare also the height of the capital P.
Pharaon (top, 1972) is similar to Letraset’s Aachen Bold (bottom, 1969) and might have been inspired by the latter’s success. Boton’s design has more impact, though, thanks to the heavier weight and the minimized counters and apertures. The comparison uses details from the book jacket and Bitstream’s digital version of Aachen Bold with decreased tracking.
