Total Recall by Piers Anthony (William Morrow first edition)
Dust jacket designed by Teresa Bonner for the 1989 William Morrow first edition of the science fiction novel Total Recall by Piers Anthony. Jacket illustration by John Berkley. The book is actually a novelization based upon the screenplay of the 1990 science fiction film of the same name, which in turn was adapted from the novelette We Can Remember It for You Wholesale by Philip K. Dick, first published in 1966. It is the only current example of a story by Dick being adapted into a film and then back into a novel.
The front panel, front flap and spine of the jacket features text set in Novel Gothic, with the novel’s title and author’s name in outline. Additional text on the front and back flaps, as well as the back panel, is set in Schadow. The interior title page features text set in ITC Eras, which is also used for the silver lettering along the blue cloth spine of the hardcover.
5 Comments on “Total Recall by Piers Anthony (William Morrow first edition)”
Oh! I could see a phototype outlined version of Novel Gothic.
Transfertech listed an Outline in dry transfer, potentially also in phototype. It’s likely that other type suppliers could have generated an outline too, as numerous catalogs describe a variety of effects that can be applied to any listed font.
Right, most phototypesetting services had means to apply a contour to any typeface design – just like other effects like slanting, stretching, shadows, etc. The difference with a ready-made outline style is that it can already be optimized, in terms of avoiding rounded corners, overlaps, or too small apertures, and also shown as an option to the customer who otherwise might not be able to visualize the result.
The Novel Gothic range by Transfertech appears to be derived from neo-Novel Gothic by Headliners. At least the style range matches. Also, see this comment by Joseph Treacy, current owner of Headliners, on how Transfertech obtained their typefaces.
Catalogs by Headliners from the mid-1970s and 1980s show Outline and Shadow styles for the boldest weights of most of their designs.
I’ve no doubt much of Transfertech’s type library is derived from other sources as they claim to have access to over 8,000 types on film. I also read that Transfertech were a subsidiary of Castcraft. Some of these 1978 Transfertech catalog listings do use the Castcraft aliases, such as Triplett = Tribune.
They appear to have more than a few of VGC’s faces on offer too. Cypress = China, Diamond = Friz Quadrata, Iambic = Inverserif, Impala = Serpentine, Natty = Neil Bold, Sol = Skippy, etc. They also have some of Alphabet Innovations faces, such as Dashow = Avalon, Ewie/Dewey/Louie = Eightball, Happy Sid = Jolly Roger, Maynard = Swath, Strike = Stark. Plus some taken from Lettergraphics, e.g. Volpe = Vantage. Some others from ITC (Androceles = Serif Gothic) and Letraset (Lazar = Lazybones) in there as well. Just imagine where the other 7,580 types are derived from.
Those are excellent links, thank you.
That makes a lot sense.