Modern Publicity 1933–1934

The typeface used on the cover and the title pages of this “annual of ‘commercial art and industry’” for 1933 to 1934 is one that was released only shortly before. Its name is Jocunda, designed by Stanley Baxter and issued by the British Monotype Corporation in 1933 as series no. 369.

This week, St Bride Library showed a specimen of Jocunda on Twitter, and commented:

In 1967 the Monotype Corporation had a purge of typefaces which were no longer fashionable or had poor sales records. Well over 100 styles were axed. Only artwork was retained – all patterns, punches and matrices were scrapped.

Type designer Toshi Omagari added:

For context, all the artwork survived so that they could be manufactured in the future (Sachsenwald was another victim which I revived digitally). All the space-consuming metal assets were thrown away to make some for the most popular and largest family at that time, Univers.

For a list of the faces withdrawn from Monotype’s library in 1967 (and before and after), see Monotype Metal Type Faces by Alambic Press.

I’m not surprised if Jocunda was considered no longer fashionable, or if it had poor sales records. The all-caps design appears to be partly derived from Gill Sans – with which it is paired in the annual. This is most evident in the numerals and the punctuation, but Gill Sans also shines through in the weight and proportions of some alphabetic glyphs. The added Art Deco-like embellishments in the form of wavy bars and legs strike me as half-hearted – an idea from lettering that doesn’t translate well to type, certainly not in this stiff execution. Also, the style came a decade too late. The use shown here – which might have been a product placement, at least Jocunda and Monotype are named in the acknowledgements – is the only one that I’m aware of.

Baxter had previously designed Basuto, first cast by Stephenson Blake in 1927. Unlike Jocunda, Basuto has been revived digitally. In 1922, he arranged “Specimens of Good Lettering” and wrote about “Legibility, Quality & Individuality in Lettering”, both for Commercial Art.

Modern Publicity was started by Sydney R. Jones, initially titled Posters and Their Designers (1924), then Art & Publicity (1925) and Posters & Publicity (1926–1929). The International Advertising & Design Database (IADDB) has digitized all 54 volumes that were published until 1985. The issue for 1933 to 1934 was edited by Frank A. Mercer and William Gaunt, printed and engraved by Herbert Reiach Ltd., and published by The Studio, best known for the magazine of the same name.