At home my parents own a selection of The Observer's Books, published by Frederick Warne & Co. There are 100 different titles under The Observer's Book collection which date back from 1937 to 2003. The ones shown here date from 1937 to the 1970s, therefore the printed type on the cover may of been done with different procedures over the years. The type is a bold sans serif font that has similar features and characteristic to Futura and Univers. It could be a variation of it as Futura was made in 1927 and these books started in 1937.
However I noticed that the same letters on the covers were different to each other as the weight/thickness of the lines were inconsistent. Therefore the type could well be hand rendered. But I think it's most likely to block printed. The type has been embossed into the cover too, with the ink then printed/pushed in afterwards.
It's unusual for sans serif typefaces to have an apostrophe that has a rounded dot to the tail, similar to the properties of which serif apostrophes have. But the apostrophe used here on these
books all have a rounded dot to them.
I chose to look at the type on these books because I think the type works effectively and has a simple layout, which helps catch the eye. The sans serif type is also intriguing and looks very modern, even though the books are over 40/50+ years old.
Production Method - Hand Rendered / Wood / Block Print
Anatomy - Bold Sans Serif
Identity - Observer Books published by Frederick Warne & Co.
Character - simple / minimal / geometric
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