#anna simons

Typography Tuesday

ANNA SIMONS and WILLY WIEGAND

Here are some calligraphic initials by the German calligrapher and type designer Anna Simons (1871–1951), pared with a proprietary typeface designed by German type designer and fine press publisher Willy Wiegand (1884-1961) for his Bremer Presse. From 1918 to 1934, Simons designed over 1400 initials and titles the press. Weigand himself designed the typeface used for the press, known today as Bremer Antiqua, designed in 1911. The typeface was cut by Louis Hoell and cast at the Bauer type foundry, and is based on the fonts of incunabula printers Adolf Rusch and Johann and Wendelin de Spira.

The examples shown here are from an Italian edition of Dante's La Divina Commedia printed in Munich at the Bremer Presse in 1921. Every initial designed for this book by Simons is unique, as can be seen here in the examples of A, P, and Q. Our copy is a gift from our late friend Jerry Buff (1931-2025).

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Here are some typeface and monogram designs from the type specimen book Modern Lettering Design and Application edited by Herbert Hoffmann and translated from the German and printed in Germany for New York publisher William Helburn Inc. sometime in the 1930s. Shown here is the work of several noted German type designers and calligraphers, including Heinrich Jost, Rudolf Koch,  Ernst Schneidler, Arthur Schulze, Anna Simons, and Emil Rudolf Weiss. 

Our copy once belonged to the “Reference Section” of the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen of the City of New York, and and you can see its ownership stamp on the last image. This copy also bears the ownership stamp of Hayward Cirker the founder of Dover Publications.

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Typography Tuesday

ANNA SIMONS, PART 3

Last month we presented the 20 numbered plates from Titel und Initialen für die Bremer Presse, a specimen book of the titling and initials by the German calligrapher and type designer Anna Simons (1871–1951) for Willy Wiegand’s Bremer Presse, printed letterpress in Munich at the Bremer Presse in an edition of 220 copies in 1926. This week we present the remaining unnumbered plates from this portfolio set.

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Typography Tuesday

ANNA SIMONS

Today we present a few pages from a new acquisition, Titel und Initialen für die Bremer Presse, a specimen book of the titling and initials produced by the German calligrapher and type designer Anna Simons (1871–1951) for Willy Wiegand’s Bremer Presse, printed letterpress in Munich at the Bremer Presse in an edition of 220 copies in 1926. A student of the renowned British calligrapher and type designer Edward Johnston, Simons taught Johnstonian design concepts at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Dusseldorf and later at Munich under the direction of German architect and type designer Peter Behrens. She began doing design work for the Bremer Presse beginning in 1918, and along with her assistant Franziska Kobell, Simons designed some 1400 titles and initials for the Presse. Simons continued to teach and work in Germany through the Nazi regime and died at 80 in Prien, Germany.

View more posts with designs by Anna Simons.

View posts on other Women Type Designers.

Typography Tuesday

ANNA SIMONS, PART 2

This week we present the next ten of the twenty numbered plates in Titel und Initialen für die Bremer Presse, a specimen book of the titling and initials by the German calligrapher and type designer Anna Simons (1871–1951) for Willy Wiegand’s Bremer Presse, printed letterpress in Munich at the Bremer Presse in an edition of 220 copies in 1926. We highlighted the first ten plates a couple of weeks ago.

For 15 years, Simons’s Arts & Crafts-inspired designs were important elements in the aesthetics of the Bremer Presse, and Weigand celebrated her contributions in this portfolio set of specimens during the middle of their collaboration. The press closed in 1934 and its assets were liquidated the following year. The studio building was destroyed in bombings during WWII. Simons, however, continued to teach and work in Germany through the war before her death in 1951.

View more posts with designs by Anna Simons.

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Typography Tuesday

Here are some typographic and calligraphic examples from our new acquisition Modern Lettering Design and Application edited by Herbert Hoffmann and published in New York by William Helburn Inc. sometime in the 1930s. Shown here is the work of several noted German type designers and calligraphers, including Jakob Erbar, Rudolf Koch, Heinz König, Oskar von Kress, and Anna Simons. Also shown here are letterforms constructed from brass rules at the School of Decorative Art in Stuttgart. 

The publication was intended as a study manual. The introduction notes that,

Whoever takes up the study of letters and lettering must first of all be clear as to the great variety of uses and means by which he is confronted. . . . This publication entitled “Lettering” approaches absolutely without prejudice and from a purely artistic point of view all questions concerning the form and use of type of every kind and variety. . . . The young graphic artist should carefully study the capacity for expression inherent in the lettering here submitted. He should learn how to work with various styles, not slavishly imitating what is presented -- still less using it for commercial duplication. 

Our copy once belonged to the “Reference Section” of the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen of the City of New York, and it appears that they may not have heeded the editor’s admonition as two of the book’s plates have been removed, we’re guessing, for “slavish imitation” and for use in “commercial duplication.” This copy also bears the ownership stamp of Hayward Cirker the founder of Dover Publications.

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Typography Tuesday

Women Type Designers: ANNA SIMONS

This week in our continuing exploration of type designed by women, we examine some of the letter forms produced by the German calligrapher and type designer Anna Simons (1871–1951). In her mid-twenties, Simons went to England to study art and eventually became a student of the renowned British calligrapher and type designer Edward Johnston, who profoundly influenced her work and the course of her career. Upon her return to Germany in 1906, she taught Johnstonian design concepts at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Dusseldorf and later at Munich under the direction of German architect and type designer Peter Behrens. It was at Munich that Simons began to do design work for Willy Wiegand’s Bremer Presse beginning in 1918. Along with her assistant Franziska Kobell, Simons designed some 1400 titles and initials for the Bremer Presse. Simons continued to teach and work in Germany through the Nazi regime and died at 80 in Prien, Germany. 

Besides her long association with the Bremer Presse, Simons also designed titles and initials for other private presses, including the Cresset Press in England and the Overbrook Press in the U.S. Shown here from top to bottom are:

Autoren: Krimitag 2019 – Autoren des Syndikats lesen bis zum SCHUSS

Autoren: Krimitag 2019 – Autoren des Syndikats der Regionalgruppe München lesen bis zum SCHUSS.

Teil 1 Lesungen von Michael Böhm, Stefanie Gregg, Ingolf Hirth, Lutz Kreutzer, Thea Lehmann, Iny Lorentz, Leonhard M. Seidl, Anna Simons und Christof Weigold

https://literaturradiohoerbahn.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Krimiabend-Syndikat-Lesung-upload.mp3

Es lesen die Münchner Autoren: Michael…