Proof sheet for the Universal alphabet typeface, designed by Bayer. A single lower-case typeface based on geometry, it was subsequently used for many Bauhaus publications.

[Proof sheet for the Universal alphabet] [graphic] / Herbert Bayer.
Bayer, Herbert, 1900-1985.

Publisher:
[1926?]

Description:
1 sheet : b&w ; 17 x 24 cm.

Notes:
Proof sheet for the Universal alphabet typeface, designed by Bayer. A single lower-case typeface based on geometry, it was subsequently used for many Bauhaus publications.
Library's copy exhibited: "Signs of art and commerce : graphic design in the German language 1900-1950", held Victoria and Albert Museum, 5 Mar.-18 May 1997 (Henry Cole Wing 3).
38041800794604 Exhibited in NAL touring exhibition 'Inspiration by Design: Word and Image from the National Art Library at the V&A', State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, 20 March 2015-14 June 2015 and State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, 8 July 2015-27 Sept. 2015.

Subjects:
Printing -- History -- Types -- Germany -- 20th century.
Alphabets -- Sets and series.

Genre or Form:
Printing specimens -- Germany 1926.
Typographica -- Germany 1926.
State (creative stage) -- Germany 1926.

From a collection of examples of commercial printing and design including catalogues and books as well as a variety of ephemera such as magazine covers, promotional cards, loose sheets, book plates, book jackets, trade cards, advertisement proofs, wine labels, menu cards etc. Firms include Shell-Mex, Austin Reed, Guinness, Heals, Imperial Airways, Orient Line. Designers include McKnight Kauffer, El Lissitsky, Bawden, Bayer, Gill, Tschichold. Categories of material include architecture, broadcasting, costume, interior design, motor industry, food and drink.

In 1936 the National Art Library decided to lay the foundations of a "collection of commercial typography and to exhibit contemporary specimens from time to time so that the trend of typographic design, both in this country and abroad, could be appraised by students of industrial art". The Keeper of the Library, Philip James was largely instrumental in acquiring the material. The bulk of the collection consists of examples from the 1930s, especially 1936 - 1939, with a smattering of items from the 1940s.
The collection is further supplemented with material from the 1960s which the Library inherited from the Circulation Department of the Museum after its closure in 1978. As these two groups of material stand as historic collections in their own right, any further examples acquired by the Library have been catalogued individually and not added to this designated 'closed collection'.
Currently uncatalogued. A typescript list is available on request at the Main Counter; this list does not include the material inherited from the Circulation Department.

38041800727901