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Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks for your help and patience.
asked by (213 points)

1 Answer

+2 votes

Most likely based on Herbert Bayer’s 1930–32 universal, modern serifed alphabet (scroll down to the bottom of the page to see his original drawings).

 

The digital revival, called Architype Bayer-Type, is not a perfect match to your sample, but it is damned close. You can buy it here.

answered by Champ (15k points)
0

Thank you so, so much! The type is gorgeous, as are those drawings at the bottom of the page.

Would you happen to know what was the name with wich it was marketed and sold in the early 30s? Bayer? Bayer-Type? There is a picture of what seems to be the cover of a Berthold specimen referring to it as Bayer Type, but I would like to be completely sure. 

+2

bayer Type (with the word bayer boxed) and no hyphen is not the same type design, though by the same designer.

 

The original Bayer-Type design was never released as a metal typeface—Architype Bayer-Type is the first commercial version that I know of.

0
Thanks again for the wealth of information!  : )
+1

I think there's some confusion here. Bayer-Type was issued in metal by Berthold. We have the specimen at Letterform Archive and you are seeing the cover above. Bayer's Universal alphabet was a sans-serif design drawn as an experiment at the Bauhaus and never released as type. 

+1

Ahh, I see now. Bayer's early (1931) version of Bayer-Type looks more like the sample in question and is the version The Foundry used for their revival. It was never called "universal" but I see the similarities to his Universal alphabet of 1925. 

+1
Sorry, I was using universal as a descriptor, not part of the name, and I should have written "bayer-type" as all lowercase, not with initial caps.
0
Thank you anyway. I think i understood your point perfectly. : )

I can't help but wondering if all those original punches and matrices are still conserved in a museum and what kind of research (and technology) The Foundry used to remake the original Bayer.
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