De civitate Dei by Aurelius Augustinus

Contributed by Owen Gardner


Source: digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de Heidelberg University Library. License: Public Domain.

Title page with lettering by Simons

Hand-pressed by the Bremer Presse in 1924, this edition of The City of God is reckoned by Albert Kapr (in his Buchgestaltung) to be “one of the most beautiful books of our century,” taking advantage of Bremer Antiqua’s many alternates to achieve a “perfect evenness of color.” The titles and initials are by Anna Simons.

Source: digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de Heidelberg University Library. License: Public Domain.

Detail from the index capitvm for the first book

Source: digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de Heidelberg University Library. License: Public Domain.

Chapter opening of the first book, with a drop cap that spans eight lines

Source: digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de Heidelberg University Library. License: Public Domain.

The drop cap starting the second book has a height of five lines.

Source: digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de Heidelberg University Library. License: Public Domain.


Source: digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de Heidelberg University Library. License: Public Domain.

The colophon mentions philologist Carl Weyman (1862–1931) who oversaw this edition. “Three hundred and eighty-five copies were issued, of which this one has the number 95.”

This post was originally published at Fonts In Use

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