God Stalk (1982) and Dark of the Moon (1985) by P.C. Hodgell

Contributed by Florian Hardwig

The first two volumes from P.C. Hodgell’s Chronicles of the Kencyraths were published by Atheneum in their Argo Book imprint in 1982 and 1985, respectively. Both jacket designs feature Rustikalis Black, with ITC Zapf International for the author’s name. The paintings are by Michael Mariano. The book design is credited to Mary M. Ahern.

Rustikalis was issued by VGC sometime between 1973 and 1977. Its designer is unknown to me. The calligraphic display face shows traits of blackletter, see for example the H K and N with enlarged minuscule forms, the J with middle bar, the descending P and Y, the asymmetrical w, and other details. This, together with the 7 with crossbar and the spelling – Rustikalis with k – suggests to me that the designer might be from a German-speaking country, or at least was influenced by the local lettering tradition.

This post was originally published at Fonts In Use

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