Im Zauberlande Technika by Paul Berendt

Im Zauberlande Technika, also known as Schlaraffenleben im Zauberlande Technika. Ein Zukunftstraum in Wort und Bild (“Life in Technika, the Magical Land of Plenty. A dream of the future in words and pictures”) is an illustrated children’s book. Conceived by Paul Berendt, it was typeset, printed and published by Buchdruckerei Max Welzel in Kalk, Cologne, in 1933.

On 63 pages, the techno-futuristic fairy tale follows two children from Sagendorf, Hans and Grete, on their adventures in a land ruled by King Technikus and filled with aircraft, cars, and robots. They witness a giant machine which, when fed with iron and sheet metal, spits out finished locomotives and tenders, and an amusing mechanical dance performance. Hans learns from the technocrats in the workshop school, and Grete imagines a rocket trip to the moon, before they return home on board of an airship.

The book cover depicts a helmeted mechanic/patrol officer on on roller skates. The cover typeface is Werbeschrift Mammut. Arthur Schulze’s 1928 design for the Ludwig Wagner foundry is used with the u distinguisher and a terminal swash form for t in “Zukunft”. The typeface used for the interior reveals that the book is already ninety years old: it’s a Fraktur that I have yet to identify.