Heimat. Handwerk und die Utopie des Alltäglichen
Historical Typology with Contemporary Details
A medium-sized, very extensive hardcover volume with an artificial leather binding contains lavishly illustrated scholarly essays on conceptions of ‘homeland’ in the twentieth century. The historical image material is printed in black and white and four colours enhanced with silver, and all the text is in the Stempel version of Garamond launched in 1920. The result is an apparently familiar image / text typology that is undercut by contemporary details. The essay titles appear in small capitals centred on the left-hand page, while the single-column text begins at top right, with the very small-font endnotes in narrow, densely packed columns. Reference illustrations are numbered and inserted in comparatively large size, mostly alone or in pairs on individual pages. The large-font captions in silver are placed at the top edge of each page. With its foil-stamped cover, slightly translucent paper (which exposes the grid) and gilt edging on one side, the book is deliberately grandiose. The attractive volume is thus revealed as a construct that, just like conceptions of ‘homeland’, is subject to historical change.
