Giftmord
Eine Kriminalgeschichte von 1929
With a simple yet skilful design, this small-format hardcover book of text presents history in two senses. In both a fictionalised life story and in historical documents, the author explores the case of a mother of 16 and alleged fortune teller who, despite maintaining her innocence, was sentenced to life imprisonment in Aarau in 1929 for a double murder. The life story, divided into chapters, is set in a justified single-column layout with a serif font that is perfect for reading. In between are seven extended excerpts from daily newspapers and court and police files with the same font and type area but this time in ragged text on pages with black frames that can be seen on the cut edge. The result is an elegant visualisation of both the distinctions and the correlations between the two levels of history which, as a result, are easy to navigate between throughout the volume. The black-and-white cover with a full-bleed photo of the convicted woman’s house combined with the simple, ordered typography is exceptional for the book’s genre. The result is an attractive and affordable object.
