Agnes von Ungarn, 1280–1364. Die einflussreichste Habsburgerin des Mittelalters

The design of this handy biography of the fourteenth-century Habsburg queen Agnes of Hungary combines historical references with contemporary gestures to create a coherent whole. The historical elements include the small book format, the velveteen binding, the glued-on cover image from the sixteenth-century, the bookmark and the occasional positioning of the text area towards the top and centre of the page. With this foundation in place, a series of deliberately incongruous interventions follows. This is programmatically apparent from the start, as the contemporary aspects of the book manifest on the cover in the large sans-serif title ‘Agnes’, while the author’s name is set in small type to the side and the words ‘von Ungarn’ appear in a serif typeface within the cover image of Agnes bearing her dynastic house. Inside the book, space is left at the start of each chapter for the illuminated initial letters typical of the period, but these spaces are left blank. An inserted picture section on coated paper lends a similarly historical air in its layout, but this is confounded by the sans-serif typeface of the captions. The typesetting of the body text, albeit with a few personal twists, creates a strong rhythm, but does not become overwhelming. Although the velvety cover and excellent readability create a direct, almost intimate connection with the reader, the book is a dynamic object whose identity is hard to pin down. This accords very well with the dazzling protagonist, whose ambivalence towards her house and reign is left in limbo in the cover image.

Editor
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Author
Bruno Meier, Baden (CH)

Design
Naima Schalcher, Zürich (CH)

Printing
DZA Druckerei zu Altenburg, Altenburg (DE)

Publisher
Hier und Jetzt Verlag, Zürich (CH)

ISBN
978-3-03919-640-1