Il Libro delle 13 Novelle

“Il libro delle tredici novelle” by Teo Da Sepino, a Molise writer and innovator of the educational fairy tale genre, is a collection of children’s novels produced by the typography “Officine grafiche A. De Robertis” in 1955. The author of the visual layout was a print composer who worked within the typography at the time, but whose name is unknown. The illustrations were made by Bruno Caluri, a Livornese painter who was active in Italy in the first half of the 20th century with his numerous etchings, printed with the xylographic technique. Titles, texts and all typographic elements were printed with the letterpress technique. Teo Da Sepino was the first author to create triangular books. During the Fascist regime, minister Dino Alfieri banned the pubblication of books in that shape, as only the rectangular or square one was commonly accepted.

Several references to the Futurist movement can be seen in this publishing project. 

The peculiar triangular shape, which moves away from the linear logic of previous works, becoming part of an artistic experimentation that broke the canons and traditions of typography and publishing  through processes such as those experimented by artists like Bruno Munari (the tin book “L’Anguria Lirica”) and Depero (“Il libro imbullonato”).

The desire to create a product with a playful and interactive aspect can be inferred, as the form itself makes the perception of the product like a toy.

At the graphic level, it can be seen that the intention to make the image and text of the cover interact led the author to draw the title (based on Guido Modiano’s Ciclope typeface) making it part of the illustration.

Another relevant element of this project lies in the combined and harmonious use of different typographic styles, as can be seen in one of the pictures in which 3 typefaces are used for the composition of the same title.

SOURCES

Valentina, Nitti (2019). “Tipi di Puglia - Storia, caratteri e tecnologie di stampa”.

(Bachelor Industrial Design, Politecnico di Bari)

REF.01

Cover illustrated by Bruno Caluri

REF.02

The title set in Dekora (ca. 1930) by Schriftguss, known in Italy as Fregio Gloria

REF.03

Endpapers set in Ciclope (ca. 1930) by Guido Modiano, Fonderia Reggiani in Milan

REF.04

Title in Appel (1933)

“13” in Dekora known in Italy as Fregio Gloria

Title at the top set in Schriftenauszug (1927) by Schriftguss

Title at the bottom set in AKA Kartenschrift Perkeo (1914) by Schelter & Giesecke