Letterform Archive

Presto was designed by Helmut Matheis (1917–2021) and first cast by Ludwig & Mayer in 1970.

To celebrate Matheis’ 100th birthday in November 2017, Fust & Friends released a digitization of Presto made by Andreas Seidel, at my initiative and with the authorisation of Matheis, based on a specimen courtesy of Hans Reichardt. Since 2021, Presto is available from Astype.

Here’s the German text, and a translation to English.

Fraktur oder Antiqua? Eine solche Frage ist heute nicht angebracht – beide tragen ihre Lebensberechtigung in sich wie zwei verschiedene Blumen auf einer Wiese oder wie zwei Menschen in irgend einer Stadt. Es ist klar, daß man technische Prospekte in Antiquaschriften setzt, Drucksachen deutschen Charakters dagegen in Fraktur.

Selbstverständlich ist auch, daß man zu beiden eine gute, einwandfreie Drucktype wählt. Mehr zu sagen, ist eigentlich überflüssig – sicher wird Sie die vorliegende Auswahl an Fraktur- und Antiqua-Serien interessieren. Bitte verlangen Sie weitere Muster mit Anwendungen von der Schriftguss K.-G. vorm. Brüder Butter, Dresden.
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Fraktur [blackletter] or Antiqua [roman]? Such a question isn’t appropriate today – both have an inherent right to live, like two different flowers in a meadow or like two people in some city. It’s clear that technical leaflets are set in roman type, while printed matter of German character uses blackletter.

It goes without saying that you should choose a good, flawless printing typeface for both. There’s actually no need to say more – you’ll certainly be interested in the selection of Fraktur and Antiqua series on hand. Please request further samples with applications from Schriftguss K.-G., formerly known as Brüder Butter, Dresden.

This specimen was included in Satz- und Druck-Musterheft 1938, which Paul Shaw discussed on his blog. Paul describes it as “the most fascinating—and also the most elaborate—of the type specimens, ‘Fraktur oder Antiqua’ from Schriftguss K.-G. (Brüder Butter) of Dresden. This is a double gatefold with the inside left side dedicated to Fraktur (symbolized by a pine tree) and the inside right side to Antiqua (symbolized by classical columns). This is the same dichotomy which Koch had illustrated in Die Schriftgiesserei im Schattenbild (Typefoundry in Silhouette) (Offenbach am Main: Klingspor, 1918).”

Thank you, Florian Hardwig !