Schriftguss AG
Company typeDefunct
IndustryType foundry
PredecessorOtto Ludwig Bechert Type Foundry
Founded1892; 132 years ago (1892)
FoundersButter Brothers
Defunct1951; 73 years ago (1951)
FateMerged into VEB Typoart
SuccessorVEB Typoart
HeadquartersDresden, Germany

Schriftguss AG was a type foundry in Germany founded in 1892 under the name Brüder Butter (“Butter Brothers”) by purchasing the type casting firm of Otto Ludwig Bechert that had been founded in 1889. It was later incorporated in 1922 as Schriftguss A.-G. vorm. [prev.] Brüder Butter. Their types were known for “vigour, liveliness and freshness.” Though some faces were done in house, the foundry mainly worked with outside “Schriftkünstler” (freelance lettering artists / type designers), more than was typical at the time. A unique product of the foundry were modular systems of “Plakattype” to compose shapes and letterforms for display and jobbing applications, for instance Dekora, or Albert Auspurg’s 1931 Ne-Po (negative–positive), and finally Super-Plakattype in 1949. After the Nazi seizure of power in 1933 the last of the Butter brothers resigned from the corporation and it was changed to a limited partnership. In 1948 the company was expropriated by the post-war communist government and became public property, under the name VEB Schriftguss Dresden, eventually becoming merged into VEB Typoart – Drucktypen, Matrizen, Messinglinien in 1951. As a state run enterprise, the foundry lost its verve and panache and settled into producing serviceable type without distinction.[1]

Typefaces

In House Faces

These type faces were produced in house by Schriftguss:[3]

Spanish Faces

A 1925 Schriftguss catalog in Spanish includes these and other typefaces, vignettes, and “tipos de cartel”:[3]

Out Of House Designs

Faces Originally Cast By Other Foundries

These type faces were produced by other foundries and licensed by Schriftguss:[16]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Schriftguss AG vorm. Brüder Butter". Alphabettes. 2016-01-16. Retrieved 2021-01-02.
  2. ^ Unless otherwise noted, all types in this list are cited from "SchriftgussAG type list" (PDF). Klingspor Museum. Klingspor Museum, Offenbach, Germany. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Schriftguss AG Pro". Luc Devroye. 1999-02-22. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p "Schriftguss AG". Luc Devroye. School of Computer Science, McGill University, Montreal, Canada. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  5. ^ Jaspert, W. Pincus, W. Turner Berry and A.F. Johnson, The Encyclopedia of Type Faces. Blandford Press Lts.: 1953, 1983, ISBN 0-7137-1347-X, p. 10.
  6. ^ a b Jaspert, W. Pincus, W. Turner Berry and A.F. Johnson, The Encyclopedia of Type Faces. Blandford Press Lts.: 1953, 1983, ISBN 0-7137-1347-X, p. 367.
  7. ^ Jaspert, W. Pincus, W. Turner Berry and A.F. Johnson, The Encyclopedia of Type Faces. Blandford Press Lts.: 1953, 1983, ISBN 0-7137-1347-X, p. 65.
  8. ^ a b c "Peter A. Demeter". Luc Devroye. School of Computer Science, McGill University, Montreal, Canada. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  9. ^ Jaspert, W. Pincus, W. Turner Berry and A.F. Johnson, The Encyclopedia of Type Faces. Blandford Press Lts.: 1953, 1983, ISBN 0-7137-1347-X, p. 68.
  10. ^ Jaspert, W. Pincus, W. Turner Berry and A.F. Johnson, The Encyclopedia of Type Faces. Blandford Press Lts.: 1953, 1983, ISBN 0-7137-1347-X, p. 375.
  11. ^ Jaspert, W. Pincus, W. Turner Berry and A.F. Johnson, The Encyclopedia of Type Faces. Blandford Press Lts.: 1953, 1983, ISBN 0-7137-1347-X, p. 174.
  12. ^ a b Jaspert, W. Pincus, W. Turner Berry and A.F. Johnson, The Encyclopedia of Type Faces. Blandford Press Lts.: 1953, 1983, ISBN 0-7137-1347-X, p. 154-5.
  13. ^ "August Piehler" (PDF). Klingspor Museum. Klingspor Museum. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
  14. ^ Jaspert, W. Pincus, W. Turner Berry and A.F. Johnson, The Encyclopedia of Type Faces. Blandford Press Lts.: 1953, 1983, ISBN 0-7137-1347-X, p. 333.
  15. ^ Jaspert, W. Pincus, W. Turner Berry and A.F. Johnson, The Encyclopedia of Type Faces. Blandford Press Lts.: 1953, 1983, ISBN 0-7137-1347-X, p. 335.
  16. ^ "Schriftguss AG vorm. Brüder Butter". Alphabettes. 2016-01-16. Retrieved 2021-01-02. This site also lists Demeter Schraffiert and Fournier Geperlt as Barnhart Brothers & Spindler faces, but other sources list them as having been designed in house.