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I love the hand-drawn illustrations, but I really love the typography.
Does anyone know which fonts (or, probably more importantly, which modern-day equivalents) are used to get this feeling?
For the body copy, I think it's a version of Rockwell. [0] It fits the time, as well as the lower case "g" always looks quirky to me in rockwell-flavours. Stubby tail + serif on top. The heft on the headings also matches Rockwell Extra Bold with a couple tiny variations. Plus, just simply... slab serifs.
Things working against that are:
- % is wrong. That really looks like a different typeface all together. Not unheard of, might be worth seeing if it matches any other monotype fonts.
- Bolded headings have some differences. Rockwell Extra Bold should still have circular tittles, but unless it's a scanning artifact, the few lowercase "i" examples I can find in those headings seem to be square.
- The Rockwell favour in the tables is tweaked, with no descenders and uses tabular digits. This is pretty common, but the digital copies of Rockwell I have laying around don't have those exact forms... doesn't really say much when we're talking about what specific hot-metal type casts did monotype sell them 90-odd years ago.
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On the title pages (like page 13), my best guess is Memphis. [1] The R is wrong for Rockwell, but also the lower a in "Brand" is totally wrong for Memphis, and the quote is totally different. Going to take lunch, and possibly come back to this in a bit because now I'm intrigued haha.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockwell_(typeface) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis_(typeface)
By graypegg 2025-10-2717:33 Comment got deleted, but Gallatin isn't the title page font. That was a digital font released in 2019, which is meant to look like Memphis with a two storey a. https://fontsinuse.com/typefaces/128627/gallatin
That does mention that Linotype had a Memphis flavour with a two-storey "a" though... so maaaaaybe it is Memphis! Most likely their Rockwell typeface was also supplied from Linotype in that case, probably under a different name.
By munificent 2025-10-2719:49 Agreed, the design is really strikingly beautiful.
The typography is part of this, but I suspect you may also be undervaluing how much the overall design contributes here. The layout, use of whitespace, use of different fonts and sizes to convey hierarchy. It's just really good design made with care and attention by a skilled practitioner.
It's not precisely the same but you may enjoy Berkeley Mono: https://neil.computer/notes/introducing-berkeley-mono/
I enjoy using it for reading and writing code.
By metalliqaz 2025-10-2723:40 That's a nice font but... pricey.
This catalog is by Corning. Randomly, they have an absolutely incredible museum called The Corning Museum of Glass https://home.cmog.org/ located about 5 hours drive from New York City.
By ian-g 2025-10-2721:00 You might notice that this link isn't from Corning. It's from the Corning Museum of Glass' excellent library
By wlesieutre 2025-10-2715:482 reply Old tool catalogs have similarly great illustrations
https://archive.org/details/stanley-catalogue-34-1929/page/6...
By georgefrowny 2025-10-2721:04 Machine tool manuals too: https://motolab.ru/SIP%20MP-1/
By burnt-resistor 2025-10-2722:02 I raise you a Whole Earth Catalog - Fall '69:
https://archive.org/details/wholeearthcatalo00unse_7/page/62...
Where and when else could you mail $1 to Rolling Stone's original hq and have them send you a longer Bob Dylan interview, and then on the opposite side, the publisher reveals their costs?
https://archive.org/details/wholeearthcatalo00unse_7/page/12...
