Berthold Wolpe (1905–1989) was a German calligrapher, typographer, type designer, book designer and illustrator who was born in Offenbach and emigrated to England in 1935. His typeface collection was popular among printers in the 1950s and ’60s, and now it’s being digitally reborn by Monotype, whose Wolpe Collection consists of Albertus Nova, Wolpe Fanfare, Wolpe Pegasus, Wolpe Tempest and Sachsenwald, all based on Wolpe’s original designs from the late 1930s. Some of Wolpe’s original typefaces found a place on the more than 1,500 book jackets he designed for Faber & Faber and Fanfare Press.
I became aware of his types over 30 years ago at an exhibition at Fairleigh Dickenson University’s Friendship Library curated by Dr. James Fraser. Sadly, not many people had a chance to see it, and most of Wolpe’s type designs have indeed been lost. This collection was revived and expanded by Toshi Omagari. For more, watch this.
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