Schelter & Giesecke Type Foundry

J.G. Schelter & Giesecke

Company type	Aktiengesellschaft
Industry	Type foundry
Founded	1819
Founder	Johann Schelter, Christian Giesecke
Defunct	1946
Headquarters	Leipzig, Germany
Key people	Georg Belwe

J.G. Schelter & Giesecke was a German type foundry and manufacturer of printing presses started 1819 in Leipzig by punchcutter Johann Schelter and typefounder Christian Friedrich Giesecke (1793-1850). The foundry was nationalized in 1946 by the new German Democratic Republic, forming VEB Typoart, Dresden.^[1]

Typefaces

A poster for the International Bartenders Association competition of 1965 uses the company's popular Breite halbfette Grotesk.^[2]

These foundry types were produced by Schelter & Giesecke:^[3]

• Accidenz-Zierat (1902)
• Akantrea (1883), borders and ornaments
• Akropolis Ornamente (1907)
• Alt Latein (1924) ^[4]
• Baldur Baldur (1895) Revived by Alan Prescott as New Baldur APT (1996).
• Belwe Roman (1907, Georg Belwe) ^[5]
• Biedermeierzierat (1905)
• Borghese (1904) An Art Nouveau face, revived by Ralph M. Unger as Borghese (2015).
• Breite Grotesk (1886) This typeface influenced the Bauhaus movement and was a forerunner of Helvetica. Revived by Nick Curtis as Schelter Grotesk NF (2010), and by Arve Båtevik as Sagen Grotesk, Breite Halbfette Grotesk and Breite magere Grotesk (2015).
• Breite Kanzlei (1835; other publications mention 1890) + Halbfette Kanzlei (1860)
• Die Zierde (1913, F.H. Ernst Schneidler), ornaments
• Dolmen (1922, Max Salzmann)
  • Zierdolmen (1922, Max Salzmann), a decorated version of Dolmen.^[6]
• Edelgotisch (1901, Albert Knab)
• Fafner + Schraffierte (1905) Revived by Oliver Weiss^{[dubious – discuss]} as WF Fafner (2020)
• Fanal (1933), angular blackletterish script face
• Fee (1907), handwriting.
• Flamme (1933), brush-like script
• Gnom + breite Gnom (1928)
• Gravira (1935, Herbert Thannhaueser) ^[7]
• Gutenberg-Gotisch (1885) + Halbfette Gutenberg-Gotisch (1890) The original by F.W. Bauer and Th. Friebel dates from 1880.
• Hispania Script (1890), a pirate map face
• Initialen zur Rousseau (1907)
• Italian Renaissance (1883) a black-letter face
• Jugend-Fraktur (ca. 1900)
• Kalender Vignetten (1907, Max Salzmann)
• Kartuschen Einfassung serie 72 (1887), ornaments
• Kolibri (1928)
• Koralle (1929^[8]) Nick Curtis based his Koralle NF (2012) and Koralle Rounded NF (2014) on this typeface; see also the recent revival Koralle RMU (2018) by Ralph M. Unger.
• Leipziger Lateinschrift (1908)
• Liane (1908)
• Meierschrift (1904-1908, C.F. Meier)
• Mimosenzierat (1909, Heinz Keune)
• Moderne enge halbfette Fraktur (1886)
• Monos (1912)
• Münster-Gotisch (1896) Revived by Paulo W as Münster Gotische (2009). Gerhard Helzel also did a revival.
• Patriz Huber Ornamente (1906, Patriz Huber)
• Perkeo (1928)
• Reklameschrift Radium (1904-1906)
• Roland Grotesk (1910)
• Roland Kursiv (1910)
• Romanisch, later copied by the Central Type Foundry of Saint Louis as De Vinne.^[9]
• Rosenzierat Serien 534 und 535 (1905, Heinz Keune)
• Rundgotisch (1909; others say 1902-1903)
• Salzmann Antiqua (1913, Max Salzmann)
• Salzmann Fraktur + Kräftige Salzmann Fraktur (1911, Max Salzmann)
• Salzmann Kursiv (1911, Max Salzmann)
• Salzmannschrift + Salzmannschrift halbfette + schmale Salzmannschrift (1910, Max Salzmann)
• Saskia (1931, Jan Tschichold) ^[10]
• Schelter Antiqua (1906) Revived in 2020 by Oliver Weiss as Schelter Antiqua WF.
  • Leipziger Lateinschrift (1907) a variant of Schelter Antiqua.
  • Tauchnitz-Antiqua (1907) a variant of Schelter Antiqua.
• Schelter Kursiv (1906)
• Schlanke Grotesk (1886)
• Schlanke Grotesk (1886)
• Schmale Anker Romanisch (1908), a German Romanesque.
• Schmale fette Edelgotisch und Zierat (1907)
• Schmale fette Schelterantiqua (1908)
• Schmale Medieäval (1840) Rived in 2020 by Ralph M. Unger as Schmale Mediaeval.
• Schmale Steinschrift (1898)
• Schul-Fraktur (1886) + Fette (1890) + Schmale fette (1918) Digitization by Delbanco as DS-Schulfraktur (2001).
• Shakespere Mediäval (1927–1929, Georg Belwe) ^[11]
• Shieldface A (1881) caps only
• Shieldface Combinationpieces (1881), ornamental
• Silhouette Border Series 63 (1884)
• Tauperle (1928)
• Titan + Titan Gnom (1915)
• Walgunde mit Zieraten (1908, Eduard Lautenbach)
• Watteau-Schrift + Watteau Schmuck (1913), aka Kartenschrift Watteau, a non-connected script.
• Wieland (1926, Georg Belwe)
• Zierschrift 1328 (1889)
• Zierschrift 1400 (1889)

The foundry claimed by the twentieth century to have been one of the first to offer general-purpose sans-serif typefaces with lower-case, as early as 1825.^[12][13] This was repeated by some authors, but is now known to be untrue: Wolfgang Homola dates it to 1882 based on a study of Schelter & Giesecke specimens.^[2][a]

Press Manufacturing

Villa Georg Giesecke, the Leipzig house of foundry co-owner Georg Giesecke

Beginning in 1827 Schelter & Giesecke manufactured letterpress presses, cylinder proof presses and platen presses; and after World War I also of web-fed, letterpress and flexo printing presses.

The Leipzig house of foundry co-owner Georg Giesecke, designed by Berlin architect Max Hasak, survives and is listed.^[16]

References

1. "J.G. Schelter&Giesecke". Luc Devroye. School of Computer Science, McGill University, Montreal, Canada. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
2. Homola, Wolfgang. "Type design in the age of the machine. The 'Breite Grotesk' by J. G. Schelter & Giesecke" (PDF). University of Reading (archived). Archived from the original on 12 January 2011. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
3. Unless otherwise noted, all types in this list are cited from "J.G. Schelter&Giesecke type list". Luc Devroye. School of Computer Science, McGill University, Montreal, Canada. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
4. 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. 5.
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. 19.
6. 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. 263.
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. 109.
8. "J.G. Schelter&Giesecke / Koralle". Luc Devroye. School of Computer Science, McGill University, Montreal, Canada. Retrieved 7 January 2021. Georg Kraus mentions the date 1915, as does Nick Curtis .
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. 67.
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. 201.
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. 205.
12. Lawson, Alexander S., Anatomy of a Typeface, David R. Godine, Publisher, Boston, Massachusetts, 1990, ISBN 0-87923-333-8, p. 296.
13. Handbuch der Schriftarten. Leipzig: Seeman. 1926.
14. Mosley, James. "Comments on Typophile thread - "Unborn: sans serif lower case in the 19th century"". Typophile (archived). Archived from the original on 28 June 2014. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
15. Tracy, Walter. Letters of Credit. p. 86.
16. Sabine Knopf (2011). Buchstadt Leipzig: der historische Reiseführer. Ch. Links Verlag. pp. 80–81. ISBN 978-3-86153-634-5.

1. Walter Tracy also comments that the claimed date is "forty years too early" and James Mosley describes it as "thoroughly discredited".^[14][15]