Ein Totentanz by Walter Draesner

Ein Totentanz (A Danse Macabre) is a series of reproduced silhouettes cut by Walter Draesner and published in 1922 by B. Behrs Verlag / Friedrich Feddersen, Berlin and Leipzig, with an introduction by Max von Boehn. Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Düsseldorf has made an electronic edition available under a CC0-License (Public Domain Dedication).

The Gotisch typeface on the title page is Rudolf Koch’s Maximilian (1917), with a decorated capital ‘T’ and a swash alternate ‘z’. The drop cap in the introduction is also from Maximilian’s Zierbuchstaben. The artist’s name, the introduction text and the table of contents are set in Ehmcke-Fraktur (1912). The publisher’s name is rendered in caps from Ehmcke-Rustika (1914).

Marvel at all of Draesner’s spine-chilling silhouettes in the electronic edition. See also the recent French reissue Noirs Desseins, designed by Clément Le Tulle-Neyret using Yoann Minet’s Totentanz.