Analysis of two books titled “The Art of Type. Works of Moscow Book Artists” — 1960 and 1977

A detailed comparison of the two editions.

Block 1. Contributors. The 1960 book: Bazhanov, Bannikov, Bolshakov, Gannushkin, Dulenkov, Yefimov, Kaplan, Kuznetsov, Kuzanyan, Rerberg, Tagirov, Telingater, Favorsky (13). The 1977 book: Arkhangelsky, Bisti, Burgunker, Zbarsky, Kononchuk, Lissitzky, Miturich, Telingater, Troyanker, Chernevich, Shlosberg (11).

Block 2. Overlap: Telingater, Bolshakov, Kuzanyan. Shared contributors ~15%; new generation in 1977 — ~70%.

Blocks 3–5. Typology (type designer / book designer / illustrator / all-rounder); 1960 — text typefaces, letter drawings, title pages; 1977 — spreads, dust jackets, jobbing work. Composition: 1960 — centred alignment in 80% of works; 1977 — ragged setting, asymmetry. Conclusion: “from the letter to the image”, “democratisation”, a technological shift to phototypesetting. Recommendation: Telingater as the connecting link.

“I’ll answer as a historian of Soviet typography and book graphics who would rather fall short on pathos than slip you a beautiful hallucination.

What I did. I didn’t rely on Gemini’s retelling; I went to the online page-flip versions themselves (bibliotekus.artlebedev.ru) and looked at: the title and introductory pages of both books; the contents and reference section of the 1960 book; the later pages of the 1977 book.

The main thing first: in places Gemini wrote beautifully but far too freely. Its list of contributors and its overlap cannot be taken as established fact.”

What can be said with confidence about 1960: the idea for the album arose after the 1953 exhibition of Russian hand-drawn lettering; the material was selected to show the individuality of each artist and to set his alphabets beside covers, title pages and initials. The reference pages confirm: Alyakrinsky, Bazhanov, Bershadsky, Vasilyev, Vasin, Grozevsky, Yegorov, Kuzanyan, Lazursky, Lanceray, Litvishko, Manuylov, Mitrokhin, Nikiforov, Piskarev, Pozharsky, Radishchev, Rerberg, Telingater, Titov, Tolokonnikov, Fisher, Favorsky; separately — Krinsky. “Gemini has no Krinsky, even though in the book he is literally at the start of the biographical section.”

What can be said with confidence about 1977: the introductory page mentions 59 Moscow book artists, period 1959–1974. Confirmed: Litvishko, Mavrina, Mitrokhin, Serebryakov, Telingater (“Telingater’s display typeface”, a leaflet of the New Typefaces Department of VNIIOPiT).

What cannot be claimed: “I won’t pretend I already have a full, cleaned-up list of all 59 contributors… For a book, an open admission of what is unknown is better than a trick of the ‘now I’ll pull Zbarsky, Lissitzky and a couple more ghosts out of thin air’ kind.”

Where Gemini breaks down: the “Bolshakov and Kuzanyan” overlap is internally inconsistent; the reliable overlap based on the pages seen is Telingater, Litvishko, Mitrokhin.

Confidence level: high — the methodology of the 1960 book, the figure of 59 and the period of the 1977 book, the confirmed names; medium — the conclusion about the expansion towards autonomous lettering composition; low — “any precise percentages like ‘80% centred alignment’… Gemini went into a confident ballet on thin ice.”

What must be thrown out of Gemini’s text: the list of contributors as fact; the overlap “Telingater, Bolshakov, Kuzanyan”; “Lissitzky, Zbarsky, Bisti” in 1977; the percentages (“the neural network decided to play statistician without a calculator”).

Formulas for the book: “If the 1960 book shows type above all as an organ of the book, the 1977 book already shows it as an independent graphic material.” “Telingater is the connecting link between the tradition of book lettering and late Soviet systemic thinking about type.”

“Thank you for the scans. Now we have a primary source — the contents of both books. This allows an extremely precise analysis without guesswork.”

The 1960 book (38 contributors): Alyakrinsky, Bazhanov D. A., Bershadsky, Bulgakov, Vasilyev, Vasin, Grozevsky, Yegorov, Zusman, Ilyin, Kaplan, Kogan, Kravtsov, Krichevsky, Kuzanyan, Lazursky, Lanceray, Litvishko, Manuylov, Mitrokhin, Mogilevsky, Nikiforov, Piskarev, Pozharsky, Radishchev, Rerberg, Riftin, Smelova, Suvorov, Telingater, Titov, Tolokonnikov, Fisher, Favorsky, Fomina, Khmelevskaya, Chakhiryan, Shvarts.

The 1977 book (59 contributors): Anikst, Bazhanov Yu. K., Bannikova, Bolshakov, Boyarsky, Vagin, Vasilyev, Vasin, Gannushkin, Gannushkina, Guseva, Danilov, Dmitriev, Dneprov, Dober, Zhukov, Zusman, Kalinin, Klodt, Kogan, Kozubov, Korolkov, Kostylev, Kravtsov, Krivinskaya, Krichevsky, Kryukov, Kudryashov, Kuzanyan, Kurbatov, Lazursky, Litvishko, Mavrina, Maksin, Markevich, Markov, Mitrokhin, Pertsov, Pikov, Pozharsky, Rappoport, Rovensky, Sedelnikov, Serebryakov, Seregin, Smirnov, Tagirov, Telingater, Trofimova, Troyanker, Favorsky, Fisher, Fomina, Tsarevich, Chuchelov, Shvarts, Shlosberg, Shchukin, Yasinsky.

Overlap — 16 masters: Vasilyev, Vasin, Zusman, Kogan, Kravtsov, Krichevsky, Kuzanyan, Lazursky, Litvishko, Mitrokhin, Pozharsky, Telingater, Favorsky, Fisher, Fomina, Shvarts.

The new generation of 1977: Maxim Zhukov, Mikhail Anikst, Arkady Troyanker, Boris Markevich, Garry Kozubov.

Analysis of the works: 1960 — the “Alphabet” dominates (a textbook-book that fixes the norm of lettering; structure: author → alphabet → examples of use). 1977 — the complete design of the book (spreads, layouts).

Summary: 1960 — “canon and alphabet”, the culmination of the classical school. 1977 — “layout and concept”, type becomes a tool of graphic design.

Alyakrinsky P. A. (1892–1961) · Bazhanov D. A. (1902–1946) · Bannikova G. A. (1901–1972) · Bershadsky G. S. (1895–1963) · Bolshakov M. V. (1904–1991) · Bulgakov B. P. (1906–?) · Grozevsky B. V. (1899–1955) · Zusman L. P. (1902–1971) · Ilyin N. V. (1894–1954) · Kaplan A. L. (1902–1980) · Kogan Ye. I. (1906–1983) · Kravtsov G. A. (1906–1981) · Krichevsky I. D. (1893–1956) · Kuzanyan P. M. (1901–1992) · Lazursky V. V. (1909–1994) · Lanceray Ye. Ye. (1875–1946) · Mavrina T. A. (1900–1996) · Mitrokhin D. I. (1883–1973) · Mogilevsky A. P. (1885–1980) · Nikiforov B. S. (1901–1974) · Pikov M. I. (1903–1973) · Piskarev N. I. (1892–1959) · Pozharsky S. M. (1900–1970) · Radishchev A. P. (1905–1973) · Rerberg I. F. (1892–1957) · Riftin G. M. (1912–1943, killed at the front) · Rovensky M. G. (1902–1990) · Sedelnikov N. A. (1905–1994) · Smelova G. V. (1905–1995) · Suvorov P. I. (1901–1968) · Tagirov F. Sh. (1906–1991) · Telingater S. B. (1903–1969) · Titov B. B. (1893–1951) · Tolokonnikov A. A. (1898–1965) · Favorsky V. A. (1886–1964) · Fisher G. I. (1898–1982) · Fomina I. I. (1906–1989) · Khmelevskaya N. S. (1906–1994) · Tsarevich I. V. (1908–1992) · Chakhiryan S. P. (1906–1994) · Shvarts B. V. (1901–1988) · Shchukin A. V. (1903–1995)

Vasilyev Yu. B. (1922–1993) · Vasin A. A. (1915–1971) · Gannushkin Ye. A. (1925–2010) · Kalinin N. I. (1925–2004) · Klodt G. A. (1923–1998) · Kryukov A. D. (1922–2004) · Kudryashov N. N. (1921–1989) · Litvishko I. A. (1908–1996) · Manuylov G. I. (1908–1980) · Markevich B. A. (1925–2002) · Rappoport L. A. (1925–?) · Bazhanov Yu. K. (1927–?) · Gannushkina S. Ye. (1928–2000) · Krivinskaya Ye. Ya. (1928–2010) · Maksin V. V. (1928–?) · Danilov S. A. (1929–1993) · Markov Yu. A. (1929–?) · Yasinsky A. M. (1929–?) · Trofimova Ye. A. (1927–?)

Guseva I. A. (1930–?) · Dmitriev G. V. (1930–2001) · Dober V. M. (1930–2021) · Dneprov Ya. G. (1932–?) · Chuchelov G. V. (1932–?) · Pertsov V. V. (1933–?) · Shlosberg M. Z. (1935–2015) · Boyarsky Yu. A. (1935–2010) · Vagin V. V. (1937–?) · Korolkov V. A. (1937–2004) · Smirnov Ye. Ye. (1937–?) · Troyanker A. T. (1937–1998) · Anikst M. A. (1938–2020) · Kozubov G. I. (1939–?) · Zhukov M. G. (1943). Not established: Yegorov D., Kostylev I. A., Kurbatov Yu. K., Seregin M. V., Serebryakov A. F.

1. Dmitry Bazhanov — “Bazhanovskaya” (created in 1961 by Mikhail Rovensky, based on his title lettering).
2. Galina Bannikova — “Bannikovskaya” (1946–1951), “Baikonur”, “Kama”.
3. Mikhail Bolshakov — “Shkolnaya” (School; with N. Mudrova, 1949–1961), “Balzac”.
4. Yelena Kogan — technical co-author of “Kudryashovskaya Slovarnaya” (Dictionary), “Pionerskaya”, “Bazhanovskaya”.
5. Nikolai Kudryashov — “Kudryashovskaya Encyclopaedic” (1960–1974), “Kudryashovskaya Slovarnaya” (Dictionary).
6. Pavel Kuzanyan — “Kuzanyanovskaya” (1959), “Granzhanovskaya”, “Baku”.
7. Vadim Lazursky — “Lazursky typeface” (1962).
8. Ivan Rerberg — “Rerbergovskaya” (adapted by Faik Tagirov).
9. Mikhail Rovensky — “Bazhanovskaya” (metal), “Korabes”.
10. Faik Tagirov — “Tagirov typeface”, “Rerbergovskaya”, typefaces for the national republics.
11. Solomon Telingater — “Telingaterovskaya” (1959).
12. Iraida Fomina — “Fominskaya Display”.
13. Anatoly Shchukin — “Zhurnalnaya Rublenaya” (Magazine Sans), “Plakatnaya” (Poster), “Bukvarnaya” (Primer).

“If in 1960 we see a benefit performance by narrow specialists in lettering (the Poligrafmash department), in 1977 the book is taken over by all-round conceptual designers (Anikst, Zhukov, Troyanker).”