Searching for the font used on David Attenborough's Bookcovers.

[JacquesHard]

Hi guys! I've been trying to identify the font used on the bookcovers of "The Life Trilogy" by David Attenborough (1985), but with no success so far... Can someone please help me out?

[JacquesHard]

Anybody's guess?

 

[Greg Yerbury]

I have looked at similar fonts URW Classico, Optima etc close but no cigar. 

Edited October 14, 2019 by Greg Yerbury
typo

[JacquesHard]

yeah, some of the letters reminds me of either Metro or Peignot.

[Riccardo Sartori]

A glyphic design with some distinctive lowercase letters (|f|g|t|) and very round counters.

After extensive research, I haven’t found a match. Whatever it is, it doesn’t seem to have been transitioned to digital.

A possible, less quirky, alternative could be the fairly recent (2015) Clasica Sans.

download at MyFonts

 

[JacquesHard]

Good alternative! 

Better than the one I found (Quinta Light)...

 

Why don't you think that it has been digitalized?

 

[Ralf Herrmann]

23 minutes ago, JacquesHard said:

Why don't you think that it has been digitalized?

Because we would have probably found it by now if it were. 😉 

It might be worth to ask the designer of Classica Sans where the inspiration came from. I think there is a very good chance it is based on the phototypesetting font used for the books. 

[JacquesHard]

Good idea. I’ve just done that!

[Kevin Thompson]

I think it may be Stettler, by Wayne Stettler, and it has not been digitized.

Referenced here by Stephen Coles in a discussion of Clasica Sans.

[Kevin Thompson]

Confirming that it is Stettler, with a sample of the glyph set.

And I was wrong that it has never received a digital revival—Heather Walker appears to have revived it, but I’m not sure if it is available for purchase.

[Riccardo Sartori]

5 hours ago, Kevin Thompson said:

I’m not sure if it is available for purchase

Apparently custom for the City of Melbourne.

[Greg Yerbury]

It is a typeface that, I think, should have a commercial revival, as it is quite distinctive. 

Edited October 15, 2019 by Greg Yerbury

[Kevin Thompson]

I sent an email to the folks at Letterbox, for whom Heather Walker did the digitization. They said they had concluded that a commercial release would require permission of Wayne’s estate (he died in 2011); they might consider publishing the design if that could be achieved.

[Greg Yerbury]

That is a fair and good thing to do but I suspect not needed legally.