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?

Anybody's guess?

 

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

Edited October 14, 20196 yr by Greg Yerbury
typo

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

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

 

Good alternative! 

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

 

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

 

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. 

Good idea. I’ve just done that!

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.

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.

5 hours ago, Kevin Thompson said:

I’m not sure if it is available for purchase

Apparently custom for the City of Melbourne.

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

Edited October 15, 20196 yr by Greg Yerbury

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.

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