Emphyrio and Tschai, de Waanzinnige Planeet by Jack Vance (Meulenhoff)
![Emphyrio (Meulenhoff, 1973). Cover art by Paul Lehr. [More info on ISFDB]](https://fiu-original.b-cdn.net/fontsinuse.com/use-images/148/148512/148512.jpeg?filename=8888082427_af8750233d_o_d.jpg)
Emphyrio (Meulenhoff, 1973). Cover art by Paul Lehr. [More info on ISFDB]
Two Dutch paperbacks with science fiction stories by Jack Vance (1916–2013), published by Meulenhoff in 1973. Both cover designs use Colin Brignall’s Premier Shaded (Letraset, 1970) in interesting ways.
For Emphyrio, the initial E was elongated, and its top bar hyper-extended to form a roof above the rest of the word. With this modification, it looks a little like the shirorekhā, the horizontal bar that runs along the top in the Indic Devanagari script. The roof is crossed by the I which likewise has been enlarged. The type has been reversed, i.e. the shadow is lighter than the letter bodies, giving the words an incandescent look.
In Tschai, de Waanzinnige Planeet, the uncredited cover designer filled the letters with three different colors. They also used both the high-waisted and the low-waisted forms of A, which were included in Letraset’s sheets of rubdown type. While they realized that pairs like ‘LA’ and ‘AA’ would benefit from tighter letterspacing, they failed to eliminate the overlaps. Setting shadowed type with tight spacing is tricky, all the more so with dry transfer lettering. Phototypesetting services typically charged extra for such specifications, as it necessitated manual work. And it’s still is a challenge with digital fonts today.
![Tschai, de Waanzinnige Planeet (Meulenhoff, 2nd edition from 1976, first published in 1973) is an omnibus volume with a Dutch translation of the four Tschai novels. The cover artist is unknown. According to Flickr user horzel, it’s painted after two paintings by Chesley Bonestell. [More info on ISFDB]](https://fiu-original.b-cdn.net/fontsinuse.com/use-images/148/148513/148513.jpeg?filename=6885796293_2e5ebe6428_o_d.jpg)
Tschai, de Waanzinnige Planeet (Meulenhoff, 2nd edition from 1976, first published in 1973) is an omnibus volume with a Dutch translation of the four Tschai novels. The cover artist is unknown. According to Flickr user horzel, it’s painted after two paintings by Chesley Bonestell. [More info on ISFDB]
1 Comment on “Emphyrio and Tschai, de Waanzinnige Planeet by Jack Vance (Meulenhoff)”
Here’s the Letragraphica sheet LG 301, with the largest size of Premier Shaded, 144pt. While its unshaded precursor Premier Lightline had a lowercase and alternates for several letters (eswAKRSW), Premier Shaded offers a single alternate, for the A.