Raven’s Longest Night by Donald MacKenzie
Ampurias is an elongated take on the soft serifs of the 1970s – think ITC Souvenir – with most of the weight allocated to the bottom, much like in turn-of-the-century faces like Herkules. The condensed proportions also evoke Windsor Elongated, which was popular around the time it came out: Ampurias was issued by VGC in 1973. Its designer is unknown to me.
Shown here is the first edition of Raven’s Longest Night, published by Doubleday & Company as a Crime Club Selection in 1983, with a jacket design by One Plus One Studio. From Hachette about the author:
Donald MacKenzie (1908–1994) was born in Ontario, Canada, and educated in England, Canada and Switzerland. For twenty-five years MacKenzie lived by crime in many countries. ‘I went to jail,’ he wrote, ‘if not with depressing regularity, too often for my liking.’ His last sentences were five years in the United States and three years in England, running consecutively. He began writing and selling stories when in American jail.
Detail from the inner flap
