Sachsenwald
Omega Type Foundry · Berthold Wolpe · 2017
A 2017 digitisation of Berthold Wolpe's 1936 Fraktur design, originally commissioned as Bismarck Schrift for German publisher Ullstein and notable for its warm, individually drawn letterforms within the Gebrochene Grotesk tradition.
About
Originally drawn in 1936 for Ullstein Verlag under the name Bismarck Schrift, the typeface was renamed Sachsenwald before Monotype released it commercially to almost no demand – only three units sold before it was discontinued in 1967. The revival, released as part of the Berthold Wolpe Collection, was drawn from scratch to preserve the hand-drawn warmth of the original, with curved arcs and individually crafted diamond tips that distinguish it from the more austere Schaftstiefelgrotesk designs associated with the Nazi period. Minor adjustments were made to letterform proportions and diacritics, and Monotype's original English-friendly alternates for H, I, X and x were retained.
Classification
A Gebrochene Grotesk (Schaftstiefelgrotesk) fraktur, characterised by straighter, less decorative strokes than traditional fraktur, though Sachsenwald sits on the warmer end of the genre with curved arcs and individually drawn diamond tips.