Wolpe Fanfare
Tabular Type Foundry · Berthold Wolpe (original), Toshi Omagari (revival) · 2017
A revival of Berthold Wolpe's 1937 all-cap condensed display face, expanded from one weight to five and augmented with titling small caps, Greek and Cyrillic.
About
Originally produced at Monotype while Wolpe worked at Fanfare Press, the typeface is defined by slanted stems and a slanted baseline that give it a restless, forward-leaning energy visible in historic BOAC advertising. The revival by Toshi Omagari adds four lighter weights to the original dark cut, introduces titling small caps, and extends coverage to Greek and Cyrillic with suitably spirited stylistic alternates. Faber & Faber, where Wolpe spent decades as a book jacket designer, have since adopted the full Wolpe Collection including this face for their reissue of Lawrence Durrell's Justine.
Classification
An all-cap condensed sans-serif designed exclusively for display use, characterised by slanted stems and a slanted baseline that give it a kinetic, energetic quality distinct from conventional grotesque or geometric categories.