Atelier Jérôme Knebusch
Mainzer Landstraße 105
60329 Frankfurt am Main
jk [at] jeromeknebusch.net
+49 69 15 61 60 23

Louis Hoell cut the punches for the only published typeface Otto Eckmann ever designed. The story of the Eckmannschrift’s creation has often been told. In retrospect, it was the release that made Karl Klingspor’s reputation as a typefoundry director of note. Yet instead of looking at the Eckmannschrift from Klingspor or Eckmann’s point of view, Dan Reynolds's essay directs its focus to what Hoell’s design contributions to the project might have been. With rare and unpublished material from the Klingspor archives in Offenbach am Main. Edited by Alice Savoie and Jérôme Knebusch in the Poem Pamphlet series.

Title
Louis Hoell and the making of the Eckmannschrift
Date
2020
Type
Editorial design
Client
Poem
Place
Frankfurt am Main
Material
Pamphlet
Publisher
Poem

Louis Hoell and the making of the Eckmannschrift, Dan Reynolds, Poem, Frankfurt am Main, 2020.

Prix d'art / Kunstpreis Robert Schuman, École supérieure d'art, Église des Trinitaires, Centre d'art contemporain Faux Mouvement, Église Saint-Pièrre-aux-Nonnains, Metz, 2009.

Until the advent of talking pictures, cinema had been referred to as silent. To compensate for the absence of sound, films were punctuated by numerous ‘intertitles’ containing a fixed text, interspersed among the sequences of moving images. Intertitles could be hand-painted on thick paper or glass plates, using brushes or round-tipped nibs, by teams of letterers capable of producing up to 100 cards a day. Yet today we know almost nothing about these technically gifted craftsmen. However, at the end of the 1910s, in the United States, the name of a technician occasionally appeared in the film credits: that of Victor Vance, a letterer associated with the Warner Bros. studio. His distinctive style of lettering, constant over the years, was based on a virtuosic use of the brush. Considered a ‘title-artist’, he also wrote in 1930 an article on how to paint intertitles. This account sheds valuable and precise light on the methods used to produce intertitles and the way these objects were viewed at the time. Written by Julien Van Anholt and edited by Alice Savoie and Jérôme Knebusch in the Poem Pamphlet series.

Title
Victor Vance, title-artist
Date
2025
Type
Editorial design
Client
Poem
Place
Frankfurt am Main
Material
Pamphlet
Publisher
Poem

Victor Vance, title-artist, Julien Van Anholt, Poem, Frankfurt am Main, 2025.

Europa String Quartet, Marienkirche, Berlin, 2009.

À l’Antique, Musée de l’Antiquité Rouen & Frac Normandie, Rouen, 2017.

Erhard Ratdolt was one of the most successful and acclaimed printers of the 15th century. He was also a pioneer of new techniques and in 1486 he printed the earliest known type specimen. In this essay Riccardo Olocco analyses the only surviving copy of this single sheet with a discussion on the circumstances of its production and descriptions and identifications of the roman and rotunda types according to existing bibliographical references. The pamphlet is accompanied by a facsimile of the original type specimen. Edited by Alice Savoie and Jérôme Knebusch in the Poem Pamphlet series.

Title
Ratdolt's Index characterum
Date
2020
Type
Editorial design
Client
Poem
Place
Frankfurt am Main
Material
Pamphlet
Publication
Poem

Ratdolt's Index characterum, the earliest known type specimen, Riccardo Olocco, Poem, Frankfurt am Main, 2020.

Rudolf Koch's and Fritz Kredel's remarkable Blumenbuch [the flower book] was published several times between 1929 and 1942, from pocket book editions to precious volumes and portfolios, involving many collaborators, printers and publishers like Mainzer Presse, Ernst-Ludwig-Presse in Darmstadt and Insel-Verlag, Leipzig. The essay by Jérôme Knebusch compiles a detailed chronology of the different editions and presents rare and unpublished material from the archives of the Klingspor Museum, Offenbach am Main. About the Blumenbuch is the first of the Poem Pamphlet series edited by Alice Savoie and Jérôme Knebusch.

Title
About the Blumenbuch
Date
2020
Type
Research, Editorial design
Client
Poem
Place
Frankfurt am Main
Material
Essay
Publisher
Poem

About the Blumenbuch, Poem, Frankfurt am Main, 2020.

Alice Savoie and Jérôme Knebusch have edited between 2020 and 2025 ten essays by Jérôme Knebusch, Sébastien Morlighem, Riccardo Olocco, Dan Reynolds, Éloïsa Pérez, EESAB Type, Yoann De Roeck, François Chastanet, Julien Van Anholt in the Poem Pamphlets collection. The screenprinted box, white on black paper, assembles them.

Title
Poem Pamphlets 1-10
Date
2025
Type
Editorial design, Research
Client
Poem
Place
Frankfurt am Main
Material
Pamphlets, box
Screenprint
f+h Siebdruck, Maintal
Box
Gümblein Papierverarbeitung, Heusenstamm
Publisher
Poem

Poem Pamphlets 1-10, Poem, Frankfurt am Main, 2020-2025. Edited by Alice Savoie & Jérôme Knebusch.

Une brève histoire des lignes, Centre Pompidou-Metz, 2013.

Three lingual, 16 pages article about the genesis of the Instant typeface. Published in Typografische Monatsblätter / Revue Suisse de l'imprimerie / Swiss Typographic Magazine, N°6, 2012. Written by Jérôme Knebusch. Free PDF download on link below.

Title
Instant: from handwriting to type design
Date
2012
Type
Research, Editorial design
Client
Typografische Monatsblätter / Revue Suisse de l'imprimerie / Swiss Typographic Magazine
Place
Bern
Material
Essay
Download
Article

Instant: from handwriting to type design, Typografische Monatsblätter / Revue Suisse de l'imprimerie / Swiss Typographic Magazine, N°6, 2012.

Philly Hands is a concise but in-depth survey description of Philadelphian street penmanship, written and photographed by François Chastanet. It explores the Philly writers’ lexicon of ‘hands’, ranging from the original Gangster Prints to the Tall Hands, Wickeds, Stiff Hands, Punchlines, and more. It also provides a rare glimpse into the preparatory work done on paper before performing in the street. Through ductus diagrams, the inner tracing logic of landmark letters is revealed, offering insights into the unique calligraphic tradition of Philadelphia – nicknamed ‘Whip City’ and celebrated as the land of extreme cursivity. With a legacy spanning more than fifty years, the city has much to offer to lettering enthusiasts. Some cities are able to develop their own scriptural ‘texture’, going beyond individual experiments with the image of the name. Edited by Alice Savoie and Jérôme Knebusch in the Poem Pamphlet series.

Title
Philly Hands
Date
2024
Type
Editorial design
Client
Poem
Place
Frankfurt am Main
Material
Pamphlet
Publisher
Poem

Philly Hands, François Chastanet, Poem, Frankfurt am Main, 2024.

Notizen zu Berlin, residency, text, custom typeface, Berlin, 2010-2011. Available at poem-editions.com

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