The production of books has a long-standing tradition in St Gallen. Testimony to this are the city’s various libraries, which still hold a historical treasure trove of artistic manuscripts, wonderful examples of the earliest printing techniques and important holdings of contempo-rary book design. Well-known historical personalities shaped this tradition, among them numerous book artists of the early medieval monastery of St Gallen, but also the reformer, mayor and poet Vadian, whose book collection became the foundation of the Vadiana can-tonal library. One of the oldest newspapers in Europe, ‘Annus Christi’, was printed in the Imperial Abbey of St Gallen in Rorschach.
In addition, book design with sophisticated typography has a long tradition in St Gallen. For centuries, world-famous institutions and book designers have worked here, stimulated con-temporary discourse and attracted international attention with their books. Institutions such as the Henry Tschudy publishing house and book designers such as Rudolf Hostettler, Max Koller, Hans-Peter Kaeser and Jost Hochuli have shaped the tradition of books in St Gallen. Their students, including Gaston Isoz, and the agency TGG Hafen Senn Stieger continue this tradition, and young designers keep the book culture in sync with the times.
Page from the Codex Abrogans in St Gallen, the oldest book in the German language. [Cod. Sang. 911, Pergament, 323 pp., Abrogans – Vocabularius (Keronis) et Alia, around 790] © Stiftsbibliothek St.Gallen
Exhibition hall of the Abbey Library in St Gallen [St Gallen, 2014] © Stiftsbibliothek St.Gallen
Max Bill’s circle drawings congenially complement Gomringer’s 33 constel-lations. Texts and drawings are sensi-tively assigned to each other and placed on the page. [Eugen Gomringer: 33 constellations. Published by Tschudy-Verlag. St Gallen, 1960] © VGS Verlagsgenossenschaft St.Gallen
An ambitiously designed, valuable resource for typographic laymen and historians. [Rudolf Hostettler: Type. A selection of types. Une sélection de caractères d’imprimerie. Eine Auswahl guter Drucktypen. St Gallen, London, 1949] © VGS Verlagsgenossenschaft St.Gallen
Cover from the series ‘Huber’s classics of medicine and the natural sciences’ designed by Rudolf Hostettler. [Josef Tomcsik (Ed.): Pasteur and the Generatio spontanea. Bern, Stuttgart, 1964] © VGS Verlagsgenossenschaft St.Gallen
A glossary that attracted international attention when it was published – because of its concept, and its practical clear and at the same time appealing layout. [Rudolf Hostettler: The printer’s terms. St Gallen, 1949] © VGS Verlagsgenossenschaft St.Gallen
Various print type alphabets are presented on a rigid grid with details of the designers, the year of publication and further information. [Jost Hochuli: Freude an Schriften. Spass an der Freude. Ein typografisches Pasticcio (Joy in type. Fun in joy. A typographic pastiche). St Gallen, 1993] © VGS Verlagsgenossenschaft St.Gallen
At a time when no printing shop invested in books on font samples, Zollikofer published this directory: 24 pages, stapled together in a grey paper cover; containing the most important information, laid out in a clear and playful way – the work of an expert. [Zollikofer AG, St.Galler Tagblatt: List of publications. St Gallen, 1989] © VGS Verlagsgenossenschaft St.Gallen
The cover design showcases the equally ambitiously designed content of this documentation. [Building Department of the City of St Gallen: Museum of Natural History and Art of St Gallen 1877/1987. St Gallen, 1987] © VGS Verlagsgenossenschaft St.Gallen
A clever layout using capital letters in narrow semi-bold sans serif and the corresponding Morse code Spiel and signal flags. The blue printed transparent paper creates attractive per-spectives and overlays. [Ian Anüll: Artists’ booklet. St Gallen, 1987] © VGS Verlagsgenossenschaft St.Gallen
The author Liana Ruckstuhl interviewed fifteen former locomotive drivers for this 168-page Typotron notebook. [Typotron notebook 28 – Lokremise (locomotive depot) St Gallen, 2011] © TGG Hafen Senn Stieger
The designer has gone all out in creating a fitting layout for this satirical novel a fitting form with palpable joy. [Jaroslav Hašek: Geschichte der Partei des gemässigten Fortschritts im Rahmen des Gesetzes (The Party of Moderate Progress Within the Bounds of the Law). Berlin, 2005] © VGS Verlagsgenossenschaft St.Gallen
Detailed description
St. Galler Buchkultur (PDF, 490 kB, 29.05.2018)Ausführliche Beschreibung
Category
Canton
Connected traditions
Publications
Roland Früh: Buchgestaltung in St. Gallen. St. Gallen, 2008
Hermann Strehler: Die Buchdruckerkunst im alten St. Gallen. Die Geschichte der Offizin Zollikofer. Vom «Wochenblatt» zum «St. Galler Tagblatt». St. Gallen, 1967
Jost Hochuli: Buchgestaltung als Denkschule: über die Symmetrie im Buch, über Funktion und Funktionalismus in der Buchttypografie und gegen die Ideologisierung gestalterischer Strukturen (Stuttgarter Schriftenreihe Typografie). Stuttgart, 1991
Jost Hochuli: Buchgestaltung in der Schweiz (Schweizer Kulturstiftung Pro Helvetia). Zürich, 1993
Jost Hochuli: Bücher machen. Praxis und Theorie. St. Gallen, 1996
Richard Hollis: Schweizer Grafik: die Entwicklung eines internationalen Stils, 1920–1965. Basel, 2006
Rupert Kalkofen: Das Büchlein der Bücher: 25 Jahre VGS Verlagsgemeinschaft St. Gallen (Edition Ostschweiz, Heft 5). St. Gallen, 2004
Robin Kinross: Jost Hochuli aus englischer Sicht. In: Jost Hochuli: Drucksachen, vor allem Bücher. Sulgen, 2002
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Contact
Kanton St. Gallen
Amt für Kultur
St. Leonard-Strasse 40
9001
St. Gallen