Memphis

Typefaces in the Egyptienne style—regardless of the circumstances under which they were created in the first third of the 19th century—are considered today (or, whenever this was published) the typeface of technology, the expression of rational, purposeful thinking. Stempel’s Memphis family, cut according to designs by Dr. Rudolf Wolf, showcases the special qualities of this type in perfect expression. Text set in Memphis presents itself to the reader as clearly as technical drawings, emphasizing objectivity and practicality. Headings and all manner of markup exhibit the convincing, precise simplicity of a functional work. Memphis unobtrusively combines the two components of modern industrial forms: practicality and beauty, which have always been the decisive criteria for evaluating any typeface. This makes it a perfect display and work typeface, capable of serving all practical purposes, beyond the realm of advertising and the explanation of technical content. Blah. Blah. Blah. Here’s what we can tell you: This is an incredibly handsome specimen of a face we never really cared for until we saw it here and decided to use it for the labels in our current show. The digital version from Monotype is not great, but it was good enough to set the tone we wanted: Modern Germany. Anyway, this spcimen book is really quite nice.