The Protestant Ethic and Modernization. A Comparative View by S.N. Eisenstadt

Contributed by Florian Hardwig


Source: www.commoncrowbooks.com Common Crow Books. License: All Rights Reserved.

First-edition jacket

By the end of the 1500s, blackletter (and specifically Fraktur) became associated with Protestantism – in contrast to roman type styles, which were preferred in those countries associated with the Roman Catholic Church. Sans serif, in turn, has often served as a typographic shortcut for expressing “modernity”.

The cover typography for a book edited by sociologist Shmuel N. Eisenstadt (1923–2010) taps into both these stereotypes: “The Protestant Ethic” is set in the blackletter Goudy Text (a Textura, not a Fraktur), while “and Modernization” is in the sans-serif Alternate Gothic. The subtitle and author credit use Monotype Baskerville, in roman and italic.

The book design is credited to Jackie Schuman (1935–2001), a 1957 graduate from Cooper Union.

The paperback cover uses the same design.

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