Catalogs of the ultra-rare

Mark Funke, a rare book dealer, had a fascinating problem to solve. He collected ultra-rare, German-language books and ephemera from around the world. His audience was primarily universities, libraries, and fellow collectors, and the majority of his collection was one-of-a-kind items that had never been photographed or presented on the internet. Being a bibliophile, his desire was to present them in a way that would appeal viscerally to his target audience—fellow enthusiastic bibliophiles. 

Upon reviewing catalogs and materials from dozens of other rare book dealers, who tended to present their collections in list form with purely written descriptions, the solution seemed clear. To document these objects in a way that showcases their detail and tactile qualities, and present them in a long-form, heavily visual, perfect-bound, premium magazine.

We developed his identity, a hybrid of antique German blackletter and modern typography inspired by Jan Tschichold’s Die Neue Typographie. From there, we photographed his collection and created two catalogs, presenting descriptions in both English and German, and multiple images of each object. The catalogs were received to great fanfare and became collectible in their own right within the rare books community.