The gentleman driver
Der Herrenfahrer was the title of a German magazine for motorists. It was published from 1924 to 1928.
History and content
The Almanach-Kunstverlag Berlin launched the Herrenfahrer in January 1924 under the direction of Egon H. Straßburger and Wilhelm Kirchner. The paper saw itself as the official organ of the motorcycle club of Germany MvD and was subtitled Das Blatt vom Auto und other conveniences in life . Like many, especially English, magazines before, Der Herrenfahrer tried to make the switch to the automobile attractive to motorcyclists with experience in road traffic and technology.
The title of the magazine played with the concept of the gentleman driver as the chauffeur of his own car. A decade earlier, cars had been so prone to failure that those who could afford them hired a chauffeur, the “gentleman driver,” to drive them around, operate the starter crank, change tires and get their hands dirty with frequent oil refills and lubrication made. In the 1920s, cars became technically more reliable and the age of the car owner who drove himself, i.e. was his own master, dawned. These self-determined drivers were the magazine's target group.
The first issue comprised almost 70 pages and, in addition to numerous advertisements, contained articles about car and motorcycle races, car manufacturers, car fashion, the technology of the supercharged engine and a comment about women at the wheel. The title page in all editions was laid out as a four-color sketch and the first showed a man at the wheel of an open car, both hands firmly on the steering wheel. There were already several black and white photographs in this issue, the number of which increased over the years. There were also puzzles around the automobile. Motorcycles played a role in the last few editions.
The monthly publication allows the editorial team to react relatively quickly to developments. For example, the “Kleine Rundschau” section in the July 1927 issue reports in the form of short news
- the opening of the Lake Constance ferry for cars
- 47,000 miles of concrete roads in the United States
- Declining car registrations in Vienna due to excessive taxes
- the first car hotel, 7 stories high, in Oklahoma City
- and the application of traffic laws to pedestrians in Paris too.
The appearance and graphic design of the booklets were modern and strongly anchored in Art Nouveau . Many of the texts in the editorial section pointed far into the future, such as an article in the 1/1927 issue about the direction indicator , which at that time was far from following a standard.
From the issue of May 1926, Der Herrenfahrer was transferred to the Hermann Meister publishing house in Heidelberg. Its publication was discontinued in May 1928. The reasons for this are unknown.
Individual evidence
- ^ The publisher, a stock corporation, was located in SW 61, at Belle-Alliance-Platz 8, today's Mehringplatz in Kreuzberg