Willy Wiegand

Willy Wiegand (born June 1, 1884 in Bremen ; † October 30, 1961 in Munich ) was an important typographer , co-founder and later the sole head of the Bremen press .

Life

Willy Wiegand came as the son of the head of the North German Lloyd , Heinrich Wiegand , 1884 in Bremen to the world. After studying law and obtaining a doctorate in law, he founded the Bremen press with his school friend Ludwig Wilde in 1911 . In order to intensively prepare a writing that should be specific to this press, he spent the spring of 1913 with his wife Bertha Wiegand and Wolde in Italy to study the types of incunable printers . Based on the types by Adolf Rusch and Johann von Speyer, Wiegand designed the first Antiqua for the Bremen press. He chose this font, as he says, because it takes a back seat to the spiritual idea of ​​a text. During the First World War he served as an artillery officer and was injured in Bremen during the civil war in 1918/19. In the press, he took over the technical management of the workshop and recruited further artistic employees for the press: Josef Lehnacker, Anna Simons and Frieda Thiersch . He entered into a perfect working symbiosis with the die cutter Josef Hoell, who knew like no other how to cut Wiegand's font designs in steel. Wiegand designed other fonts, such as a Graeca, the so-called Homer type, a Fraktur and a liturgical script. Before the Second World War , Wiegand turned to cartography. He brought out a local map for the region of the south-east and south-west of the city of Munich , with geological and art-historical descriptions of the landscape and its art monuments. Another map for the Lake Constance area was being planned when the Second World War broke out. Four more maps of South Bavaria , North Tyrol and Innsbruck appeared, plus some city maps, but all of them turned out to be an economic failure. He died in Munich and is buried next to Laura Vossler, his late companion, in the small cemetery of St. Margarethen, Brannenburg am Inn .

Willy Wiegand grave, St. Margarethen churchyard (Brannenburg)

Services

Willy Wiegand dealt intensively with the typographical design of the book. Greatest accuracy in the typesetting, harmonious harmony of the font with its content, the writing material and the initials were his ideals. In contrast to the Cranach press , he wanted strict uniformity, which is reflected in the puristic use of different fonts, formats and illustrations. He largely follows the ideals of the Doves Press . His personality was a major factor in the success of the Bremen press. His dealings with the literary board of trustees ( Rudolf Alexander Schröder , Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Rudolf Borchardt ), the staff of highly qualified and loyal employees he recruited (Anna Simons, Frieda Thiersch, Josef Lehnacker) and his high standards led to the fact that the Bremer Presse has found worldwide recognition for its works far beyond its time of activity. He always remained modest and stepped back behind the work.

Publications

• Willy Wiegand: The Bremen press and how it works. In: Imprimatur Jg. 1962/63, Vol. III, Ss. 65ff. - Version of the contribution in the bookstore edited by the author . 2, 1922/23, pp. 151-160.
• Willy Wiegand: About writing and language. In: Communications from the Academy for scientific research and for the care of Germanness. Deutsche Akademie 16, Sep./Oct 1927, pp. 601–609.
• Willy Wiegand: German Private Presses. Speech given in the Grolier Club, New York, on April 11, 1929 on the occasion of the opening of the exhibition of German hand press prints. In: Imprimatur Jg. 1930, Bd. I, Ss. 101ff.

literature

• Joseph Blumenthal: Memories of Willy Wiegand. In: Bernhard Zeller, Werner Volke (ed.): Book art and poetry. On the history of the Bremen press and the Corona , Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts, Munich 1966, pp. 32–35.
• Harald Keller: Willy Wiegand and the Bremen press. In: J. Hellmut Freud (Red.): For Rudolf Hirsch on his seventieth birthday on December 22, 1975. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1975, pp. 52–65.
• Rudolf Alexander Schröder: On the death of Willy Wiegand. In: Philobiblon. VI, 1962, No. 2, pp. 94-98.
• Hugo von Hofmannsthal / Werner Volke (ed.): Letters to Willy Wiegand and the Bremen press. In: Yearbook of the German Schiller Society. VII / 1963, pp. 44-189