5. A note on the text
Formula One, Letraset and a second set of Fontana Modern Masters in 1971-73.
The Fontana Modern Masters looked unlike anything previously published, though this was not all down to their extraordinary artwork. Another optical sleight-of-hand is the soft black lettering that floats above the covers like a calming influence, and it is here that the eye, once caught, is drawn.Constable thought a conventional, squared-off typeface would 'look like someone had just put type on it' so he had set about searching for something more suitable. What he had in mind was a rounded sans-serif, but no such typeface existed at the time so Constable decided to design his own. He named his new typeface Formula One and brought in Face Photosetting, which, in the space of a few years, had become one of the top phototypesetting studios in London.
Formula One's debut on the first set of Fontana Modern Masters was followed by
a second set in 1971-73. Oliver Bevan did the cover art for these books too, and whilst they were not as vibrant as the first set, Bevan felt the colours were more interesting. 'The effect is quieter but richer,' he said. The incentive to collect
all ten was repeated, with the blurb on the back now reading as follows:
The whole painting, the second in the series, has been divided to form the individual covers so that ten of them make the whole painting. The pieces can be
arranged to
form a variety of patterns.
However, the publication of Joyce as the eleventh book in the first set left this second set one book short.
form a variety of patterns.
The second set of Fontana Modern Masters in 1971-73.
By the time this second set of books were published Constable had made two changes to the typeface which saw the tails of the upper case 'G' and lower
case 't' removed and straightened respectively. This can be seen by comparing the G's of Guevara and Gandhi and the
t's in Wittgenstein and Yeats.
Tweaking the Formula: G's and t's in Guevara, Gandhi, Wittgenstein and Yeats.
Constable's typeface attracted the attention of Letraset, whose rub-down sheets of dry transfer lettering had made the company a household name. Letraset
wanted to license Formula One for its flagship Letragraphica range, so Face Photosetting brokered the deal and Letraset launched Formula One in 1973.
Formula One as launched in Letragraphica: 18 New Typefaces, 1973.
Formula One Letraset sheets, 1973. Sheets are 10 x 15 inches.
