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Elizabeth Friedlander
German 1903-1984

Elizabeth Friedlander (née Friedländer) was born into a cultured, affluent Jewish family in Berlin. After studying art at the Berlin Academy she went to work as a graphic designer for the elegant magazine Die Dame; she was also asked to design a typeface for Bauersche Giesserei in Frankfurt am Main, a most unusual commission for a woman at that time. Representatives of the firm explained to her, however, that the usual practice of naming a type after the last name of its designer could not happen in her case, because Friedländer was a recognizably Jewish name. By the time her "Elizabeth" was cut in 1938, Friedlander had already fled Nazi persecution in Germany, going first to Italy, where she worked for Mondadori, and eventually settling in England in 1939. After World War II she designed ornamental borders for the Linotype Corporation and the "Friedlander Borders" for Monotype. She was also a successful freelance designer for a number of advertising firms and for Penguin Publishers.

The Bauer Almanac, set in types designed by Elizabeth Friedlander

The Bauer Almanac
New York: Bauer Type Foundry, 1939
Set in Elizabeth Roman and Italic types designed by Elizabeth Friedlander
Graphic Arts Division

 
 
 

Princeton University Library, Graphic Arts Collection
Rebecca W. Davidson, Curator of Graphic Arts
davidson@princeton.edu
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Last Modified: February 13, 2004