E. Knappe invoices

In early 20th-century Germany, coming up with a brand name was a piece of cake. You’re called Eduard Schopf? Alright, your company is EduScho. You are Hans Riegel, based in Bonn? Easy: do business as HaRiBo. E.Knappe’s Ekata is a lesser known example, but it follows the same principle, combining the founder’s initials (prounounced “E-Kah” in German) with the product’s first syllable (Tabake is tobaccos).

In 1921, the company from Lauterberg im Harz used a monolinear italic for the invoices. It’s the bolder weight of Admiral, cut by Woellmer after drawings by famous poster designer Julius Gipkens and first cast in 1906. Its H that looks like an enlarged h – like in Fraktur – reveals its German origin.

Admiral is accompanied by three other typefaces. The extended fat face with the uncommon single-story g is the generically named Antiqua breitfett by Bauer. The roman used for the boxed red text on the 1922 invoice looks like Cheltenham. Chances are it’s Titus, which, for the most part, is a copy or close follower of Cheltenham, issued by Aktiengesellschaft für Schriftgießerei und Maschinenbau in mager, halbfett, and Kursiv styles. Why so? The italic with swash caps is Titus-Zirkular. This variant of Titus-Kursiv appears to be a unique addition. It’s different from other versions like Caslon’s Cheltenham Italic and Ludlow’s Cheltenham Cursive.

By 1922, E.Knappe had reconsidered the invoice design: the vignettes depicting smoking men were replaced by eight-pointed colored stars with the brand name – Ekata’s portfolio included products named Gelbstern (“yellow star”) and Rotstern (“red star”). The borders were updated as well. The typography remained unchanged, though.