That 'a' is the hardest part of this, and if the 1955 date on the page is when this was printed, we are probably looking for something that may not have made it into digital form.

The best I could do with what I could find so far was Helvetica Compressed. Then I think it would need to be stretched vertically, and you might get sort of close.

- Mike Yanega

Thank you bowfinpw,
as you said, the «a» is the big difference.
Yes, the date is accurate, and in regard of the overprinted colors, it most be a woodtype face.
I know I should look in «American Wood Type: 1828-1900» or other reference book, but a don't have a copy.
The other thing is that this one most be European (it's a Swiss poster). I already check some original German specimens from the late 20's, and got nothing.
My first bet was Ackzidenz or Folio (we are 2 years before Helvetica), but none of their versions go that compressed, and the «a» is always different.

Any other ideas?

Since it is Basel at that time period, I would guess that there was handpainting involved, either a typeface (AG Compressed) corrected or drafted from scratch. It could have been cut film--amberlith--used for silkscreening.

ChrisL

Humm, could be.
I have to make further research, the two examples are from the same designer, Emil Ruder. He could have done a custom drawing for those two posters. Just to bad for me, because I could realy like to see the rest of the caracters.

Emil Ruder was the famed teacher of typography at the Basel Kunstewerbushule. He taught my typography teacher, Ken Hiebert.

ChrisL

Could the 'a' been made from a backward 's' and a d'' via the cutting table?

You might want to try Bitstream Swiss 924 or Swiss 911 Ultra Compressed.

All the best,
David Esser