The article “Le Corbusier as Book Designer: Semi-Modernity à la française”, by Catherine de Smet, discusses the editorial production of architect Le Corbusier. In the early 1960s, some of Le Corbusier books were reprinted by Gonthier, a Swiss publisher, and the choice of typeface generated some discussion between author and publisher:
“The font chosen by the publisher for this series of humanities books was a serif with heavy contrasts between thick and thin strokes, producing a ‘classical’ effect meant to soften the negative impact produced by a ‘popular’ format associated with works of ‘high culture’.
Le Corbusier insisted on using ‘Antique bâton allongée’, the sans serif typeface he used on most of his covers, regarding the absence of serif as a sign of modernity in typography. He wrote to the publisher: “Your books should have no difficulty accepting that Le Corbusier is modern (when it comes to typography) while Plato is classical.”
The author comments on the symbolic power of typography:
“The sheer volume of correspondence between Le Corbusier and the publisher on the subject of the books’ covers is testimony to the key role played by typography in a debate both sides considered critical. In their very disagreement, the author and the publisher demonstrated a common awareness of the symbolic power of typographic design. For the publisher, sans serif type lacked the ‘seriousness’ to support theoretical texts — a position, however laughable today, that illustrates how conventional the publishing context was in which Le Corbusier operated. Likewise, we can only smile at Le Corbusier’s claim in favour of a type deemed modern, particularly in light of his published work where the ‘modern’ touch is far from consistent, whether in the books’ internal layout or on the covers, where the composition remains in most cases symmetrical and classical and where even the sacrosanct Antique allongée appears only intermittently.”
(From DE SMET, Catherine. Le Corbusier as Book Designer: Semi-Modernity á la française. (transl. Antony Hudek) in DE BONDT, Sara and MUGGERIDGE, Fraser (eds.). The Form of the Book Book. Occasional Papers. London, 2009. p. 7-20)
