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I’m struggling to find a family that has a similar feel to the type on the red label. Anyone know of anything that gets close?

Somewhat related aside: what terms might you use to describe this typeface? It makes me think of a sort of art deco, like almost rennie mackintosh-y vibe, but I am out of my depth here and certainly don’t know the history.

Thanks!

enter image description here

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  • Of (possible) note: the edition in the photo was published by Mir (a soviet publishing house I don’t know much about) in ~1960
    – wwmairs
    Aug 27, 2020 at 21:55
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    It looks great, but it's not really a "font" as such. The text looks embroidered and much of its distinctive features comes from that: uniform line width, rounded corners and a slightly uneven appearance. This will be hard to find in a digital font without it being too "cartoony". You should probably look for a font which has the same overall narrowness, but probably with quite different (sharper) details.
    – Wolff
    Aug 27, 2020 at 22:14
  • It has a slight Art Deco look, the high crossbar in the A for example, however you might be better to just search for sans-serif condensed fonts. There are plenty that are close, but I can't find any quite the same. If this is from an old print, it just might not be available in a digital format if no one has ever digitised it. Not everything is a font you can download.
    – Billy Kerr
    Aug 28, 2020 at 16:35

2 Answers 2

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This typeface looks similar to "RTF Dokument Extra Condensed"
http://www.identifont.com/show?HUA

enter image description here

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    Hi. Welcome to GDSE. Thanks for contributing. I've edited your answer to add an image of the font, because you really do need to add an image for font ID answers. Just so you know in future, we usually prefer images rather than just a link, because links can rot.
    – Billy Kerr
    Aug 31, 2020 at 13:51
  • That's quite close! It has the Helvetica-style spur on the G which most geometrics don't. Unfortunately, Rimmer passed away some years ago and it's currently not on sale. According to MyFonts Canada Type have the rights to Rimmer's fonts and are slowly rereleasing them so maybe if you wanted this you could privately contact them and see if you can arrange a sale. Some alternatives are listed in my answer which another volunteer has kindly illustrated.
    – Copilot
    Sep 11, 2020 at 23:46
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This has elements of the 1920s geometric sans-serifs, indicated by its very open forms, the letters do not fold up as they do on nineteenth century forms like Alternate Gothic.

You could try Neutraface Condensed, Gotham Condensed, Mallory Extra Condensed, Relay Compressed or Verlag Compressed which are all about the right style. Most geometrics aren't available in widths as condensed as this.

Neutraface Condensed Medium Gotham Condensed Book Mallory Extra Condensed Relay Compressed Light Verlag Compressed Book

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    Relay Compressed!! Thank you so much, this helped a whole bunch.
    – wwmairs
    Sep 11, 2020 at 3:30
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    The high crossbar on A and the tail of G are not easy to find in fonts these days. Sep 11, 2020 at 21:38

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