Ernst Reichl, a prominent American book designer from the 30s to the 70s did something no other book designer has done, to my knowledge: he wrote comments and stories and critiques about many of his book designs on index cards, then stuck them in the books in his library. These were found when his family donated his books and papers to Columbia University’s Rare Book and Manuscript Library. The discovery of these comments became the focus of my research on Reichl, culminating in a 2013 exhibition at the RBM Library, the creation of a database of all his book design comments, and now a searchable website with the comments and images of most of these books. I hope this website will be interesting and useful.
I also wrote about Reichl’s work for Design Observer: his design for Joyce’s ‘Ulysses,’ and about the exhibit.
