Heinrich Jost

Heinrich Jost (13 October 1889 – 27 September 1948) was a German typographer and graphic designer. He was the art director of the Bauer Type Foundry from 1923 until 1948.

Jost was born in 1889 to a bookbinder father in Magdeburg, where he attended the Kunstgewerbe- und Handwerkerschule Magdeburg and trained as a bookseller. In 1908 he moved to Munich and began studying book production at the Debschitz-Schule [de] in 1911 under the tutelage of Paul Renner and Emil Preetorius.^[1][2] He worked as a freelance type designer from 1914 onwards; his clients included the newspaper Münchner Neueste Nachrichten and other publications.^[2][3]

In 1923 Jost was invited by Georg Hartmann^[2] to become the art director of the Bauer Type Foundry in Frankfurt am Main.^[1] He directed Bauer during its most successful period, until 1948.^[3] At Bauer, he oversaw the work of designers such as Paul Renner, Lucian Bernhard and Imre Reiner [de].^[4] Jost personally designed several typefaces for Bauer: Atrax (1926), Bauer Bodoni (1926), and Beton (c. 1931–1936). He also designed Jost Mediaeval for Ludwig & Mayer (1927–1929) and a revival of Fraktur for Monotype (1938).^[2] Beton was popular among advertisers, while Bauer Bodoni, which was created as a rival to Morris Fuller Benton's ATF Bodoni, is generally regarded by typographers as the most faithful revival of Giambattista Bodoni's original typeface.^[2][3] His other designs include Aeterna (1927) and Georg Hartmann Antiqua (1948).^[3]

Jost died in 1948 in Frankfurt am Main.^[1] A collection of his work has since been displayed at Klingspor Museum in Offenbach am Main.^[4]