Eric Mourier (font) and Knud Holten (text), The Myth about Bird B, College of Graphic Arts, Copenhagen, 1970

front cover

Eric Mourier (1939-2020) was a well-known Danish designer, who with his wife Mette Mourier opened their own design studio and they worked on a wide range of design projects with a special emphasis in book design. In 1999 they published "Book Design: Layout and Design of Illustrated Books," which remains a Danish standard to this day, and was reprinted in 2013.

In a memorial tribute to the Mourier soon after his death the online editor addresses Mourier's own place in the history of typography & typographic design with the invention of his own abstracted typeface he called Mourier.  As to the nature of how he developed the typeface he stated, "About the lettering, it may be stated that the individual letters have been designed on the basis of a rigorous, detailed scheme: Forty-nine squares, black and white in rows alternately, no closed areas, gaps the size of one square, etc. Within this scheme, the aim has been to obtain the greatest possible likeness to ‘ordinary’ letters, and, simultaneous, a logical system of forms. The letters c and u, k and y, a and v, to exemplify, are identical, only variously turned".[Eric Mourier In Memoriam - Velvetyne]

Mourier invented this geometric abstracted alphabet in 1970 and its only use as a lead-caste font was in the present accordion in which it was used to write this story by his friend Knud Holten. Of this collaboration he wrote: "That the result was a folding book aesthetically motivated: Here the reader is not bound by individual spreads, but is given the opportunity to perceive the whole as such, an ornamental sequence of events." This is a rather insightful response from someone who was clearly used to looking at book spreads, but here he takes stock with what this folded medium offers him.  [quote from pamphlet accompanying the accordion]

In 2002 and with approval from Mourier, Sébastien Hayez adapts the font for the digital environment. Indeed, you can download the font right here!: Mourier Font · 1001 Fonts

I can't say I can decipher the words of this story depicted here, but it's certainly an intriguing font to look at, and within the context of the accordion format, strangely compelling.

33 single-sided pages, individually 8.25" x 3.75" and when unfolded 10ft 3.7"