C.J. Bucher Verlag is a German book publisher based in Munich that specializes in illustrated non-fiction on art, culture, photography, history, nature and science. The company traces its roots to 1870, when Joseph Lorenz Bucher purchased a printing shop in Lucerne, Switzerland. His son, Carl Joseph Bucher, gave the company its present name and built it into a leading Swiss printing and publishing house. The publisher relocated from Lucerne to Munich in 1981 and has been part of the GeraNova Bruckmann publishing group since 2004. [1]
Design and History
The C.J. Bucher symbol was originally designed by the Hungarian-Swiss graphic artist and type designer Imre Reiner in 1940. [2] Reiner (1900-1987) was a painter, graphic designer, book designer and significant type designer who worked in London, New York, Chicago and Paris before settling in Switzerland. [3]
The mark was created during a period when the company, then based in Lucerne, was primarily publishing magazines and commissioned print work. [1] The logo features a semi-circle shape combined with a cross, a form that references the Swiss cross. [2]
Meaning and Symbolism
The logo’s semi-circle and cross combination evokes the Swiss national cross, reflecting the company’s Swiss origins in Lucerne. [2] The design dates from 1940, when Reiner was active as a graphic designer and typographer in Switzerland. [3]
Beyond the Swiss cross reference, no documented official interpretation of the mark’s symbolism has been published by the company or by Reiner himself.
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