First official “in the wild” sighting of Marcel!

I will begin with an apology. I did not intend to walk into the bookstore and blurt out the words, “Holy shit!” (Followed by immediately looking around for small children and sheepishly hanging my head). But there, right in front of me, in a case near the front door, was Marcel.

More accurately, there on the case in front of me was the new book “Miller’s Valley” by Anna Quindlen, and the book’s title was set in the the font P22 Marcel Script.

I’ve seen the font in use a handful of times before. But, in those instances, either the designer let me know they had used the font, or I somehow had a heads up to expect it. This was truly the first surprise “in the wild” sighting — and it was every bit as exciting as it would be to see a Rhino or Elephant roaming the Serengeti.

I picked up the book and ran my fingers over the title to feel the embossed letters. Then, I turned to look at the back, where just above Anna Quindlen’s name was the line in the familiar script, “Praise for the bestselling fiction of…”

A split-second later I was examining the technicalities: How do the letter connections look? How is the kerning? Which alternate characters did the book designer choose to use? (I noticed the designer truncated the curl at the end of the ‘M.’ While technically they shouldn’t alter the letterform without permission, I could see it was done with care, so I don’t begrudge their alteration). Would I have done a couple of things differently? Yes. But, I was (I am!) tickled beyond words to see this book cover.

When I took the book to the counter, the saleswoman asked if I knew much about the book. As I pulled out my credit card, I confessed I did not know a thing about it — other than the title.