Rudolf Koch was born in Nürnberg in 1876. In 1903 he started to show a critical interest in typography. As autodidact he copied and designed with wide pen typefaces. Already three years later Koch was working for the type foundry Klingspor and was simultaneously a teacher for type at the Technische Lehranstalten in Offenbach am Main. Here Koch set up a writing workshop in 1921 and in the subsequent years published drawing books and a map of Germany. During this period he developed printing types from his written sheets. More than 170 letters were cut from his large type and ligatures for the »Wilhelm Klingspor«. He also designed the »Deutsche Schrift« in various cuts and together with the educationalist Martin Hermersdorf he endeavoured to produce a new German typeface that was to improve Sütterlin. Rudolf Koch published books on the theme type and writing, including »Das Schreiben als Kunstfertigkeit« (Writing as skill) (1921) and »Die Offenbacher Schrift – eine Anweisung zum Schreiben« (The Offenbach Typeface – an Instructions for writing) (1928). He designed and cut numerous typefaces, e.g. the »Bibelschrift«, also known as Bible Gothic for the »Vier Evangelien« in the translation by Martin Luther. Rudolf Koch died in 1934. His estate is today part of the collection of the Klingspor Museum in Offenbach am Main.