Maria Lühr, Germany's First Woman Bookbinding Meister

Following up on my previous post, "Attracting Women to the Bookbinding Trade", I'm posting a translation of Maria Lühr, erste deutsche Buchbindermeisterin, posted here July 22, 2018.

In "Frauen als Buchbinder" ("Women as Bookbinders") I shared an article, well more a photo "essay" from an unknown publication with the title "Visiting the Woman Master Bookbinder" ("Beim weiblichen Buchbindermeister"). The pictures depicted a bindery in which only women were trained or hired. Shortly thereafter I found images online that looked like they came from the same photo shoot, the benches, glue pots, and decorations on the walls all looked identical. The metadata to these other images indicated that they were taken by a  Wanda von Debschitz-Kunowski for the Süddeutsche Zeitung (Munich) in the bindery of Maria Lühr in Berlin. Von Debschitz moved to Berlin from Munich in 1921.

Compare

From "Beim weiblichen Buchbindermeister"

From "Beim weiblichen Buchbindermeister"

With

"In der Werkstatt von Maria Lühr."
Images by Wanda von Debschitz-Kunowski for the Süddeutsche Zeitung (Munich)

Here two more from the series.

"In der Werkstatt von Maria Lühr."
Images by Wanda von Debschitz-Kunowski for the Süddeutsche Zeitung (Munich)

"In der Werkstatt von Maria Lühr."
Images by Wanda von Debschitz-Kunowski for the Süddeutsche Zeitung (Munich)

Maria Lühr (born 1874) made her way to Berlin from Holstein and started learning in the embroidery workshop of the Lette-Verein that was founded in 1866 to further the ability of women to earn an income in skilled trades. According to Franz Weiße in an article for the Allgemeiner Anzeiger für Buchbindereien (1949), she was steered towards a workshop for bookbinding that was in the process of being established. As it was not ready, she began an apprenticeship with the Court bookbinder W. Collin who strongly encouraged and supported the rights of women to apprentice and work their way through the ranks. But first, he had to overcome the opposition of his staff, ultimately petitioning the Court and Empress Friedrich, the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria and married to the 2nd German Emperor, Friedrich III. It was as a result of these efforts that women could begin serving as apprentices. From there she went to study with Cobden-Sanderson in England for a year, returning to German to spend time with Hendrik Schulze in Düsseldorf and Wilhelm Rausch in Hamburg where she also completed her apprenticeship and became a journeyman. A year later, in 1902 she completed her exams to be a Meister successfully. Normally this would have been at least three years.

Lühr described her time with Cobden-Sanderson in an article in the Buchbinderlehrling (1930), including how it came about (referrals and introductions), funded (gifts/grants), the workshop, the kinds of bindings, her first impressions, and the personalities of those also there including her fellow students that included 3-4 Americans. Her time there made a deep impression, and she later described it as the happiest time in her life. When Cobden-Sanderson visited her in 1910 in Berlin, he was pleased to see a photo of himself on her desk. The two corresponded until 1914 and the First World War.

In 1902, she became the first bookbinding instructor at the Lette-Verein, a position she held until 1913 when she established her own bindery at Kurfürstendamm (225b) in Berlin. Paul Kersten became her successor at the Lette-Verein.

The article "Buchbinderinnen" (Woman Bookbinders) in an unidentified periodical describes binding as a career for women, mentioned the Lette-Verein, and was accompanied by the image below. The woman at right could be Maria Lühr. Ernst Collin also wrote about this in his article "Die Buchbinderei als Handwerk und Frauenberuf" ("Bookbinding as a Trade and Career for Women") published in Deutsche Frauenkleidung und Frauenkultur (1923).

Maria Lühr (r)?
From "Buchbinderinnen" (Woman Bookbinders).

The article "Eine Moderne Buchbinderin" ("A Modern Bookbinder") that appeared in Die Kunstwelt: deutsche Zeitschrift für die bildende Kunst — 3.1913-1914 writes about how Lühr fits that description, also providing details about the kinds of instruction she offered in the Lette-Verein.

"Eine moderne Buchbinderin"
Die Kunstwelt: deutsche Zeitschrift für die bildende Kunst — 3.1913-1914

The article concludes by noting the "incredible development" in terms of the artistic expression that Lühr's work took between 1912 and 1914.

Lühr was also a founding member of the Jakob-Krause-Bund, participating in their 1921 exhibition, Deutsche Einbandkunst. Like many binders at the top level, she later switched over to the Meister der Einbandkunst. 

From the Jüdischenadressbuch, 1929-30 (111)
Lühr was the daughter of a Lutheran pastor.

By that time (1930), W. Collin was under the leadership of Gertrud Collin at Kurfürstenstr 99a.

From the Adressbuch for Berlin, 1930.

In 1938, she celebrated the 25 anniversary of her own bindery, and in 1953 her 50th  as master bookbinder.

In a 1949 article, Lühr told Franz Weiße that she and her workshop had largely escaped the bombs..., and that with her loyal colleague (Helene von Stolzenberg) had work, taught, and just worked. She also pointed out that in the struggle to work and find work, that women could compete with the best of the men. Von Stolzenburg became a master bookbinder thanks to Lühr's training.

The article also mentioned the deprivations and losses of the war, the death of "sisters", hunger, cold, power only in small installments, looking for  place to sleep. Works were stored elsewhere, fine bindings lost. Jobs, while coming in are doing so slowly, payment comes in even more slowly. While trying to be positive about the future, Lühr was concerned about finding a successor, but at age 75, also about being alone in life. 

In "Die Frau im Buchbinderhandwerk" (1937) Lühr described her training and experiences, the state of bookbinding in Germany, and that she tried to form a federation for and of woman bookbinding masters in 1918. However, due to the hyperinflation and a lack of members this did not succeed, and efforts were abandoned in 1923. The article also provided statistics to illustrate the state of women in the bookbinding trades. Writing about her activities at the Lette-Verein and as a master binder training apprentices she said that:

... that more or less talented apprentices came through that all passed their journeyman exams with good marks. A few even went on to become masters in their own right, others married fellow masters and worked side-by-side with them, and some got married and left the trade. When male bookbinding masters saw the success of the women and that they were serious, they lost their reticence and started taking on more woman apprentices. As a result, it became much easier for women to develop their skills as binders, much easier than when Lühr began.

The bookbinding workshop of the Lette-Verein closed in September 1937. In 1944, it became the equivalent of a non-profit organization, and in 1982 it became co-educational.

Maria Lühr died alone in 1969 at age 95.

From Franz Weiße, "Maria Lühr in Berlin 65 Jahre Meisterin,"
Allgemeiner Anzeiger für Buchbindereien, Vol 62, Nr 3, 1949.

Just as Paul Adam's Praktischen Arbeiten des Buchbinders was translated into English as Practical Bookbinding, Douglas Cockerell's Bookbinding and the Care of Books was translated into German and published by Felix Hübel in 1902 as Der Bucheinband und die Pflege des Buches. A new edition edited by Lühr came out in 1925 with an introduction by her. She wrote that in revising the first edition, she found it easy to get into Cockerell's methods as like him, she was a student of Cobden-Sanderson and could correct and expand it without deviating from the original English edition. She remarked that some techniques were a bit too cumbersome for use in German binderies, but every Meister can adjust as needed. Overall, the book describes the best traditions of craft-based bookbinding, and it is hoped that this kind of work is acknowledged.

Der Bucheinband und die Pflege des Buches.

Lühr's introduction for Der Bucheinband und die Pflege des Buches.

Lühr wrote several articles for the Buchbinderlehrling about decorated papers and papermaking.

• Die Herstellung selbstgefertigter Überzugpapiere (Buntpapiere), A. Wasser- oder Oelpapiere
• Der Buchbinderlehrling, Bd. 1, 1927, Nr. 9: [65]-67
• Die Herstellung selbstgefertigter Überzugpapiere (Buntpapiere), B. Kleisterpapiere
• Der Buchbinderlehrling, Bd. 1, 1927, Nr. 12: 91-94
• Die Herstellung des Papiers in alter und neuer Zeit
• Der Buchbinderlehrling, 1929, Bd. 3, Nr. 2: 12-19
• Bd. 3, Nr. 7: 76-80
• Bd. 3, Nr. 8: 93-98
• Bd. 3, Nr. 10: 128

Swatch from the article "Die Herstellung selbstgefertigter
Überzugpapiere (Buntpapiere), A. Wasser- oder Oelpapiere"

• Meine persönlichen Erinnerungen an Cobden-Sanderson. Der Buchbinderlehrling, Jg. 4, Nr. 8, 1930.
• Die Frau im Buchbinderhandwerk. Das Deutsche Buchbinderhandwerk, Bd. 1, Nr. 38, 1937.

Articles about Maria Lühr and women in bookbinding

• Die Frauen in der Buchbinderei und der Kunstbuchbinderei, Archiv für Buchbinderei, v12, 1912-1913.
• Eine moderne Buchbinderin. Die Kunstwelt: deutsche Zeitschrift für die bildende Kunst. 3 Jg., Nr. 18, 1913-1914.
• Collin, Ernst - Die Buchbinderei als Handwerk und Frauenberuf, Deutsche Frauenkleidung und Frauenkultur, Heft 2, 1923.
• Steinbrucker, Charlotte - Die Frau von heute als Buchbinderin, Zeitschrift für Bücherfreunde, vol 37, 1933.
• Weiße, Franz - Maria Lühr in Berlin 65 Jahre Meisterin, Allgemeiner Anzeiger für Buchbindereien, Bd. 62, Nr. 3, 1949.
• Maria Lühr 50 Jahre Meisterin, Allgemeiner Anzeiger für Buchbindereien, Bd. 62, Nr. 4, 1952.
• Maria Lühr in Berlin 65 Jahre Meisterin, Allgemeiner Anzeiger für Buchbindereien, Bd. 80, 1967.
• Etzbold, Ute Maria. Maria Lühr - als erste Frau Meisterin im Buchbinderhandwerk. Journal für Druckgeschichte, 20. Jg (nf), Nr. 3, 2014.