More decorated papers from Deutsche Einbandkunst, 1921

I recently acquired 2 more copies of the catalog to Deutsche Einbandkunst edited by, and also with an article by, Ernst Collin. Why more copies, well the catalog was produced in two versions, a deluxe of twenty unbound copies on handmade wove rag (I-XX), with the remaining copies (21-2,000) on a machine-made wove rag paper. My copy of the deluxe edition (Nr. XX) was bound in an unsigned ¼ leather binding with cloth sides and gilt top edge. It is the regular edition copies in their decorated  paper wrappers made or provided by ten different decorated papermakers.

I shared the first batch of three here. Below, the next two:

Copy # 852, paper made by Theo Paul Hermann, Leipzig.
This is a printed paste paper (Kleisterdruck)

Copy # 921, paper made by Anne-Marie Irmler, Berlin.
An expressionistic stenciled paper, "schabloniertes Papier."
She is mentioned in an article that appeared in the Papier-Fabrikant,
a paper trades publication. (749-750)

Not going to make a habit of aquiring more copies unless the papers really grab me... 😂

Textbook for Trade School Apprentices

Just received Der Fachunterricht der schmückenden Berufe, Buchbinder (1927) by Beyer u. Weißenmüller. It was written to accompany the instruction apprentices would receive in trade school,  supplementing what they would learn in their binderies. This specific manual was written for those in more remote, less resource rich areas, away from the major urban centers.

Professional Instruction for the Decorative
Trades - Bookbinding

Title page.

A note to the reader.

The exercises in this little volume should be solved by you independently. Given your practical experiences and knowledge, this should not be difficult. The trade specific descriptions are there to supplement what you know, and serve as encouragement to continue on and experiment, even outside of school. 

See also my post on "designing spines". 

How to draw ellipses. Always need to have a chapter
on drawing shapes, including geometric solids...

Design template for different binding types, from
stiffened paper to "better" quarter cloth. The template
suggests proportions, and thinking about
where what materials and colors are used.

Letterform basics...

Type, letter spacing, kerning.

Placing a title on cover and spine.

Experimenting with color and placement
on the binding.

Base color and the addition and lightening
with white. Now try this with other colors.
The colors are hand-painted in.

Edge treatments: Solid, sprinkled, marbled.
Note the variants. As before, experiment...

Tipped-in paste paper swatches.

More tip-ins, this time sprinkled papers.

Combining the elements: Edge treatment,
covering paper, and end paper.

Stiffened paper binding with a label.
Cloth spine with decorative paper sides.

Quarter cloth with cloth spine, marbled paper
sides, uncolored edges, and end paper.

Another quarter cloth with different color
combinations.

As apprentices left school at a young age
(early teens), they continued to receive
instruction in citizenship and social studies.

Deutsche Einbandkunst, 1921

Ernst Collin edited and published Deutsche Einbandkunst, the catalog for the Jakob Krauße Bund's (J-K-B) exhibition that was held in the Weißer Saal of Berlin’s Schloßmuseum September-October 1921. The catalog featured essays by Ernst (2), Paul Kersten (2), G.A.E. Bogeng, and others. Ernst’s essays were “Wer ist ein Bücherfreund” (“Who is a Bibliophile”) and the uncredited “Über Bucheinbände” (“About Bookbindings”) describing the various structures hand bookbinders applied and what viewers would encounter in the exhibit. Other essays provide context to the J-K-B of which Kersten was director and other aspects of the exhibit such as bindings by Jakob Krauße drawn from various libraries. Displayed bindings are minimally described in the checklist that is divided into several parts: Deceased members Georg Collin (12), Eduard Ludwig (15), Fritz Nitsch (1) and active members including Otto Dorfer (24), Paul Kersten (42), Otto Pfaff (14), and Hugo Wagner (12). In total, there were several hundred bindings and other works. The catalog also contains forty pages of advertisements for antiquarians and booksellers, binderies, printers, and purveyors to the trade. Ernst wrote several articles about this exhibition in other publications for the book trades and general public.

The catalog was produced in two versions, a deluxe of twenty unbound copies on handmade wove rag (IXX), with the remaining copies (21-2,000) on a machine-made wove rag paper. My copy of the deluxe edition (Nr. XX) was bound in an unsigned ¼ leather binding with cloth sides and gilt top edge. 

Of interest is that the decorated wrappers for the regular edition were made by ten different decorated paper makers. Below some examples

The pastepaper example illustrated above from my collection (Nr. 1887)
was made by Xaver Wittmann, Abt. B.B.K., Konstanz a. R[hein]
who provided 200 pieces.

I was recently able to acquire two more copies of the catalog with different decorated papers for the wrappers.

Copy #1939, paper also made by Xaver Wittmann,
Abt. B.B.K., Konstanz a. B[odensee].

Advertisement for Xaver Wittman from the catalog.
They also sold "hand painted" book cloth, in addition to decorated
papers for covering and endpapers.

Copy # 375, paper made by Beyer-Preußer & Glasemann,
Niedernhausen im Taunus.

.

Advertisement for Beyer-Preußer & Glasemann from the catalog

"Quality decorated papers of all kinds for covering and endpapers
using our own proprietary techniques."

Colophon with all the papers and their makers.

Below, all advertisers in the catalog. In addition to some of the exhibitors, the advertisers included booksellers, publishers, hand- and large trade binderies, and suppliers of all sorts. Download from here.

Another Sprayed and Stenciled Paper

Recently acquired another volume of the Archiv für Buchbinderei (Vols. 21-22, 1921-22). Another article by Ernst Collin, and 2 brief mentions/reviews of his Pressbengel. More about the Schablonenspritzpapier technique here and here. 

Bookbinding Materials Swatches, Con't

I'm continuing to go through my old trade manuals and journals scanning the materials swatches that were so often included. This time the swatches are from "L. Brade's Illustriertes Buchbinderbuch," edited and reworked by Paul Kersten in 1921. The closest edition available in Hathitrust is from 1916, but is lacking the materials samples and advertising.

The swatches themselves were provided by various workshops and wholesalers, included the contact information, and were mounted on different stocks for whom contact information was also provided.

Enjoy!

Marbled with colors by Paul Szigrist, Leipzig.

Marbled with colors by Paul Szigrist, Leipzig.

Printed and batik artists' papers from the firm of Hanns Doenges, Wiesbaden.

Papers sold by Wilhelm Leo's Successors, Stuttgart.

Hand-colored papers from Künstlerpresse, Dresden.

Hand-colored papers from Künstlerpresse, Dresden.

Endpapers, some decorative from Wilhelm Valentin, Berlin.

Endpapers, some decorative from Wilhelm Valentin, Berlin.

David Bourbeau's Wizard of Oz

I've long been enamored with the work of David Bourbeau, and had to jump at the chance to acquire this design idea for a binding on Barry Moser's Pennyroyal Press edition of the Wizard of Oz dated 6.6.'04. Sadly, he was never able to execute the binding as he passed 8/22/2009. Barbara Blumenthal wrote a wonderful "in memoriam" for him in The Bonefolder, vol. 6, nr. 1, fall 2009. From the "in memoriam:"

He was introduced to the art of the book by Leonard Baskin, and in 1972 he sold his business and took a two-year apprenticeship with master bookbinder [and Wiemeler student] Arno Werner. In 1975 he established the Thistle Bindery, located at various times in Northampton, Easthampton, and Florence, and in 1977 he took on the first of his many students and apprentices. 

A consummate bookbinder, he designed and constructed strong, innovative bindings for fine press books while also working in book restoration and art conservation. Having coined the word “bibliotect,” or book-architect, he observed that a binding “is not merely a fancy cover, the facade, but all of the elements, seen and unseen, that form the foundation and structure of the book.” This is borne out in his many organically unified editions, among them Poe’s The Raven, with graceful wing-like forms emerging from a raven-black binding, and Robert Francis’s posthumous collection Late Fire, Late Snow, whose handmade paper cover contains gold-tooled lines representing the shape of the title poem. Both of these books were bound using fine papers, a bookbinding material championed by David.

The Raven as bound by David Bourbeau.
Bound in full paper over boards with cloth spine reinforcement; sewn on three
linen tapes; leather wrapped headband; the marbled paper cover was designed by the binder
 "to resemble ravens' wings"; the papers were editioned by Steven Auger who
learned to marble from the binder. 8.5 x 28 x 2 centimeters. Created 1980.
Image from the catalog of the 100th Anniversary Exhibition of the Guild of Book Workers.

His design for The Wizard of Oz would have been executed similarly, except instead of being full paper it would have had a black Niger goat spine and fore-edge trim with the design being executed as a paste paper. The titled would have been tooled from the title page using "gold dots within the emerald light opening  in the black clouds."

Design sketch and technical specifications for David Bourbeau's design for the
binding of The Wizard of Oz.

Below Bourbeau's concept for the cover design using a unique paste paper. As in the case of the Raven, a design binding need not be full leather or vellum.

As an aside, a copy of Bourbeau's The Raven that was bound in an edition of 100 copies for sale (125 total) was available from The Veatchs Arts of the Books. It is mine now.

So, how do you approach the design of your bindings?

More Bookbinding Materials Swatches

More materials swatches from the apprentice journal, Der Buchbinderlehrling. These were a regular fixture and informed about all manner of materials – decorative, utilitarian, exotic, innovative – everything to keep the apprentice aware of what was out there. Samples were often associated with articles, and vendor contact information was often included.

A variety of decorative Japanese papers including wood veneer.
Der Buchbinderlehrling, vol. 4, nr. 7, 1930.

Embossed sheepskin at top with imitation "leathers" below.
These accompanied the article "Leder und Lederimitationen" by Paul Preß.
Der Buchbinderlehrling, vol. 5, nr. 1, 1931.

Swatches of gauze, crash, super, shirting.
For the article "Heftgaze - Papyrolin - Shirting" by Paul Preß.
Der Buchbinderlehrling, vol. 5, nr. 7, 1931.

Swatches of different bookcloths and fabrics used in covering. For the article
"Büchertuch - Halbleinen - Reinleinen - Rohleinen - Lasting - Moleskin"
by Paul Preß. Der Buchbinderlehrling, vol. 6, nr. 1, 1932.

Swatches of different Pliaphan and Zellstoff (Cellulose / Gelatine based clear films).
For the article "Zellglass und Gelatinefolien"" by Paul Preß.
Der Buchbinderlehrling, vol. 6, nr. 7, 1932.

Swatches of Igraf, a cellulose-based ersatz paper/parchment with the look of
Elephant Hide. For the article "Igraf in Bookbinding" by Walter Gerlach.
Der Buchbinderlehrling, vol. 7, nr. 1, 1933.

Swatches of western papers. For the article "Der Werkstoff Papier" by Paul Preß.
Der Buchbinderlehrling, vol. 7, nr. 12, 1933.

Marbling

I'm not a real user of marbled papers, let alone a marbler. I did, however, marble with oil paints before learning to make my real love of paste papers during my internship at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg (1984). We also marbled once with water colors on a carragheen. After my return to Baltimore to finish college, I made some more marbled papers that I used on some of my early bindings. I think I marbled once more in the late 80s, but that was it... My expectations for thus upcoming foray are rather low, that way I won't be disappointed.. ;-)

Not sure what I was thinking here... It was my 1984 internship and early days.
Binding covered in water color marbled paper, housed in a slipcase marbled with oil paints.

Box made (1984) of scored and folded board edged in cloth with oil marbled paper sides.
Technique is described in Franz Zeier's Schachtel, Mappe, Bucheinband (Books, Boxes, and Portfolios),
My first manual, and still a favorite!

Fritz Wiese's Der Bucheinband as an Edelpappband
(millimeter binding), one of the first structures I learned. I bound this one on
my own in 1985 between internship and heading back to Germany for my apprenticeship.

Gabrielle Grünebaum's Bunterpapiervbook bound during my apprenticeship, ca 1986.

My notes from Nuremberg (1984) with samples of my first forays into marbling tipped-in,
my first book on basic marbling for hobbyists covered in my own paper, and oil paints,
and other marbling supplies I bought years ago to try my hand at it again. Instead of
dropping the paints on water, I learned to use a very dilute paste water (very thin cream)
that gave more control over the colors in terms of making patterns.
I think I'll use methylcellulose.

Fritz Otto checking things out and hoping he gets included in the party...
Still some supplies to get. We'll probably do this over Christmas break
when all will be home for two weeks+!