Showing posts with label Fritz Eberhardt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fritz Eberhardt. Show all posts

Saturday, March 20, 2021

Fritz Eberhardt’s Finishing Tools and Technique

It was once again my pleasure to collaborate with Don Rash and his Boss Dog Press by translating essays from the German that highlight the work of one of that tradition's finest binders, a student of Ignatz Wiemeler. From the downloadable prospectus

The Boss Dog Press is pleased to announce the upcoming publication of Fritz Eberhardt’s Finishing Tools and Technique, the sixth book from the Press and the third volume in the series Eberhardtiana. The goal of this series is to preserve the writings and art of fine hand bookbinders Fritz Eberhardt (1917-1997) and his wife Trudi (1921 -2004). In addition to being two of the finest binders of the twentieth century, Fritz and Trudi were teachers, mentors and good friends to many practitioners of the book arts, and their work and lives deserve to be remembered and celebrated. It has been the honor of the Press to do this in a small way.

Finishing Tools follows 2004’s Rules for Bookbinders and 2014’s Three Lectures. It catalogs 94 unique finishing tools which Fritz fabricated for tooling in blind and gold on his design bindings. Each tool is represented by a description, measurements, and a scanned image of the tool’s impression. There will also be digital photographs of the tools, of the electric tooling station that Fritz used, and of a paper tooling pattern used on Fritz’s design binding of Gordon Craig’s Paris Diary. The catalog proper is preceded by two essays dealing with Fritz’s work, one by Professor Hans Halbey and one by Fritz himself. The essays were published together in the March 1990 issue of the German bibliophile journal Philobiblon. 

Millimeter binding (Edelpappband) covered in decorated paper
by the binder with tooling based on Eberhardt's unique tools,
leather trim at top and bottom, and title stamped in gold. 

Title page with photo of Eberhardt tooling a binding.

One of Eberhardt's bindings and the beginning of the essay where
he discusses his binding philosophy.

Photos of Eberhardt's tools with description and
printed impression of the design.

From the colophon:

This is the third volume of EBERHARDTIANA. It was compiled, designed and executed by Don Rash, with the ongoing support of Elaine Rash. Types used are digital versions of Herman Zapf's Aldus for the text and Michaelangelo for the titling. The book was composed in Adobe InDes1gn. Boxcar Press supplied the polymer plates for printing. The paper was made at the University of Iowa Center for the Book by Tim Barrett and student co-workers, and as printed damp on the BDP Washington handpress. Inks are Graphic Chemical Albion

Matte Black and Hanco Leaf Brown. The tool impressions in the catalog were done by scanning smoke proofs, converting them to printable images in Adobe Illustrator and printing them with the text. All photographic images are digitally printed onto 48 gram Asuka paper.

The edition consists of 80 copies, with 10 copies (I-X) unbound, and with 50 regular copies (1-50) and 20 hors commerce copies(A-T) bound in full decorated paper over boards with leather strips at head and tail.

To learn more about the Eberhardt's, read their oral history recorded by Valerie Metzler, in which they discuss their life, their training, their time in the United States, and much more. It can be found in Volume 37, Number 2, 2002 of the Guild of Book Workers' Journal. Very much worth reading.


Friday, June 19, 2015

Fritz and Trudi Eberhardt - An Oral History

Don Rash and his Boss Dog Press have been publishing a series of titles in the series of Eberhardtiana, the first was 2003's Rules for Bookbinders, now sold out. The most recent is Three Lectures, a compilation of three lectures given by Fritz Eberhardt.

Cover of GBW Journal showing tooling by Fritz Eberhardt

The Guild of Book Workers has just released what I hope is the first set of many digitized sets of their Journal. The oral history of the Eberhardts conducted by Valerie Metzler, and they discussed their life, their training, their time in the United States, and much more. It can be found in Volume 37, Number 2, 2002 and downloaded. Very much worth reading.

Fritz Eberhardt was born in Silesia (originally part of Germany; now part of Poland) in 1917, he suffered from polio at an early age, which resulted in a permanent limp. After an apprenticeship he studied bookbinding formally under Ignatz Wiemeler at the Leipzig Academy for Graphic Arts, and calligraphy under the prodigy Rudo Spemann, and later, in Offenbach, with Hermann Zapf. Following the end of the war, he walked out of the Russian occupied zone and into West Germany. There he met his future wife, Trudi Luffert, who was also a binder. In the early 1950s the Eberhardts came to Philadelphia, where he was employed by the Library Company. Within a few years they were able to move to the farm on Old Sumneytown Pike where they would cement their reputations as two of the finest American hand binders. In addition to his binding work, Eberhardt was internationally recognized for his calligraphy. Until his death in 1998, he was a continuing voice for the artistic and cultural value of bookbinding and book works, from his early dealings with the Philadelphia book world through the debates on standards and the beginnings of institutional book arts instruction, as well as a proponent of a more professional approach for our book arts organizations. Don Rash was among his most accomplished students.


Depicted is his binding on Felix Timmermans, Pieter Bruegel, 1950, featuring his signature hand-cut finishing tools. [From the Guild of Book Workers 100th Anniversary Exhibition Retrospective]

Here a link to his obituary from the Abbey Newsletter at CoOL.
 

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Fritz Eberhardt - Three Lectures

Don Rash and his Boss Dog Press have just published the second title in a series of Eberhardtiana, the first having been 2003's Rules for Bookbinders. Rules is an "unfinished poem written in German and English before Fritz's death. The stanzas were lettered so that each stanza is presented in both languages on a page, separated by a sketch by Fritz." Sold out at the press, a copy is still available at Oak Knoll Books.

Three Lectures is a compilation of three lectures given by Fritz Eberhardt. The first, "On Binding" was delivered at the opening of Hand Bookbinding Today; An International Art, at Temple University in Philadelphia in 1978. The second, "Preserving the Materials of a Heritage" was given at a 1981 seminar. In it, Eberhardt talks about the book conservation challenges he and his wife faced after settling in the Philadelphia area in the mid-1950s. The third is "Bookbinding: The Craft, The Skill, The Trade, and The Art" given 1983 at the "Art and Craft of the Book: A Celebration" seminar held at Dickinson College.

Three Lectures  is printed on Frankfurt Laid paper in Linotype digital Aldus and Don Rash's own "experimental" blackletter font FritzGotische for the title and headings. The frontispiece was printed as a moku hanga woodblock print by Rash after a photograph in John & Mary's Journal by A. Pierce Bounds where the third lecture was originally published. The case binding is covered in a pastepaper with printed paper labels on spine and front board. An example of gediegene and zünftige (solid and befitting the craft/trade) bookbinding in the finest German tradition.
  • Eberhardt, Fritz. Three Lectures. Plains, PA: Boss Dog Press, 2014. 
  • 8vo. paper-covered boards, labels on spine and front cover, top edge cut, other edges uncut iv, 39+(1) pages 
  • Limited to 100 numbered copies, 70 numbered and signed by Don Rash.
  • Price: $250.00 
  • Copies in sheets for binding may also be available from the press.
Fritz Eberhardt was born in Silesia (originally part of Germany; now part of Poland) in 1917, he suffered from polio at an early age, which resulted in a permanent limp. After an apprenticeship he studied bookbinding formally under Ignatz Wiemeler at the Leipzig Academy for Graphic Arts, and calligraphy under the prodigy Rudo Spemann, and later, in Offenbach, with Hermann Zapf. Following the end of the war, he walked out of the Russian occupied zone and into West Germany. There he met his future wife, Trudi Luffert, who was also a binder. In the early 1950s the Eberhardts came to Philadelphia, where he was employed by the Library Company. Within a few years they were able to move to the farm on Old Sumneytown Pike where they would cement their reputations as two of the finest American hand binders. In addition to his binding work, Eberhardt was internationally recognized for his calligraphy. Until his death in 1998, he was a continuing voice for the artistic and cultural value of bookbinding and book works, from his early dealings with the Philadelphia book world through the debates on standards and the beginnings of institutional book arts instruction, as well as a proponent of a more professional approach for our book arts organizations. Don Rash was among his most accomplished students. [From the Guild of Book Workers 100th Anniversary Exhibition Retrospective] Depicted is his binding on Felix Timmermans, Pieter Bruegel, 1950, featuring his signature hand-cut finishing tools. 

Eberhardt was also the focus of an oral history recorded in 1993 by archivist Valerie Metzger that was published in the Guild of Book Workers' Journal, volume XXXVII, number 2, Fall 2002. This article is a must-read for those interested in the work of Eberhardt and the traditions and circumstances of bookbinding in Germany during the 1930s and 40s, but also for those working in the book arts. The introduction shared via the Guild listserv can be read here. Eberhardt was also the focus of an illustrated article "Binds That Time: Homage to a Master Bookbinder" by Tony Haverstick, published  in the June 1998 (vol 3, nr. 6) issue of the now defunct Biblio magazine. Here a link to his obituary from the Abbey Newsletter at CoOL.

Binding covered in original pastepaper
Click here to see how the pastepaper was made on the Boss Dog Press blog

Moku hanga woodblock print by Don Rash

Photograph in John & Mary's Journal by A. Pierce Bounds
 
Don Rash's Eberhardtiana series pays very fitting homage to his Meister, and mentor, Fritz Eberhardt. These lectures are as relevant today as when they were given over 30 years ago, and touch on all aspects of the life of private practice bookbinders, book artists, and conservators.