#pynson printers

[uwmspeccoll]

Milestone Monday

On this day, November 21 in 1694, the French writer, historian, and philosopher François-Marie Arouet de Voltaire was born in Paris. To commemorate this birthday milestone, we present a 1928 Random House edition of Voltaire's magnum opus Candide (originally published simultaneously in five countries in 1759), with illustrations by the notable American artist and illustrator Rockwell Kent. 

This edition, the first title published under the Random House imprint, was printed in an edition of 1470 copies on French rag paper by the Pynson Printers of New York under the direction of typographer and book designer Elmer Adler, with type designed by Lucian Bernhard and paragraph designs by Rockwell Kent; both cast by the Bauersche Giesserei, Frankfort. Our copy is signed by the artist.

Happy birthday anniversary, Voltaire!

View other posts on works by Voltaire.

View other posts with illustrations by Rockwell Kent.

View other Milestone Monday posts.

[uwmspeccoll]

Decorative Sunday

This Sunday we feature woodcuts, photogravure, and specimens from legendary American papermaker Dard Hunter’s A Papermaking Pilgrimage to Japan, Korea and China, published in 1936 in New York by Pynson Printers in a limited edition of 350. Each edition is signed by Hunter and the founder of Pynson Printers, typographer and book designer Elmer Adler. The woodcuts were cut by J. J. Lankes and the photogravure plates were printed by Photogravure & Color Co. of New York. The book was bound by master binder Gerhard Gerlach, a student of lauded German bookbinder Ignatz Wiemeler. The book includes original specimens collected by Hunter.

The first photogravure above (image #2), the frontispience for the book, is a kakemono by an unknown Japanese artist memorializing “Three Gods of Papermaking.” Depicted are Cai Lun, traditionally attributed as the Chinese inventor of paper in the early second century and Damjing (Donchō in Japan), the Korean Buddhist monk that is often credited with introducing paper to Japan in 610. They are shown alongside Seibei Mochizuki, who in 1572 brought papermaking to Nishijima, a mountainous region of Yamanashi Prefecture.

This book is the generous gift of the trusts of Hazel O. Metzner and Delia G. Ovitz, local sisters who worked as Librarians at UWM’s predecessor institution, the Milwaukee State Normal School. 

You can read more about Dard Hunter in this Typography Tuesday post.

See more wood engravings by J. J. Lankes.

Find more Decorative Sunday posts here. 

-Olivia, Special Collections Graduate Intern

[uwmspeccoll]

Staff Pick of the Week

Once an art historian, always an art historian; that’s how they saying goes. Well not really, I just made that up, but now you can quote me on that one. This week for my staff pick I couldn’t help but return to my art historical roots and choose a book with beautiful illustrations. This week’s pick is The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder with illustrations by Rockwell Kent.

The Bridge of San Luis Rey is Wilder’s second novel which was originally published Albert & Charles Boni in 1927, with illustrations by Amy Drevenstedt. The novel tells the story of several people who die in the collapse of an Inca rope bridge in Peru, and the events that led to them being on the bridge together. A friar who has witnessed the accident then goes about inquiring into the lives of the victims, seeking some sort of cosmic answer to the question of why each had to die. Wilder’s story won the Pulitzer Prize for best novel in 1928.

This 1929 edition was also published by Albert and Charles Boni but this time includes color lithographs by the prolific American illustrator Rockwell Kent. Kent is probably best known for his illustrations of Moby Dick and The Canterbury Tales, but he did many illustrations including woodcuts, lithographs, and wood engravings for many books. Kent was an adventurer and an author in his own right, writing accounts of his explorations of Greenland and Alaska in  works such as  N by E and Wilderness: A Journal of Quiet Adventure in Alaska. This is the first example I have seen of Kent illustrating in color and the results are beautiful.

This edition of 1,100 copies was designed by Pynson Printers under the supervision of Elmer Adler. The text is handset Baskerville cast at the Village Foundry of F.W. Goudy. All copies of this edition were signed by the author and the artist. Our copy is number 147, but the first 100 copies also contained proofs of the lithographs signed by Kent. If only!

-- Cameron, UWM Special Collections Graduate Intern

[uwmspeccoll]

Staff Pick of the Week: A. A. Milne

I finished evaluating books for the Historical Curriculum Collection some months ago, and while doing so I became aware that A. A. Milne was not represented. This gap in the collection was recently filled by a generous donation from Margot Paddock.

We received Now We Are Six illustrated by Ernest H. Shepard and published in 1927 by Methuen & Co. Ltd., London, in a limited edition of 200 copies signed by author and artist. Our copy of When I Was Very Young, an autobiographical sketch of Milne’s childhood, is a limited edition of 842 copies printed by the Pynson Printers in New York in 1930, and is signed by Milne. This publication was also printed for Methuen, but 603 were distributed in America by Random House,   

Pynson Printers was founded by the typographer Elmer Adler in 1922 and produced many limited editions for Random House, which Adler also helped to found, from 1930 until the close of Pynson Printers in 1940.

Both Milne and the illustrator Ernest H. Shepard did much more in their careers than children’s books, for example, they both contributed to the weekly humor magazine Punch. Regardless of the mixed feelings each had about being remembered for children’s books, this is what made them immortal. Winnie the Pooh, Christopher Robin, and Eeyore, after 90 years, are still finding their way in to the hearts of children.

-Alison