Part 6

Very different in conception and treatment, but more national in character, is the decorative illustration by Charles Kós (page 236) for his poem, “The Death of Attila”; while other eminent book-decorators are Willy Pogány, many of whose drawings have been published in England, Alexander Nagy and Kriesch-Körösföi, both leaders of the famous Gödöllö group of artists. Nagy is a master of line, endowed with a poetic imagination, and he adopts with wonderful success those forms in which the Hungarian nation is so rich. Characteristic of his art is the headpiece shown on this page. A quaintly treated frontispiece by Blasius Busay is also reproduced. The original design was executed in burnt cork.

SWEDEN

THE ART OF THE BOOK IN SWEDEN BY AUGUST BRUNIUS

In Sweden, as elsewhere, the latter half of the nineteenth century brought about a brighter period for the Art of the Book as regards typography, quality of paper, and binding. Still the decay had hardly been as great as in other branches of decoration and handicraft. Two publishing firms, P. A. Norstedt, Stockholm, and Berling, Lund, have maintained a high standard of book-making. On the other hand, a more artistic character was adopted between 1870 and 1880 by using traditional means, by imitating Gothic manuscripts, or by a somewhat arbitrary use of Old Northern ornamental art. The renaissance, which in Sweden burst forth at the beginning of the nineties, originated in a revival of interest in the decorative arts, especially in the textiles of the Viking and Saga periods. The Old Northern spirit ran like an undercurrent through the life of the whole country, and culminated in Artur Hazelius’s epoch-making museum work, Skansen and the Northern Museum. Just at the right moment there was added a practical study of modern bookmaking in England and on the Continent. A whole generation was seized by the new ideas which were proclaimed with such power by William Morris.

To initiate a movement, combining as it does artistic and practical knowledge, a passionate idealist is required. Such an idealist is Waldemar Zachrisson, a printer of Gothenburg (born 1861). He studied in Sweden and at the best printing firms in Hamburg, Leipzig, Vienna, Berlin, and St. Petersburg, and developed his taste by constant study of the masterpieces of great times and the new English and American fine printing practised by Morris and De Vinne. As soon as he had secured his own great business he began to work for the raising of the whole trade. He founded a union of experts, “Allmänna Svenska Boktrycka-reföreningen” (Swedish Printers’ Society), which worked for the establishment of the Museum of Industrial Art in Stockholm and the Technical School for Industrial Art in Gothenburg. In a number of ways, through artistic advertisements and articles in the trade papers, he tried to prepare the ground for a higher standard in the printing-trade generally, and his distinct practical outlook made his efforts eminently successful.

Lately in Sweden the common feature in the aims for developing the art of the book has been the accentuation of the national character. The difficulties have here been considerable. As yet we do not possess a fount designed by a Swedish artist, but the types we have are founded on an old predilection for the Roman type. Already in 1550 the Roman type had been introduced into Sweden. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Swedish taste was concentrated upon Dutch and French models. The Roman type which is now used in Sweden, and which is cut in Hamburg, suggests Caslon’s somewhat modernized type. It is called “Mediæval-Roman,” and has many advantages, is easy to read, and has an unassuming simplicity. The light tone may perhaps sometimes seem monotonously grey. English readers will certainly find its resemblance to the English type, but will also easily discover the differences.

It is characteristic of Swedish printing that it appears to best advantage and is most personal in publications of an occasional character intended for a select public. The rest of the productions are on a considerably lower level. To English and French tastes our _belles lettres_ show an astonishing lack of typographical unity. There is a great variety in the size and makeup, and also various many-coloured paper covers, both of good and bad style, are used. However, an improvement has occurred in the last few years, a quieter taste has manifested itself. A good step forward is the excellent publication of Swedish classics issued by the “Svenska Vitterhetssamfundet” (the Swedish Literature Society), and printed at Albert Bonnier’s works. Here a severe and pure style is combined with exquisite material, and great care is bestowed upon the typography. An undertaking like this would be a credit to any country. In equally good style is the Swedish edition of Olaus Magnus’s “Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus,” published by another society, the “Michaelisgillet” (the Michael Guild). It was written about 1550 by the last Catholic Archbishop of Sweden, who was one of the greatest travellers and most interesting writers of the Renaissance. The text is illustrated by old woodcuts, which had been carried out according to Olaus Magnus’s own designs. Two volumes of this splendid work have been printed by Almqvist and Wiksell, Uppsala.

In a similar manner the great Handicraft Exhibition at Stockholm in 1909 produced four Swedish classics; they were given as prizes in a lottery. These four books were arranged and printed by four different firms, an achievement which could not have been accomplished ten years earlier.

This general survey of the art of the book during the last decades would be incomplete if it did not mention a printing firm which, through its good typography, now occupies a prominent position. The two brothers Hugo and Carl Lagerström have bestowed a great deal of labour on trying to attain a higher level in printing. They learnt their trade in Germany, England, and France, and worked for some years—one in Stockholm, the other in Copenhagen—before they founded the Lagerström Brothers printing firm in 1903. They have also taken a prominent part in the arts and crafts movement generally. They started a paper called the _Nordisk Boktryckarkonst_ (Northern Art of Printing), and founded two societies, one of which is the abovementioned “Michaelisgillet.” Dr. Isak Collijn, a distinguished librarian, was the third founder.

The first book Lagerström Brothers printed was a kind of typographical prospectus. Among the eight volumes by August Strindberg there is a chemical work called “Antibarbarus.” This book was decorated by a young artist, Artur Sjögren, who is a book-decorator with a profound knowledge of old Swedish typography. The book was printed in a small choice edition on hand-made paper, and four pages are shown here (pp. 249 to 252). Since then Lagerström Brothers have published numerous large and small books, always for a more limited public, but at a price which only slightly exceeds the ordinary book-prices. Their productions express the same ideas of compromise that the English Medici Society is striving for.

The bibliophile public in Sweden leans towards the old books, and would not support a real aristocratic book-business on new lines and with modern aims. Lagerström Brothers, however, have printed some of the most beautiful Swedish books, with and without decoration: a couple of historical memoirs from the time of Charles XII; a series of small books selected from old Swedish literature; and finally, a reprint of a book which certainly has no equivalent in English literature, but which all the same would probably have some interest for an English public. The title is “Bonde-practica,” and it is a kind of text-book for peasants in nature-study and hygiene, partly written in verse. The book was published for the first time in 1662. It is a collection of observations founded on the theories of astrology, and told with much humour. This book reveals the Swedish outlook on life and the education of the people in olden times. Leon Welamson, a young artist, has made for the new edition of this curious old book some simple and vigorous illustrations, which without being imitations are executed in the old style. It is a masterpiece of Swedish typography.

Book illustrations and decoration play an important part in the modern art of the book. Illustrated books have always been popular, and many of our best artists of to-day began their careers as illustrators. Carl Larsson is a typical Swedish illustrator and a distinguished painter. He illustrates, in colour or black-and-white, his own text. But he belongs to an older school in so far as he does not pay so much attention to the claims of decoration. Olle Hjortzberg is a comparatively young artist. He is in part influenced by the modern English school of book decorators, and has done work that would satisfy even the most exacting critics. He has acquired an extraordinary mastery over the early Christian language of symbols, and has in his books used it in an ornamental manner with great success. At present he is engaged on a richly decorated “State” Bible, (“Gustav V’s Bible,”) a gigantic undertaking, in which both artist and printer hope to surpass themselves (p. 248).

While Olle Hjortzberg and Artur Sjögren are more closely attached to the technique of the book, Einar Nerman, one of the youngest Swedish artists, is more independent. He has illustrated several children’s books and has done some caricatures. There is a touch of the rococo in his drawing, and elegance combined with a bold wit which proves some French influence. His curving lines bring forth a “roguishness” that is unparalleled in Swedish art, and can compare with the best foreign examples. The illustrations to the well-known tale by Hans Andersen, “Peter the Swineherd” (p. 256), are purely original.

Finally, a few words regarding modern Swedish bookbinding. Our productions have, from the sixteenth century up to the present time, followed sometimes German and sometimes French models; during certain periods, however, our craftsman have produced work important and original enough to be called “Swedish.” The middle of the eighteenth century especially was a flourishing age for the art of bookbinding. A hundred years later the art began to lose its value and importance, but before many decades had passed the first sign of an upward tendency was noticed. It was in 1886, when Gustaf Hedberg returned from Paris and London where he had been studying for a long time. He has designed and carried out numerous bindings, and has been especially successful in attaining a rich effect by small means. His ingenuity and ability in giving even to a simple binding an original character are qualities associated with the great craftsmen of all time.

The Countess Eva Sparre, _née_ Mannerheim, is at present our leading artist in bookbinding, in the sense that the work is entirely her own, independent of traditional style and original in composition, in execution, and especially in colour-effects. She has not executed a great number of bindings, but they are all distinguished by individual character, very modest in their ornamentation, and exquisite in the use of the materials. Miss Greta Morssing, who has chiefly studied the modern English tooled work, is also an accomplished exponent of the art.

AMERICA

THE ART OF THE BOOK IN AMERICA BY WILLIAM DANA ORCUTT

The Art of the Book in America received a tremendous impetus as a result of the work of William Morris in England. Previous to that time American printing showed no originality, the finest examples being based firmly upon the best English work of the period. The highest point of excellence was reached during the decade from 1860 to 1870, and no better example of orthodox printing could be cited than the “Life of Prescott,” produced by the University Press in 1864. After 1870, and down to the date of the Morris revival, well-made volumes were issued from the University, the Riverside and the De Vinne Presses, but the average quality deteriorated. The transition of book-making from a trade to an art dates from the appearance of the Kelmscott volumes.

Naturally enough, the early effect of the enthusiasm over Morris’s work was the issuance of a series of monstrosities; but the very mistakes made by these zealous typographical disciples were educational, producing a momentum which finally brought excellent results. Those who copied Morris failed; those who were encouraged by his departure from the beaten track to think for themselves succeeded in retaining the basic principles upon which the work of the master printers has always firmly rested, applying them in the light of modern conditions, and giving them originality by their individual experiments. Morris’s work made men think, broke down the smugness of precedent, and enabled printing to become an art.

Cobden-Sanderson’s work accomplished much in helping American printing to assume a sane status after the hectic enthusiasm of the Morris period. Students of typography came to realize that William Morris belonged to the great decorators rather than to the master printers; that it was his superb presswork, and the general harmony of the factors which went into his books, rather than his typography overloaded with design, which represented his real contribution to the making of the Book Ideal. When the Doves Press, in continuing Morris’s work, substituted a more classical fount of type, based upon an Italian model of the fifteenth century, there was a quick response in America in dropping the tendency towards the Gothic, engendered by the type faces cut by the Kelmscott Press. During the next ten years more original and better types were cut, and volumes were produced which carried printing as an art to a higher point than it had previously attained.

Of the types cut under the so-called Gothic influence, the “Renner” of the De Vinne Press is among the best. Theodore L. De Vinne, whose recent death removed the _doyen_ of American master printers, was responsible for the well-sustained reputation of his Press during his active association with it. As a technical master of typography, and in his magnificent presswork, he translated himself into his books, but the exactness of his training is reproduced in his translation of Renner’s design into the rigidity of modern type. The page which is reproduced here (p. 264), taken from one of the many superb Grolier Club publications produced by the De Vinne Press, shows both the Renner model and the modern expression of it as interpreted by Mr. De Vinne. The oblique serif of the _e_,the fancy curve to the _h_, and the superfluous curl at the top of the _g_ introduce features which are foreign to the model, and give to the modern type a “jobbiness” which unquestionably detracts from the otherwise dignified appearance of the face.

The Gilliss Press, whose work is now suspended, has contributed its share to the renaissance of printing in America. Its limited editions of the books of William Loring Andrews and other volumes issued for private distribution show excellence of workmanship and harmony in conception rather than originality in treatment. Instead of specially designed type, these volumes are rich in decoration, the artistic quality of which ranks with the best.

At the Merrymount Press, Mr. D. Berkeley Updike has produced a number of volumes which have made their impress upon American typography because of his sincerity in carrying out his announced purpose of “undertaking the work of to-day in the spirit of the best days of printing.” Two special faces of type have been designed for the Merrymount Press, both of which are among the successful faces cut in America. The “Montallegro” type, designed by Herbert P. Horne, of London, is used in the volumes of the “Humanistic Library,” issued by Mr. Updike, of which a page is here given (p. 265). Of the type the London _Athenæum_ says: “We are inclined to say not only that it is better than any of the many attempts which have resulted from Morris’s revival of the art of printing, but also that it is even more perfect than any of the fifteenth-century founts on the study of which that revival was based. It is ... absolutely without affectation ... and so perfectly are the proportions of the letters harmonized that every page is a thing of beauty. We regret that it was reserved for an American printer to bring out such an admirable fount.... It is the first time that a fount has been designed in modern times which satisfies at once practical and æsthetic demands. Mr. Horne has solved a problem which has exercised us ever since we began to think again that printing was an art.”

The “Merrymount” type, designed by Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, is based upon fifteenth-century models, and has attracted much favourable comment. The “Holy Bible” and the “Life of Benvenuto Cellini,” from which pages are here reproduced (p. 269), are representative examples both of the type and of the typographical standards of the Press.

The writer of this present article would hesitate to include his own design of “Humanistic” type except that it has come to be accepted by typographical students as representing an approach to the art from a standpoint entirely different from that of other designers. The first types were naturally based upon the best hand-lettering of their time, yet hand-lettering, as an art, reached its zenith after printing began, in the work of the Humanistic scribes. This type is based therefore not upon an early type, but upon hand-lettering at its highest point of perfection. The pages which are shown here (pp. 266 and 267) have been taken from “The Triumphs of Francesco Petrarch,” produced at the University Press under the writer’s supervision. An examination of these pages will show that the principle upon which the fount is cut differs radically from that shown in regular modern types, namely, the ascending letters are short and the descending letters long. The designs of the letters closely follow those of the handwritten model, yet avoid the inevitable slight irregularity of such work, which would prove unpleasant in a printed page. Instead of a single character for each letter, a certain variety is introduced by having several characters, the compositor being trained to use the different forms exactly as the hand would automatically make a change in hand-lettering. Charles Eliot Norton says of this: “Most modern type lacks freshness and individuality, and the new fount to which the name ‘Humanistic’ has been given shows its contrast to the familiar dry, mechanical form. There is attractive freedom and unusual grace in its lines, derived immediately from the manuscript model, but adapted to the necessary rigid requirements of print.”

Among other important volumes produced at the University Press are those decorated by Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue and Will Bradley, two artists whose work in book-decoration stands in a class by itself. Much of Goodhue’s work reflects the Morris influence, as will be seen in the page shown from “Esther” (p. 268); but his ability in original design is indicated by the border and initial of the “Songs of Heredia,” which is given on the same page.

Bradley’s work evidences the greatest versatility of any decorative artist America has produced. Some of his work shows Beardsley’s influence, but no single influence could control so original a genius as Bradley has proved himself to be. The two examples reproduced here (pp. 270 and 271) represent the extremes in his work—one drawn with a delicacy and accuracy of line which is marvellous in its execution; the other bold and heavy, giving a woodcut effect.

No one artist-printer has contributed so much to American typography as Bruce Rogers, whose “Montaigne” type is easily the best and most practical of any special face, and whose productions while associated with the Riverside Press are marked by an originality and a consistency of excellence beyond what has been attained by any other American printer. He, better than anyone else, through his knowledge of types and his skill as a designer, has given expression to the basic principles of the old-time master printers awakened by modern conditions. His monumental folio edition of Montaigne—pages of which are reproduced here (pp. 272 and 273)—demonstrates a harmony of effect eminently appropriate to the style and period of its contents. The type itself is based upon an early French model, and the decorations and the initial letters (p. 274) are free renderings by Rogers of the original designs by Tory, in which the retention of the designer’s spirit is admirably accomplished.