Tag Archives: Printing

There Are No Duplicates: APHA Visit

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It is not hard to find special collections librarians who believe that there are no duplicates, meaning that no two printed items made by hand are the same, even if from the same type, plate, or press. 

This may seem funny to some since the very goal of publishing and printing is to make reproduceable copies of the same thing over and over again, but if you consider that all aspects of early books and printed matter were made by hand:  the type, the ink, the paper, the binding, the illustration plates, everything, then differences between copies that were meant to be the same may be a little easier to understand. 

Think of a batch of homemade cookies and how they all taste the same, but each is a little different, some are rounder than others, some with more chips, etc. 

So when the American Printing History Association (APHA) during their conference "Learning to Print, Teaching to Print" came to visit the Special Collections Department of the Smithsonian Institution Libraries, there were plenty of things to show.    

Consider these different copies of the same plate by Friedrich Heinrich von Kittlitz, a 19 century naturalist, artist, and explorer:
KittlitzJournal 
KittlitzReprint 
Each is printed from the same plate, but coloured by hand differently: some are spotted, some are not; some are striped, some are not, etc.  This is not only interesting from a printer's and illustrator's point of view, but also from a scientist's point of view. In printing and the printing arts, there are so many variables that can influence the end product. This is why we say there are no duplicates and why, in part, special collections librarians and printing historians have jobs. We provide perspective about the historical and technical nuances of these handmade printed documents.   

Other types of printed matter we displayed for APHA were modern handmade artist's books about the history of science, variant copies of an illustration in different editions of a Galileo work, an illustrated 18th century encyclopedia on how to print, a 19th century scientist's proof copy of printed illustrations with corrections alongside the original drawings. 

—Daria Wingreen-Mason

Little Magazines

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/smithsonianlibraries/4899537612/in/photostream/Artpolice is a serial that can be found in the Smithsonian American Art/National Portrait Gallery Library’s own collection of “little magazines,” which specializes in the forward-thinking art and aesthetics of small press publications of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. A particularly successful avant-garde underground publication, Artpolice began in 1974 in Minneapolis, Minnesota and managed to produce new issues until 1993. Much like many small press “little magazines,” Artpolice continually played with its aesthetics and printing practices. Variations in its title, size and shape, frequency of publication, color and mailing address show remained constant throughout. This made Artpolice not only incredibly difficult to catalog, but shows that its creators considered its production as well as its content a malleable source of expression.

Throughout Artpolice maintained its commitment to the tenets of underground press, keeping its price low and remaining physically amateurish, despite the lavish visuals contained within, by always appearing as a simple stapled booklet. While cartoons and poetry appeared occasionally, the emphasis was on art and design and multiple artists contributing full page works in a variety of styles to each issue.

The issues occasionally had themes, such as the “His Story” issue or “April Fool’s of Chicago Show” issue, but abiding the theme appears to be Artpolice itself. While no advertisements are featured in the publication, its pages are filled with work after work featuring the title of the publication as if the entire periodical is merely acting as an advertisement for itself. To learn more about this little magazine or others in the collection, you can visit the Smithsonian American Art/National Portrait Gallery Library. There is also a new resource guide with bibliography of useful sources and annotated list of other “little magazine” collections that is available on the Libraries website.Additional images can be viewed on the Libraries Flickr site.

—Maggie Bond