ENGLISH SUMMARIES A BOOKMAN'S RECOLLECTIONS by Kai Friis Møller. The author looks back on his collaboration with Messrs. V. Pio, Publishers, (Povl Branner) for whom he prepared several books as part of an attempt to oust the "bibliophile" frauds current at that time. The first publication was Tolv gamle Julerim (Twelve Old Christmas Rhymes—translations of English Christmas Carols and French Noéls) printed from Schwabacher type and illustrated by Axel Nygaard with drawings in the manner of wood engravings.Then a series of "Vignette Books" followed. They were small size volumes prepared in accordance with the contents and the style of the periods in which the texts were written. The author then describes a visit to the Plantin Museum at Antwerp, the noblest memorial ever raised in honour of the art of printing. Among his acquaintances at that time was Francis Meynell, then vehemently engaged in left-wing politicai activities. The author urged him to devote less time to state craft and more to his exceptional talent in the craft of typography and printing. A few years later Francis Meynell devoted his energies to the Nonesuch publications. Later on the author collaborated with Johan Olsen, the leader of the Berlingske Printing Office. At the Berlingske he prepared a book of old Watchmen's Songs, a little book of ballads and other poems by Frangois Vilion printed from Caslon Old Black, and a translation of the late Roman poem, the Pervigilium Veneris, in a stately quarto witha Latin original printed from CaslonAntiqua on the verso and the Danish translation set up in italics on the recto. In recent years the author has collaborated with Aksel Danielsen, the present head of the Berlingske Printing Office. Together they haveprepared for the publishing house of Gyldendal neweditions of the author's own poems and essays. They have tried to create neat and 'readable'volumes distin­guished by i8th century typographical features such as quotation marks before all lines of a quoted passage. A specially difhcult task was the matching of a choice of nude drawings by Professor E. Utzon-Frank with a selection of love poems trans­lated from various languages, [Erato, 1943). A RED THREAD by H.P.Rohde. One day during his work in the Copenhagen Royal Library the author came across an edition of Montesquieu from 1782 bound in three small, red morocco bindings with a hand-written note stating that they originated from the workshop of Roger Payne. Bindings by Payne are rare in Scandinavia. There is one in the Royal Library at Stockholm and four in a Swedish private collection owned by Captain Thore ENGLISH SUMMARIES Virgin. There are none in Norway, and only one had been known in Denmark so far, which was in the possession of the Museum of Applied Arts. So much the more reason for investigating the new discovery! The scarcity of decoration was a drawback, but the bindings had light blue book­markers, green, white and red headbands and a visible red thread along the inner joints. These details, however, are unusual for Payne's work, they seemed more like that of Mrs.Weir, his assistant. The Royal Library catalogue of incunabula (compiled by Victor Madsen), con­taining an index of owners' names, states that the library possesses two books formerly owned by Michael Wodhull, who had most of his books bound by Payne or Mrs.Weir. One was a halfbinding, and for various reasons was left out ofconside­ration. The other was a full binding of Russia leather similar to the Montesquieu edition with respect to headbands, marker, fly-leaves and the red thread. The edges were yellow. However, the binding could not bereferred with certainty to Mrs.Weir, as Wodhull had books bound in Russia leather by other binders. From the collections of English literature and history, and classical philology in the Royal Library about twenty bindings were produced, typical of the naturalised German binders contemporary with Payne. There were some striking similarities between an edition of Velleius Paterculus, Glasgow 1752, and the Montesquieu volumes. They had similar fly-leaves, similar headbands and marker, and the red thread. The edges were yellow. But the leather was marbled—tree-marble—as it is seen particularly in the bindings by Kalthoeber. Another connecting link between the Montesquieu volumes and Kalthoeber's work was found in a copy of a two volume edition, 1781, of the Poetical Works by George Keates. Like the Paterculus edition it had tree-marbled leather, yellow edges, blue marker, and green, white and red headbands. In volume I was a Kalthoeber ticket. Furthermore two interesting red morocco volumes were discovered, both dealing with the 1794 edition by Tyrwhitt of Aristotle's Poetics. One was unsigned with a richly decorated spine in imitation of Payne's manner, but lacking his vigour. It had belonged to P. O.Brandsted, a Danish archaelogist, who had acquired it at the sale of the collection of Samuel Butler Esq. in 1840. The other—signed by Kalt­hoeber—had no spine decoration, but doublure on the inside boards. The arms of Oxford University on thecover seemed to indicate that it was a present from Oxford University. None of these volumes, however, had the red thread. A visit to the library of Captain Thore Virgin at Quarnfors Manor in Scania concluded the investigation. Besides the four bindings by Payne already mentioned, the collection contains half a dozen bindings certainly by Kalthoeber. A binding ascribed to Mrs.Weir immediatelyinvited comparison with the Montesquieu edition. It was about the same size with red, straight-grain morocco covers, similar head­bands and fly-leaves with no decoration but the Wodhull arms in gold. But the book-marker was green, and the visible thread was white. The type of headbands used made it unlikely that the binding was Payne's own work. But a certain detail indicates that it does originate from his workshop and thus may be referred to Mrs.Weir. A thorough investigation of the authentic Payne bindingson the one hand and the Kalthoeber bindings on the other led to the recognition of a small technical distinguishing mark which seems to have passed unnoticed in the existing literature on the subject. It is true of all Payne's bindings at Quarnfors, Copenhagen and Stockholm that at the top and bottom the spine is finished with a thin, unpadded folding of the leather. And the excellent reproductions in Mr. Davenport's book seem to show that the many specimens investigated by him have the same charac­ teristics. Only a personal inspection of the specimens in English collections would establish whether there are exceptions to this rule. With this reservation the Wodhull volume can now be referred to Payne's workshop. Thesame distinguishing mark excludes the Montesquieu edition and refers it to Kalthoeber. Both the Kalthoeber bindings at Quarnfors and the signed specimens at the Royal Library have spines flattened at the top and bottom and decorated with double lines in gold running parallel with the leaves of the book. The Montesquieu volumes have similar spines. The author has been unable to establish whether Kalthoeber employed the single headbands used in the Montesquieu volumes, but the visit to the Quarnfors library proved that the red thread is typical of his work. The Sotheby catalogue at Quarnfors of the part of the Wodhull collection sold in 1886 specifies the incunabulum now in the Royal Library as bound by Mrs.Weir, but the author finds it difficult to accept this statement. The article finally publishes two bindings by Payne acquired in 1950 and 1952 by the Royal Library. One of them, lot 75 in the Sotheby Catalogue 22.5. 1950, used to belong to G. D.Hobson, Esq., and in 1926 it had been exhibited in the First Edition Club (Page 38). The other was sold from the J.T.Payne collection and authenticated in the sale catalogue as a Roger Payne binding (Page 40). With the latter volume followed Payne's handwritten invoice for the binding of a Vesalii humani corporis fabrica (Page 42), the same document which had been published by Dibdin in his Biographical Uecameron vol. II, p.514. The author maintains the authenticity of the twTo Royal Library acquisitions. A TYPOGRAPHER'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY by C. Volmer Nordlunde. When, in 1905, I was apprenticed to the printing tråde my interest in the typo­graphy of books was determined by what I had read about the Kelmscott Press. In 1909, while studying at Leipzig, I learned from Georg Belwe to work with type alone and later on continued in this direction in collaboration with Kristian Kong­stad, a well-known Danish illustrator, and Aage Marcus, who was a publisher at that time. I learned from D.B.Updike and Stanley Morison about the history of printing and from 'The Fleuron' about contemporary work. In the field of typo­graphy I followed T.J.Cobden-Sanderson. With these qualifications I became a printer in 1927, choosing Caslon for my principal type.Among the books produced during the first few years were Carl Roos, Harlekin (Harlequin) 1927, and Skrifter af Paulus Helie (The Works of Paulus Helie) 1929. They were influenced by the bibliophile typography prevalent in those years. was a The Thorvaldsen Museum Catalogue of the Antique Gems and Cameos, 1929? more independent attempt to produce a catalogue in a simple but pleasing typo­graphical manner. Before 1930 my books were influenced by the styles of previous periods. I had been less concerned with strictly typographical problems, but this ENG LI S H SUMMARIES was changed after reading Die Neue Typographie by Jan Tschichold. His conception of the essentials of typography led me to understand that the typographer should start with the given factors — the contents of the book and the type. Aesthetics had hitherto been my primary concern, sometimes at the expense of legibility. Now practical considerations had a greater influence on the appearance of the books I produced. Frederik Weilbach's book Charlottenborg is an example of a style independent of historie models and clearly influenced by the new typography, the width of the type page being divided into two parts and heavy headings favoured. The books of the next few yearsstill show traces of this modernism, but eventually I gave it up, trying to develop a typography which would meet the technical and economic demands of machine setting, and I became especially interested in ordinary books. Gilgamesh, 1940, is an example of simplification, and the Emil Hannover Bibliografi, 1942, shows how the technique of machine setting influenced the aesthetic aspect of the books. In 1946 I acquired Monotype with the types Bembo, Perpetua, and Times, and these better types brought about an improvement in the typography. The development of my typography during these twenty five years as a printer can be seen from the difference between the two Books of Specimen published by my firm. The early one, from 1927, was influenced by aesthetic considerations, whereas the one from 1950 merely aims at providing a survey of the types. In connection with the latter, Bogtrykkets Fortid og Nutid (The Past & Present of Printing), published at the quarter centenary of the printing house, illustrates my present point of view. GOLD AND COLOURS by Otto Norn. A knowledge of the materials and technique of painting can be of importance to the understanding of its stylistic and other aesthetic problems. From the Middle Ages quite a number of collections of recipes and treatises on painting exist, nearly all of them touching on the technique of illumination. The late mediaeval book of painting by Friar Dionysios from Mount Athos and the treatise by Cennino Cen­nini dating from the early i5th century are well-known. About 1840 they were discovered and edited, and since then our knowledge of mediaeval colours and painting technique has increased considerably from the study of numerous writings of various dates supplemented by laboratory research. During the Middle Ages recipes etc. were kept as a secret of the workshops, but in the i6th century various printed treatises on painting appeared, dealing also with the technique of miniature painting. Two well-known books, the Illuminierbuch (1543) by Valentinum Boltz von Ruffach and the Secreti (1555) by Don Alessio Piemontese were translated into Danish and published in 1648. A thorough investigation of many mediaeval collec­tions of recipes shows that the painters' technique remained remarkably stable. Time and the transmission from one country to another brought few changes. Gil­ding played an important part in the painting of books, and two entirely different methods were used according to the nature of the ground. After gilding, the colours were applied. A large number of natural pigments were available, the most precious being purpie and ultramarine. The final details were undertaken by the illuminator when the larger spaces had been filled in with colour. On the whole thesame methods were employed in the various branches of painting. The mediaeval diptychs were in faet picture books in large intended for the edificationand delightof theunlearned who had no Latin. THE IDYLLS OF WILLIAM BLAKE by Jørgen Andersen. The author has retold the story—hardly known to Danish audiences—of the minute but extremely influential illustrations of Wm. Blake for the third, enlarged edition of Dr.Thornton's Virgil, 1821. Blake scholarship in Scandinavia has produced one masterpiece, William Blake, Kunstner, Digter og Mystiker (Wm.Blake, artist, poet and mystic), 1933, by Professor Vilhelm Grønbech, but Blake's influence on his younger followers remain little known abroad. To them Blake's woodcuts for Virgil's first eclogue seemed like little nooks and corners of Paradise. The author explains the themes of the Blake designs and traces their influence on the early visionary work of Palmer and Calvert. He takes the opportunity of introducing Samuel Palmer, quoting freely from Palmer's letters and recollections of his early meeting with Mr. Blake and of their walks together perceiving 'the soul of beauty through the forms of matter'. Translations by Jørgen Andersen. FORENING FOR BOGHAANDVÆRK Beretning for 1951 Af Vald. Pedersen. Bogvennen er den eneste gratis publikation, der i aarets lob er tilstillet medlemmerne. Det er beklageligt, at aarets egentlige medlemsbog. Sandgren-bogen, ikke blev færdig til udsendelse i 1951. Udover »Bogvennen« har foreningen udgivet Jan Tschichold: I Bogens Tjeneste, en meget smuk og værdifuld bog, der foruden i et antageligt oplag til medlemmerne er solgt i oplag af forskellig størrelse til Schweiz og Amerika. Det er noget af en bedrift, at denne bog er udsendt af Forening for Boghaandværk i Danmark. Det er bogtrykker Nordlunde, der har æren herfor. Desuden er udsendt Danske Bogauktioner ig4g—51. Paa grund af foreningens vanskelige økonomi var det ikke muligt fortsat at udsende denne bog gratis til med­lemmerne. Oplaget var 1300, hvoraf medlemmerne til favørpris har købt ca. 700. Dette viser, at det er rigtigt at udgive denne bog, selv om de interesserede medlem­mer maa betale fremstillingsprisen. I 1952 udsendes foruden Sandgren-bogen ogsaa bogen for 1952 — »Unge Stem­mer«, en samling ikke tidligere trykte digte af yngre lyrikere. Dermed er foreningen ajour med sine medlemspublikationer og kommer forhaabentlig ikke bagud mere. For 1953 er planlagt en monumental og meget værdifuld bog. I september vistes udstillingen »Nordisk Bogkunst« i Kunstindustrimuseet. Der var sideordnet arrangeret en interessant udstilling af de 50 bedste amerikanske bøger. En fyldt sal med undervisningsministeren, de nordiske landes ambassadører, repræsen­tanter for den amerikanske ambassade og Nordisk Bogtrykkerraad i spidsen over­værede aabningen. Udstillingen blev besøgt af dens protektrice, dronning Ingrid, der var stærkt interesseret iden smukke udstilling og blev vist om af udstillingskomiteen. Efter udstillingens afslutning i København blev den vist i Aarhus, Odense, Aal­borg, Esbjerg, Svendborg og Skjern. De udvalgte danske bøger har desuden været sendt til Norge, Finland, Amerika og Holland. Ved rigsbibliotekar Svend Dahls velvilje er der nu truffet aftale med Det kgl. Bibliotek om, at bøgerne fra udstillingerne Nordisk Bogkunst — altsaa alle de ud­valgte bøger i Finland, Norge, Sverige og Danmark — opbevares i Det kgl. Bibliotek. Der bliver her skabt et overordentlig betydningsfuldt studiemateriale, og vi skylder Det kgl. Bibliotek tak, fordi det er blevet muligt at huse disse udvalgte bøger i Danmark. Til en udstilling af børnebøger i Washington har foreningen medvirket ved udvæl­ gelsen af 10 boger, som senere er skænket til en specialsamling i Washingtons offentlige bibliotek. Børnebibliotekar Helga Mollerup var saa venlig at hjælpe til ved udvælgelsen. I oktober arrangeredes udstillingen 400 bogomslag fra 23 lande i Raadhushallen. Det skete i samarbejde med: Bogbinderlauget i København, Dansk Litograflaug, Danske Bladtegnere, Den danske Boghandlermedhjælper-Forening, Den danske Forlæggerforening, Gyldendal, Steen Hasselbalchs Forlag, Fagskolen for Boghaand­værk, Den grafiske Højskole, Kemigraflauget i Danmark, Københavns Boghandler­forening, Københavns Bogtrykkerforening, Tegnerforbundet og Dansk Tegnerring. Det var første gang, at bogens folk i videre forstand samarbejdede om en opgave, som Forening for Boghaandværk ikke økonomisk magtede alene. Komiteen for godt Bogarbejde har ændret navn til Komiteen for Aarets bedste Boger. Samtidig bortfalder den inddeling i 2 grupper,der forsøgsmæssigt blev indført i 1950, men som ikke vakte udelt tilfredshed. Ud fra en ivrig diskussion om dette forsøg tog hovedbestyrelsen spørgsmaalet op. Resultatet blev en forhandling med foreningens repræsentanter i komiteen og en skriftlig meningsudveksling mellem komiteen og hovedbestyrelsen. Det var hovedbestyrelsens opfattelse, at der burde skabes adgang for indsendere af ikke udvalgte boger til at faa en motivering for, hvorfor bøgerne ikke er kommet blandt de udvalgte. Det er nu ordnet saadan, at paa skriftlig begæ­ring og efter fornyet indsendelse vil komiteens udtalelse om den paagældende bog kunne faas. Der er her skabt adgang til en værdifuld vejledning.Enkelte andresporgs­maal er ikke færdigbehandlede. Komiteen for Aarets bedste Bogbind er i gang med arbejdet. Den bestaar af; Magister Edv. C.J.Wolf, der er formand, bogbindermester Oswald Janner, næstformand, for­lagssekretær Poul Erik Bjorrild, sekretær, vicestadsbibliotekar J. Lehm-Laursen, over­lærer J. Olsen og arkitekt Thyge Hvass. Foreningen betragter dette nye arbejdsom­raade som en værdifuld landvinding. Et stort antal bind er indsendt til bedømmelse. I Fagskolen for Boghaandværks repræsentantskab repræsenteres foreningen af bog­trykker Jørgen Nielsen og museumsdirektør Erik ^chh. Ligesom aaret forud har foreningen i samarbejde med fagskolen og Den grafiske Højskole i vinter arrangeret et kursus i bogtypografi og skrifthistorie. Det var beregnet for bogtrykkere og typografer og havde prokurist Ejnar Philip og tegneren E. Ellegaard Frederiksen til lærere. Et saadant kursus bør antagelig ikke gennemføres hvert aar. Der er snarere grund til at genoptage studiekredsene — og dette ikke mindst i provinsafdelingerne. Som noget nyt har foreningen i foraaret 1951 arrangeret 3 faglige orienteringsaftener for forlagschefer. Der meldte sig 42 deltagere. Fra foreningen deltog en halv snes fagfolk. Den ene aften var helliget bogtrykkernes problemer i forhold til forlæggerne; den anden aften bogtilrettelægning og den tredie bogbindernes problemer i forholdet til forlæggerne samt clichéspørgsmaal. Denne kontakt med de store bogproducenter vil uden tvivl vise sig at være meget værdifuld. Det samme gælder de bestræbelser, der er sat i gang for at faa dagspressen til at skrive oversigtsartikler eller kroniker om bogproduktionen ud fra æstetiske og typo­grafiske hensyn. Arbejdet hermed er ikke tilendebragt. Fra »Det danske Selskab«s repræsentanter forskellige steder i verden har foreningen liere gange modtaget opfordringer til at være behjælpelig med at arrangere udstilling af godt bogarbejde. Hovedbestyrelsen har nu truffet en aftale med selskabet, gaaende ud paa, at Forening for Boghaandværk stiller et sæt af Aarets bedste Bøger til raadighed for Det danske Selskab, der selv sørger for udsendelsen. Bøgerne udskiftes hvert aar i December. BERETNING MEDLEMSTALLET var i. januar 1952 2,595. Det er 15 flere end aaret for. Medlemmerne fordeler sig geografisk saaledes: Københavns afdelingen 1790 medlemmer Aarhus » 114 » Aalborg » 83 » Odense » 167 » Provinsen iøvrigt 329 » Udlandet 112 » 2595 medlemmer Efterfølgende oversigt viser medlemstallet for de sidste 3 aar og fordelingen grupperne. 1.januar I950 1951 1952 Biblioteker 245 252 260 Bogbinderi 182 178 186 Boghandel 472 449 418 Bogtryk 408 409 423 Andre grafiske virksomheder 158 136 140 1465 1424 1427 Andre medlemmer 1165 1156 1168 ialt: 2630 2580 2595 Der kan noteres sma stigninger i alle grupperne med undtagelse af boghandelen, der viser en nedgang paa 31. Foreningens okonomi er ikke god. Det kniber meget med at opnaa balance. Statens tilskud er nedsat med en trediedel. Andre tilskud, vi havdegjort os haab om, har helt svigtet. Det bliver nødvendigt at skabe en stabiliseret økonomi for foreningen. Hovedbestyrelsen retter en tak til staten. Ny Carlsbergfondet og andre institu­tioner for værdifuld støtte til gennemførelsen af foreningens virksomhed. Ogsaa komiteer og udvalg samt afdelingernes bestyrelser bringes en tak for godt arbejde i aarets løb. Københavns-afdelingen Afdelingen har haft en overordentlig livlig og velbesøgt møderække paa seks møder siden generalforsamlingen i marts 1951 med Beatrice Warde's temperamentsfulde foredrag om 30 aars engelsk bogtryk. I maj deltog man i Tschichold-aftenen i Tek­nisk Skole. Efteraarsmøderne indledtes med rundbordssamtalen om godt bogarbejde i forbindelse med udstillingen Nordisk Bogkunst i september. I oktober fulgte et møde i raadhuskælderen om bogomslag, indledt af Mogens ^ieler, Anna Grete Schlan­busch og Ivar Abildhøj i tilslutning til den internationale bogomslags-udstilling i Raadhushallen. I december fulgte over 300 Henrik Parks, Birgitte Cramers og Chr. Sørensens indlæg om bogbinderpapir og de arbejdende bogbinderlærlinge med stor interesse. En gratis bortlodning af bogbinderpapir med gevinst til næsten alle vakte begejstring. Sæsonens sidste mode blev det største i foreningens historie: 500 var mødt til emnet Grafisk Cirkels og andre privatpublikationer, med indlæg af bogtrykker Louis Rasmussen, Ringkjobing (om samarbejdet med Kaj Munk), overfaktor Aage Wantzin (om Grafisk Cirkel), bogtrykker Kaj Hjorth (om sine særprægede intentioner). Man trængtes om udstillingen af de 500 sjældne boger og om bortlodningen af 200 privattryk. Bestyrelse og formand blev genvalgt. Odense-afdelingen Otte møder har været afholdt, hvoraf tre sammen med Arbejdernes Oplysnings­forbund og Centralbiblioteket. Disse tre var velbesøgte litterære aftner med Soya, Karen Blixen og Francis Bull. Af egentlige medlemsmøder samlede to sig om henholdsvis udstillingen »Nordisk Bogkunst« og de udvalgte amerikanske bøger samt Grafisk Cirkels publikationer, det sidste med foredrag af Aage Wantzin. Endvidere har der været en Kongstad-aften ved korrespondent Nielsen, et foredrag om nytaarstryk ved Bogtrykker Steenstrup-Jensen og — ved generalforsamlingen — foredrag af Bogtrykker Valdemar Pedersen: »Hvordan forbedrer vi bogens udseende«. Aarhus-afdelingen Afdelingen har haft vanskeligheder med at skaffe mødelokale. Man har dog haft et velbesøgt agitationsmøde, hvor professor P. Skautrup talte om »Jydsk folkesind«, hvilket foredrag senere er trykt som elevarbejde og tilstillet afdelingens medlemmer. I Haandværkerforeningen har »Nordisk Bogkunst« været udstillet og haft godt besøg, og til generalforsamlingen holdt landsforeningens formand samme foredrag som i Odense. I bestyrelsen er bibliotekar Arne Frandsen afløst af faktor Viggo Nielsen. Aalborg-afdelingen Afdelingen har holdt to moder samt den traditionelle sommertur. Ved det ene mode var emnet »Storm Petersen og bøgerne« ved forlagsboghandler Carit Andersen, og ved det andet fortalte Torben Troensegaard om sin store og særprægede manuskript­samling under titlen »Hvad gamle dokumenter og papirer kan fortælle«. Sommerturen gik til landsarkivet, domkirken og Skovgaardmuseet i Viborg samt til Hald og Dollerup Bakker. Herudover har afdelingen deltaget i Nørresundby Biblioteks litterære aftner. Bogvennen KJfjS er tilrettelagt af Eli Reimer.