The 18th Century Art of Fireworks

Though this rare botanical specimen looks much like a Dr. Seuss plant, it is actually an 18th century roman candle masquerading as a potted plant. It is one of the more interesting images included in a 1780 DIY manual on the fabrication of pyrotechnical instruments and the construction of fireworks. This 376 page Dutch manuscript is entirely handwritten and illustrated (probably not from the same hand) and provides the crafty 18th century DIY guy with clear instructions on how to build your own fireworks spectacular. This entire manuscript from the Getty Research Library can be fully explored on the Internet Archive. 

The handsomely illustrated watercolor of the hand and puffy sleeve is the only human influence we see in the entire manual. I'm happy to see the use of a long match extension to safely light the rocket, however the hazardous smoke surrounding this floating arm is somewhat puzzling, not to mention suspicious. All of the illustrations are quite detailed in nature and created by someone who obviously knew a thing or two about the proper display of visual information. Their are a number of color-coded bar charts with decorative baroque headers and titles describing what must be the recipes for quantities of ingredients to create special effects. 

It amazes me to see how bright and clean this book appears considering it is nearly 225 years old. Some of the images have a gold paint on them to portray flame and gold or brass metal parts. In Fig. 70 below, the potted roman candle plant is seen again in an elaborate display.

The title page from this anonymous fireworks manual is rather uninspiring; especially in light of all these lovely watercolor images. I did want to include it however, as it is the most essential page of any book. 

The Story of Paper

As promised, I present the companion book to "The History of Printing", featured in my previous post; "The Story of Paper" written by a young Joe Obzina in room 5A at John Hay School in Seattle. There is no date on this book, however I believe it to be from the same era as the book on printing which was 1930. What leads me to think this is the last chapter  where Joe includes a list of 27 pulp and paper mills in the State of Washington in 1928. This charming book was another estate sale find from several years ago, found in stacks of well, paper.
     The binding of this book is a Japanese "stab binding", and coincidentally it uses the same grey binding cloth on the spine as the Printing book did. The other similarity between the two books is the cut construction paper lettering for the cover design and a simple silouette of a silkworm which is instrumental in the making of Japanese papers. They both match the sewing thread and the interior endsheets. The book measures 7.5 x 9 inches, making it just a bit larger than the other. 

The title page is simple and plain, and lacks any sort of typographical hierarchy or ornament. Joe was not an adventurous book designer.

The history of paper coincides with the history of writing, which Joe gives only slight mention in his first chapter on "Ancient Writing Materials".

Joe is actually a much better writer and speller than young Albert was, but could take a lesson from him on illustration and layout.

The tipped-in "School" and "Special Paper" samples are a wonderful addition. Following these are lists of 36 different "Kinds of Paper" and 52 different "Uses of Paper", from Blotters to Parasols.
 

Side Note: Pardon the recent Letterology makeover here, but I inadvertently pushed the wrong button the other day and there is no quick fix. I tried googling "Why doesn't Google understand the definition of the word 'Revert'", but got not reply. Time for that big move over to Wordpress soon! 

A Torch for Printing

A young Albert Maertens of Seattle made this book on The History of Printing for Miss Levine's class assignment in 1930. I found this treasure sitting atop an assorted pile of tools and junk in a scary basement of an 1891 house in the Georgetown neighborhood. It was an estate sale which brought me there just a few days after Christmas, and it was advertised as the oldest house in Georgetown. Visiting just before closing time was a bit of a lark as I recall, but I was curious to see the oldest house there. The book was my only purchase; for $10 I think. Now I'm not a big believer in fate or destiny, but finding this little book was a great delight. I felt it belonged in my hands (for now) and I would give it safe-keeping.

So thoughtful of Albert to take note of Gothic lettering (also known as Blackletter). He reminds us "We see them on Christmas." 

As a former teacher of typography and book design, I was pleased to see that young Albert followed instructions well and included the correct sequence of pages for his frontmatter; a Title Page, followed by his endearing Dedication page and then Table of Contents. Although he wasn't the best speller, his handlettering fittingly resembles a roman text font of the day, and he did manage to capture the spirit of initial caps by applying a box around each first letter of a sentence. All four of the tipped-on watercolor (and one pen and ink) illustrations are charming, as is the crafty cover design of cut paper letters, a small book and two curious little torches. The book itself measures approximately 5.5 x 7.5 inches, has three sewn signatures and is bound with construction paper wrapped boards and endsheets. Perhaps my favorite thing about young Albert's book however is the last page entitled I am the Printing Press by Robert Daves (Davis). It is an abbreviated version of an early 1900s advertisement written by Robert Davis to promote the Hoe printing press.
     My curiousity about Albert Maertens' life led me only to some general online records. He died in Seattle in 2007 at the age of 91. This would have placed him at the age of 13 or 14 when he made this book, and it must have been very meaningful as he kept it all of those many years. On Friday I will feature another child's handmade book from this same era which is a perfect companion to this book on printing. It is on the topic of paper.

1863 Book of Snowflakes

Snowflake lettering as decorative as the ice crystals themselves.
     Snow-flakes, A Chapter From the Book of Nature was first published in Boston in 1863 by the evangelical American Tract Society. The fanciful gothic blackletter foil-stamped imprint on the cover is repeated in the title page below. The book itself does not attempt to explore any scientific research, although many fine illustrations of snowflake structures are included which were drawn with the aid of a microscope by; no lie, a Mr. James Glaisher, Esq. The tone of the entire text takes on religious overtones, with chapter titles such as "Perfection, Purity, Grace and Beauty", but the accuracy of Mr. Glaisher's illustrations reasonably illustrate the variety of ice crystal formations.
     As an aside, the first photographs of the ephemeral crystals were made in 1885 by Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley of Vermont. After making this his life's work, he later published a monograph illustrated with 2500 snow crystal photographs which became the definitive guide to their structures. He donated many of his glass plates to the Buffalo Museum of Science which can be viewed in their digital archive.        

Initial Snow Caps

Each chapter opening in Snow-flakes begins with wood engraved scenes of ice, frost and snow-festooned initial cap letters. Not likely the designs of Mr. Glaisher, but appreciated much the same. Find the entire text here.
::Thank you Present & Correct!