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Officina Bodoni: A Note on Hans Mardersteig
Recently I became intensely interested in the work of the printer and typographer Hans (‘Giovanni’) Mardersteig. I already had a few Jan Tschichold related typography books on my shelves and thought Hans Schmoller's Two Titans: Mardersteig and Tschichold — A Study in Contrasts (The Typophiles, 1990) might serve as a good introduction to Mardersteig's life and work; it ended up becoming a bit of a ‘gateway’ book. At the same time, it also became apparent that I already had several other books connected to Mardersteig; I briefly alluded to this at the end of the bookbinding post For People Who Cannot Read the Pictures.
I find typography books—occasionally books on printing, too—hard going; a dry subject, particularly to read about. But I found Mardersteig's biography interesting; and because of this, his typography feels more approachable. Unlike Tschichold, Mardersteig had an intimate relationship with the texts he worked with and a deep understanding of how books are made; he was both a scholar and a book-maker. And his books are tangible things, therefore collectable. There is also a surprising Scottish connection; and a random—and absolutely threadbare—connection to Tolkien's present-day publisher, HARPERCOLLINS, too. There are many aspects of Mardersteig's work I find interesting.
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| Hans ‘Giovanni’ Mardersteig |
Hans Mardersteig (1892–1977) was a German-born printer,
publisher, typographer, and type-designer. He was a contemporary of Tolkien, born on 8th January, 1892, in Weimar, Germany. In his school days he collected butterflies. In 1905 there was an exhibition held on the ‘art of the book’ with examples of book-work by the likes of Morris' KELMSCOTT PRESS and Cobden-Sanderson's DOVES PRESS. Mardersteig remembered many such exhibitions and the deep impression they made. Through his family Mardersteig also met people like Harry Graf Kessler (1868–1937), who was then, himself, interested in the revival of fine printing; he would later found the CRANACH PRESS. The cultural environment in turn of the century Weimar clearly influenced the young Mardersteig.
Burgeoning artistic and personal interests aside, Mardersteig studied Law—doctoral thesis accepted 1915 (never practised)—attending universities in Bonn, Vienna, Kiel, and Jena; independently (in Vienna) he undertook studies in art history. Poor health led to him being declared unfit for military service (WWI); for a short time he also taught history and literature. In 1917 Mardersteig started working for the KURT WOLFF publishing house, in Leipzig, eventually taking charge of book production; at KURT WOLFF he also co-edited an art and literary review called Genius. John Barr states that Mardersteig's experience with Genius
led him to the conclusion that the highest achievements in book production could only be reached when the editing, design, printing and binding were controlled and closely supervised by a single individual.
In 1919 Wolff moved his publishing house to Munich; Mardersteig followed but eventually relinquished his position and on health advice moved to Switzerland. Shaped by his experience at KURT WOLFF, and allied with his own personal literary interests, he made the decision to establish a private press that would produce work on a hand-press. Hans Schmoller observed that
Mardersteig seems to have known from the outset what he wanted to do as a typographer and publisher [...] he had a precise idea of what his books should look like and what he wanted to print.
Mardersteig founded the OFFICINA BODONI at Montagnola di Lugano, Switzerland, in 1922. The Press was named after the punch-cutter and printer Giambattista Bodoni (1740–1813); through an Italian friend Mardersteig had obtained permission from the Italian Government to cast new Bodoni type from the original Bodoni matrices, then held in Parma. With a hand-press already acquired and type now in hand (literally), trial printings and proofs were executed, a colophon (device) designed, and a small bindery established.
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| OFFICINA BODONI colophon devices |
By 1924 the OFFICINA BODONI had published a handful of books. From the outset the quality of the Press was evident. His friend Kurt Wolff (1887–1963), having visited the US, reported to Mardersteig that the Press was already known there. Mardersteig's friendship with Stanley Morison (1889–1967)—who visited Montagnola in 1924—would help establish the OFFICINA BODONI's reputation further, particularly in the UK.
In 1927 the OFFICINA BODONI relocated to Verona, Italy. Mardersteig had been chosen—he participated in a competition for the commission—to print the complete works of the Italian poet Gabriele D'Annunzio (1863–1938). The publisher was to be Arnoldo Mondadori; the OFFICINA BODONI was to be housed in part of MONDADORI's printing works for the duration of the project. Forty-nine D'Annunzio volumes were eventually published; all of the text set by hand-composition. For each volume the hand-press was used to print 209 copies, with a further 9 copies printed on vellum. For the standard edition (of 2501 copies) sheets were printed using a cylinder press. Most of the D'Annunzio volumes had been printed by 1932; work was finally completed in 1936. After his relocation to Verona Mardersteig mostly went by the name ‘Giovanni’ Mardersteig, Giovanni being the Italian form of Hans.
In 1935 Mardersteig was invited to Glasgow to be a consultant at COLLINS CLEARTYPE PRESS; the Mardersteigs—Mardersteig married Irmi Krayer in London in 1932—ended up staying in Scotland for around a year. The story goes that Mardersteig asked COLLINS about the ‘clear type’ they used. They assured him that all their types were clear, but no typeface called ‘Cleartype’ existed. Mardersteig was not impressed by either the typography or the presswork he observed. At his suggestion COLLINS commissioned a new type for their own exclusive use from the MONOTYPE CORPORATION. Mardersteig produced drawings for MONOTYPE using, as a model, type cut by the Scottish typefounder Alexander Wilson (1714–1786); Wilson supplied type to the Foulis brothers (the FOULIS PRESS), the famous eighteenth-century Glasgow printer-publishers. The new typeface was called Fontana, later made available for general use.
For
almost a decade Mardersteig had been involved—mostly with the D'Annunzio volumes—in printing for others; he now wanted complete freedom and control to return to his own
projects. Mardersteig's own publications he named the Editiones Officinae Bodoni. In 1937 he moved the OFFICINA BODONI's composing equipment and hand-press from MONDADORI's to his own house (La Reginetta) nearby. Here he could work uninterrupted. Mardersteig had bought La Reginetta in 1929 using funds from the sale of one of his own personal books, a copy of Bodoni's Horace printed on vellum.
From the early days of the Press Mardersteig had published in multiple languages, in both bi-lingual and separate language editions; dialect printing included Scottish, Schweizerdeutsch, Veronese, and Venetian. Books were bound in morocco leather, some in full vellum; Mardersteig also practised printing on vellum. From what I have read—and my knowledge of the private press movement in the twentieth century is admittedly fairly limited—this is, when viewed in its entirety, all highly unusual for a private press (of the modern era) using a hand-press. He seems to have paid meticulous attention to every part of the book.
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| Mardersteig quote |
In 1946 Mardersteig founded a second press. After the war, thinking the days of earning a living from the hand-press (only) had gone, Mardersteig established a small printing office; it would use modern equipment and MONOTYPE composition. The aim was machine-printing of the highest quality, to make finely printed books (in larger editions) available to a wider public. The STAMPERIA VALDONEGA, in Verona, was established. Mardersteig did not, however, abandon the hand-press; the OFFICINA BODONI had an international reputation, that Mardersteig had possibly underestimated. In the post-war period Mardersteig also became an Italian citizen.
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| STAMPERIA VALDONEGA colophon device |
Throughout its history the OFFICINA BODONI accepted commissioning work, printing work for other publishers; although, in many instances, Mardersteig was also responsible for overall book-design. Customers ranged from individual Italian book-collectors and bibliophile societies, to well-known publishers like J. M. DENT & SONS and FABER AND FABER. In later years less commissioning work was accepted with Mardersteig concentrating on his own publishing programme.
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| Mardersteig: ‘How a Book is Made’ [excerpt] |
For the bibliophile and book-collector it can be slightly confusing differentiating between Mardersteig's hand-press work, and everything else. There is the OFFICINA BODONI itself; Mardersteig's own Editiones Officinae Bodoni; work printed for others; the machine-printing of the STAMPERIA VALDONEGA; and any number of other books conceived, printed, and published (mostly by his son, Martino Mardersteig) after Mardersteig's death in 1977. Some books carry the imprint of the OFFICINA BODONI, and were printed under Mardersteig's supervision, but were not printed on the hand-press.
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For a definitive list of books printed by Mardersteig on the hand-press one should consult Mardersteig's (posthumous) The Officina Bodoni: An Account of the Work of a Hand Press 1923–1977 (Edizioni Valdonega, 1980), edited and translated by Hans Schmoller. John Barr's The Officina Bodoni (The British Library, 1978) is also useful. Another consideration is the number of copies printed of a particular book; this is usually stated to the rear of books Mardersteig was involved in. Edition run sizes were small, never exceeding five-hundred copies on the hand-press; some editions were single-figure runs, some single copies only. Larger editions, carrying mention of Mardersteig, will likely have been printed at the STAMPERIA VALDONEGA.
While focusing mainly on Mardersteig's biography I have failed to cover many aspects of his work, much of great—more, some might say—interest; the books, the authors, the texts, the bindings. And that's not to say anything of Mardersteig's original scholarship or the typefaces he designed. His relationship with the Paris type-cutter Charles Malin is also a fascinating side-story in the biography of the Press; his Scottish connections I may very well re-visit too. For these omissions, I can only apologise, and make vague promises of a more book-focused future Mardersteig post. Perhaps by then I might also have one of Mardersteig's hand-printed books in hand; they're not particularly hard to locate or identify, just a little expensive. And the HARPERCOLLINS connection? In their own history—included in Stories from HarperCollins Publishers 1817–2017 (HarperCollins, 2017)—there is a chapter entirely devoted to the Fontana typeface. As I say, threadbare.
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