Архитектура книги [The Architecture of the Book]

Gessen, L. I.

Edité par State Publishing House of Science and Technology, Moscow/Leningrad, 1931

A propos de cet article

8vo (23 cm), 440 pp. Publisher's original dark grey-brown cloth, title blind- and gilt-stamped on the upper cover and spine (binding rubbed and soiled, cloth cracked at rear joint and frayed at extremities). Inscribed by the author on the title page, ".with the author's gratitude." In Russian. A landmark Soviet treatise on book design and typographic theory by Lazar I. Gessen (1889-1932), lecturer at Leningrad State University and the Leningrad State Polygraphic Technical College. Conceived as the companion and continuation to his earlier ?????????? ????? (The Design of the Book), this volume constitutes the second part of Gessen's projected three-volume system of book production, consciously modelled upon architectural theory. Just as architecture proceeds from materials, through structural elements, to the completed building, Gessen envisioned the study of the book as advancing from the raw materials of printing to its constituent elements and finally to the finished volume. ??????????? ????? is devoted to this intermediate stage--the "architecture" or structural organisation of the book itself. Across eighteen substantial chapters, Gessen presents one of the fullest contemporary expositions of Constructivist-era Soviet book design and production. He examines the structural principles governing typography, including the vertical and organising elements of composition, typographic graphics, title pages, printed covers, and the relationship between text and illustration. Particularly significant are his discussions of the "renewed" or modern book, advocating asymmetrical composition, sans-serif (grotesque) typefaces, bold contrasts of type size and weight, and the rejection of historical ornament in favour of functional clarity?principles closely associated with the Soviet Constructivist movement and the aesthetics of "production art." The work extends well beyond design theory into every practical aspect of publishing. Gessen analyses book formats and the calculation of extent, systems of rubrication, page numbering, running heads, the integration of illustrations, and the design of bindings. Separate chapters address editorial and production management, tariffs and rates for typesetting, printing, and binding in the state enterprises Mospoligraf and Lenpoligraf, paper prices, authors' royalties, methods of calculating production costs, and the organisation of publishing programmes through series and "book collectives." He also considers the distinctive requirements of different categories of publication, including mass editions, school textbooks, primers, poetry collections, catalogues, and official publications. The appendices are of particular historical interest. Alongside practical exercises for students of typography, they reproduce two rival schemes for the proposed Latinisation of the Russian alphabet, preserving an important documentary record of the script-reform debates that occupied Soviet linguistic and educational circles during the late 1920s and early 1930s before the policy was abandoned. An important primary source for the study of Soviet book design, typography, and the "production art" / constructivist movement in publishing of the early Five-Year-Plan period, scarce in commerce and rarer still in an inscribed copy.

N° de réf. du vendeur 006565

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: ??????????? ????? [The Architecture of the Book]
• Éditeur: State Publishing House of Science and Technology, Moscow/Leningrad
• Date de parution: 1931
• Langue: russe
• Reliure: Hardcover
• État de l'article: Very Good
• Signé: Inscribed by Author(s)
• Catalogues du vendeur:
  • BIBLIOGRAPHY
  • Book design