Posted by Gary G. on April 29, 1997 at 12:00:13:
In Reply to: Backing posted by Fred Zwegat on April 28, 1997 at 10:13:42:
: In Gary's response concerning the album mounting of prints he mentioned the involvement of the publisher in this process. As a collector of Meiji prints, many of which are "backed", I have been curious as to what the publisher's role was in the preparation of albums. Was the series released already bound, or would the patron take the loose sheets to a vendor, other than the publisher, who would mount the prints? The prints in larger series by Gekko and Toshikata were printed and released over the span of a few years. If compiled by the publisher, were individual sheets sold and others held back for album mounting? Are there any reference sources in English which document this process? Thank you
Fred, I would love to learn more about the inner workings of
a publishing house myself. I was waiting to see what kind
of response your questions received. There is no book that I know of on the
subject, but perhaps this posting will help find one.
As a collector in the 19th century (and today for that matter),
you could go to a publisher or binder and have your prints
mounted into an album. Prints were issued as single sheets
and in album form (if there was a theme). I have had access to many ablums with
no particular theme, that were obviously not a commercial
venture by a 19th century publisher. It has also been my experience,
that the original publisher of a collection of prints tended to mount
them better than those who mounted them after the fact.
I am certain that a 19th century publisher of a series that took a number of
years to publish, would hold some impressions of each print aside to be mounted
in album form when all the printing had been completed. These albums would be,
I assume, for his best customers. I have had and seen a number of these
albums where all the prints are early impressions. More commonly, however,
publishers would assemble albums from freshly printed material. Therefore, some impressions
would be taken from blocks that had hardly been used, while other impressions
would be pulled from blocks that were beginning to show the wear of
a number of years of use.
I would be interested, Fred, in knowing if you find a book on the subject.