In the Bodleian library I look at a small printed book, less than the size of my hand, containing 156 pages of the works of the French author, politician, and sometime protégé of Voltaire, Charles Michel de Villette (1736-93). It’s in French, titled
I wonder if you know the book "Old Tjikko", by Nicolai Howalt (Fabrikbooks, 2019)? Publisher's description:
"The tree, Old Tjikko, stands in a deserted landscape on a mountainside in Dalarna, Sweden, and is considered to be the oldest tree in the world with its impressive age of 9,600 years. A single photographic negative of this exceptional spruce has become the many different photographs in this book. By exposing the same image onto 97 different types of aged analogue light-sensitive photo papers – some dating back as far as the 1940’s – Nicolai Howalt has in Old Tjikko created a book, where the unpredictability of the long expired photographic papers has become an integral and dynamic part of each image."
Sadly, the pages are not made up of the actual vintage photo papers, but, as they say, it's the thought that counts.
I spent the early part of my library career cataloguing Russian books in the final years of the Soviet Union. Paper shortages were clearly a problem: a single volume might be printed on multiple paper stocks, all slightly (sometimes dramatically) different in colour and texture. I remember an edition of (I think) Dostoevsky that, viewed from the top, resembled a block of Neapolitan ice cream, with shades of white, pink, and a pale pistachio green.
What a beautiful book Delisle made. Many thanks for highlighting it. Does he mention René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur and his 1719 essay to the Royal Academy of Sciences on the natural history of wasps? In fact, North American wasps and their potential for replacing linen-based paper (http://books-on-books.com/2017/02/12/bookmarking-book-art-on-the-origin-of-species/). I think Schäffer knew about Réamur.
Fascinating! Matthias Koops is another name to check out...
Excellent article. (There's an its/it's confusion in l.5.)
I wonder if you know the book "Old Tjikko", by Nicolai Howalt (Fabrikbooks, 2019)? Publisher's description:
"The tree, Old Tjikko, stands in a deserted landscape on a mountainside in Dalarna, Sweden, and is considered to be the oldest tree in the world with its impressive age of 9,600 years. A single photographic negative of this exceptional spruce has become the many different photographs in this book. By exposing the same image onto 97 different types of aged analogue light-sensitive photo papers – some dating back as far as the 1940’s – Nicolai Howalt has in Old Tjikko created a book, where the unpredictability of the long expired photographic papers has become an integral and dynamic part of each image."
Sadly, the pages are not made up of the actual vintage photo papers, but, as they say, it's the thought that counts.
I spent the early part of my library career cataloguing Russian books in the final years of the Soviet Union. Paper shortages were clearly a problem: a single volume might be printed on multiple paper stocks, all slightly (sometimes dramatically) different in colour and texture. I remember an edition of (I think) Dostoevsky that, viewed from the top, resembled a block of Neapolitan ice cream, with shades of white, pink, and a pale pistachio green.
Mike
What a beautiful book Delisle made. Many thanks for highlighting it. Does he mention René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur and his 1719 essay to the Royal Academy of Sciences on the natural history of wasps? In fact, North American wasps and their potential for replacing linen-based paper (http://books-on-books.com/2017/02/12/bookmarking-book-art-on-the-origin-of-species/). I think Schäffer knew about Réamur.
Is the Delisle book part of a larger special collection of papers in the Oxford libraries? The first seven volumes of the Rijswijk Papier Biennale (http://books-on-books.com/2019/10/10/bookmarking-book-art-the-first-seven-books-of-the-rijswijk-paper-biennial/), Fred Siegenthaler's "Strange Papers" (http://books-on-books.com/2021/01/10/books-on-books-collection-fred-siegenthaler/) and a few similar items will be donated in the next few years. "Pulp" for more insightful papers!