Graphic Arts: Unit Outline & Specimen Book.
Oswego, New York: State University of New York, Teachers
College, 1952. 11½” x 8 7/8”. Black cloth over boards, title gilt, steel post binding. 78 leaves of typescript printed rectos only with 21 diagrams and illustrations corner mounted + 19 thick card leaves with 29 samples adhesive or corner mounted, a few to both sides + 4 thin leaves of additional samples, rectos only. Near fine with minimal wear, title page lightly soiled; one leaf with 3 items loose from mounts and 2 laid in.
This is a fantastic “specimen book” and manual for a course in “Industrial Arts Printing” offered at the Teachers College at SUNY Oswego in 1952. Filled with exquisite samples of various types of printing, lesson plans, diagrams and illustrations, the book provides a rare glimpse into printing history as well as the training of the art.
The State University of New York at Oswego was especially noted for its Industrial Arts Program, founded in 1911; by 1940 it was said to be one of the best programs in the country and continued to gain in popularity and acclaim until the 1980s when its focus was switched to “Technology Education.”
An introduction page shared that this course book was intended to “define the type of work that our graduate teachers will be required to do if they teach printing in the intermediate grades or high school as an industrial arts subject.” It listed general educational as well as “exploratory” and “prevocational” objectives, including “to give opportunity for expression and developmental thinking through the medium of tools” and to provide “for the needs of pupils who would not remain in school for an academic education alone.” The text posited that “we should think of printing in the schools as a cultural and educational subject” (rather than just a means of producing jobs), and that activities “allied to printing” would be offered, such as linoleum block cutting, book binding and rubber stamp making. These projects, the author argued, would “give our print shop a distinctive industrial arts flavor.”
The first 78 pages in the book were devoted to 66 numbered lessons, and include fantastic full page printed visual aids along with smaller illustrations and diagrams mounted to pages. Lessons ranged from learning the position of letters in the case, how to justify lines and take proofs, through “Getting Acquainted with the Press,” estimating jobs (“Craft – Cost – Customs”) and advanced color processing. There was a great table of “Proofreader's Marks and [the] Proper Way to Use Them” and suggested activities like “plateless printing,” “stitching signatures” and folding booklets. Lessons also covered printing history, “professional and craft ethics,” shop regulations and helpful tips for instructors such as how to keep class records, prepare tests and lesson plans.
The book also holds beautiful samples of six different types of printing – 33 in total. Ten are examples of linoleum block printing (a few with a two-color print) and there are six complete programs, including those for the school's 1951 junior-senior dance, Epsilon Pi Tau initiation banquet and the 13th Annual Industrial Arts Spring Conference. It has five lovely silk screen samples, four full pages showing offset printing and three different,“invitation styles.” One laid-in color print, titled “Isn't it the Truth?” hilariously dismisses the consequences of mistakes made in other professions, “BUT when a printer makes an error . . . Good Night!”
Almost certainly unique, a remarkable resource for printing history and education with OCLC locating no copies. Near fine. Item #5637
Price: $1,250.00