Bookplates, printer's marks


Russian masters' creative quest in the field of colophons also was begun at the turn of the twentieth century. Artists belonging to the World of Art association offered forms of artistic expression for printer's marks as well as for bookplates. Printer's emblems first became an author's work, reflecting both an orientation of a publisher, and a style tipifying an artist. This started with the magazine belonging to the World of Art association, issued from 1899 to 1904, and exhibition catalogues of the association. Leon Bakst, Yevgeny Lanceray, Dmitri Mitrokhin, Sergei Chekhonin created printer's emblems of the magazine in different years.
	It is interesting to compare two mark of the same theme. The earlier work by Leon Bakst is laconic and expressive; the later piece by Yevgeny Lanceray is a monumental and slightly heavy composition, giving some idea of the relative importance of the periodic publication.
For the publishing house of Joseph Knebel in Moscow, Yevgeny Lanceray produced a masterly composed emblem with publisher's initials enclosed within vegetal ornament. The colophon of the anthology Artistic Treasures of Russia (Khudozhestvennye sokrovichsha Rossii in Russian) is rather old-fashioned, nevertheless it also is filled with motion and demonstrates flexibility of forms. The significant logo of the Cosmos Publishing House is distinguished for its asymmetric composition, the art of the silhouette, a great degree of elaboration.
bookplates: 1 2 3 4 5 6 printer's marks: 7 8 9 10