50 Jaar Bruynzeel 1897-1947 (50 Years of Bruynzeel 1897-1947)
Zaandam, Holland: Bruynzeel, (1947). First edition. Hardcover. Folio. 126pp. Gray quarter cloth over gray paper-covered boards with gilt- and blind-stamped title on cover, gilt lettering on spine. Photographic endpapers. Published on the 50th anniversary of the Dutch timber factory Bruynzeel.
The company was founded in 1897 by Cornelis Bruynzeel Sr. Profusely illustrated with b/w reproductions of photographs by Carel Blazer and 25 reproductions of drawings in various color tones. Blazer was a leading figure in the 'Underground Camera' and the radical GKf group of documentary photographers. "Blazer's pictures are stolidly conventional in any case; the book's radicalism lies in its design, and the way in which the images are incorporated into the total graphic package. One could question whether it is a photobook in the strict sense, but it is clear that the book's primary message is carried by photography, and the graphic design -however innovative- exists to provide a framework for the photograph's display and the book's ideological message. As is typical of many company books of the period, that ideological message presents man and machine as two aspects of a single entity." (Parr & Badger, The Photobook: A History, Vol. II, p. 187). Design by Jan Bons and Jaap Penraat.
Text in Dutch by Martin Redeke. Binding with light wear along edges, bumps at upper right corner and spine. Sunning and light foxing of endpapers. Name of Henk van der Meijden, Dutch journalist and theater producer, on front endpaper. Age toning to outer edges of interior pages. Binding and interior in overall good+ condition. g+. Item #45438
Price: $375.00