Folio Archives 18: The Earliest Chemical Industry 1948
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1wcarter
Amongst Folio Society aficionados, the Earliest Chemical Industry (ECI) is something of an icon, because this book is responsible for us being able to enjoy the superb books published by the Folio Society today.
In 1948 the FS was in its second year of existence, and set out to publish a new edition every month, but bit off more than it could chew, and found itself in deep financial trouble. Along came Derek Spence, the managing director of Peter Spence and Sons, who had encouraged Prof. Charles Singer to write a book to commemorate the centenary of the company in 1946. The topic was the history of the alum industry, which was the basis on which many modern chemical industries had been established. The Second World War delayed publication, but in 1948 the FS was given the commission to publish “The Earliest Chemical Industry – An essay in the Historical Relations of Economics and Technology Illustrated from the Alum Trade”, a far larger and more ambitious book than they had previously attempted.
The result was a large format (34x22.5x4 cm.), 337 page book filled with 181 black and white, 13 colour illustrations and f four colour maps and figures.
Only four private book commissions have been published by the Folio Society in its 70- year history. The other three were Art of the Book 1939-1950 (1951), Laws of Oleron (1960) and Jayant Madhvani. (1973).
Some colour illustrations were printed on separate tipped in pages, but most were printed separately, then laboriously pasted by hand onto the appropriate page. As you may notice in the pictures below, the paste on some full pages has caused some wrinkling over the past 69 years. Other pasted in pictures were quite small (see enlargement below) and would have been very fiddly to insert.
Only 1100 copies were printed, 1000 were red cloth bound by Henry Stevenson, an a more exclusive 100 were red leather bound and signed by the author and Derek Spence. They were individually numbered on a colophon page at the back of the book. On the colophon page is a copper engraved device commissioned from Stephen Gooden that shows a female centaur drawing a bow while standing on an alum crystal.
It is printed on very heavy Arnold’s mould paper using letterpress Baskerville type, and the printer was the Chiswick Press. The colour plates were printed by Alinari of Florence, Italy.
The cloth binding is totally plain red, with a pasted on black spine label blocked with the title and author in gold. The page block top is gold tinted. There was no slipcase or dust jacket.
Despite its technical and ponderous title, this is actually a very readable and interesting treatise that those without any scientific knowledge can profitably peruse, while those with an interest in industrial chemistry should find all the detail they desire.
All in all, a quite fascinating publication, and a vital part of Folio Society history.
Close up of pasted in images shown in page above -
Pasted in colour picture on text page-
Pasted in colour picture on blank page. Glue has affected paper to cause wrinkling over time-
Two colour pictures printed directly on paper than tipped into book-
Typical mixed text and black & white image pages with easily read historical information, and technical information on crytallography-
Colophon page at back of book-
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed at : http://www.librarything.com/topic/266300
In 1948 the FS was in its second year of existence, and set out to publish a new edition every month, but bit off more than it could chew, and found itself in deep financial trouble. Along came Derek Spence, the managing director of Peter Spence and Sons, who had encouraged Prof. Charles Singer to write a book to commemorate the centenary of the company in 1946. The topic was the history of the alum industry, which was the basis on which many modern chemical industries had been established. The Second World War delayed publication, but in 1948 the FS was given the commission to publish “The Earliest Chemical Industry – An essay in the Historical Relations of Economics and Technology Illustrated from the Alum Trade”, a far larger and more ambitious book than they had previously attempted.
The result was a large format (34x22.5x4 cm.), 337 page book filled with 181 black and white, 13 colour illustrations and f four colour maps and figures.
Only four private book commissions have been published by the Folio Society in its 70- year history. The other three were Art of the Book 1939-1950 (1951), Laws of Oleron (1960) and Jayant Madhvani. (1973).
Some colour illustrations were printed on separate tipped in pages, but most were printed separately, then laboriously pasted by hand onto the appropriate page. As you may notice in the pictures below, the paste on some full pages has caused some wrinkling over the past 69 years. Other pasted in pictures were quite small (see enlargement below) and would have been very fiddly to insert.
Only 1100 copies were printed, 1000 were red cloth bound by Henry Stevenson, an a more exclusive 100 were red leather bound and signed by the author and Derek Spence. They were individually numbered on a colophon page at the back of the book. On the colophon page is a copper engraved device commissioned from Stephen Gooden that shows a female centaur drawing a bow while standing on an alum crystal.
It is printed on very heavy Arnold’s mould paper using letterpress Baskerville type, and the printer was the Chiswick Press. The colour plates were printed by Alinari of Florence, Italy.
The cloth binding is totally plain red, with a pasted on black spine label blocked with the title and author in gold. The page block top is gold tinted. There was no slipcase or dust jacket.
Despite its technical and ponderous title, this is actually a very readable and interesting treatise that those without any scientific knowledge can profitably peruse, while those with an interest in industrial chemistry should find all the detail they desire.
All in all, a quite fascinating publication, and a vital part of Folio Society history.
Close up of pasted in images shown in page above -
Pasted in colour picture on text page-
Pasted in colour picture on blank page. Glue has affected paper to cause wrinkling over time-
Two colour pictures printed directly on paper than tipped into book-
Typical mixed text and black & white image pages with easily read historical information, and technical information on crytallography-
Colophon page at back of book-
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed at : http://www.librarything.com/topic/266300
2drasvola
>1 wcarter:
After a search that has lasted a long time, I finally have in my hands a copy of this book! No. 573.
After a search that has lasted a long time, I finally have in my hands a copy of this book! No. 573.
3lgrazian
Hi, I am a new member and have thoroughly enjoyed wcarter's archive series. I thought you might be interested in some pictures of the other version of the ECI.
Cover:
Spine:
Top Edge:
Inside Cover:
Colophon page:
Cover:
Spine:
Top Edge:
Inside Cover:
Colophon page:
4wcarter
>3 lgrazian:
Congratulations on having one of the rare leather covered version.
Congratulations on having one of the rare leather covered version.
5KeithDBowman
Wow, thanks for the background - truly fascinating. I’ll be sure to read the rest of your archive series.
I fear I’ve gone right down the rabbit hole with this Folio business recently...!
I fear I’ve gone right down the rabbit hole with this Folio business recently...!
