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Jan Steen exemplifies that newer books can be special enough to be a part of special collections. During the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, its’ author, Abraham Bredius, was known as an authority on the subject of seventeenth-century Dutch painters and their techniques. As the title suggests, this book is about Jan Steen. According to Bredius himself, Jan Steen was, after Rembrandt, the most genius Dutch painter of the seventeenth century. 

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The book was printed in folio size, the largest page size. Tthe upper edge has been gilded, but the other edges have not. It has an elaborate hard cover, decorated with golden gilding and blind embossing. Additionally, the one of Leiden on the left, the one of Haarlem on the right and on the bottom the one for the city of The Hague. These are the cities where the author did archival research for this book. Furthermore, Jan Steen’s initials, the initials of Scheltema & Holkema’s, publishing house located in Amsterdam, as well as the initials of the author, are included on the cover. 

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The book contains 100 photogravure plates. Photogravure is a technique that was mostly used during the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The technique allowed for photographs to be printed in high quality. For this, light sensitive gelatin was used to transfer the negative of a picture onto a plate, allowing the image to be incised into the surface of a copper plate. Being a type of intaglio printing, the lower parts of the surface hold the ink used to print it. For this reason, the plate must be pressed deeply into the paper, causing indentations around the image. This can also be seen in this book. The images in this book are pictures of Jan Steen’s paintings, taken at the Dutch Rijksmuseum and other museums around the world.

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This book was likely intended to be a coffee table book for an affluent audience. Coffee table books are usually large books, and the intended buyers place high value on their physical appearance. They are often so large because they are not meant to be moved, they are often displayed at one location and meant to inspire conversation and entertain guests.

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According to Worldcat, there are fourteen known copies left of this book. However, none have been digitised. There are multiple entries on Worldcat with alternative titles of this book as well. Additionally, this book has different editions, making it difficult based only on the descriptions, which are often undetailed, to determine how many copies are truly left of this specific book.

 

Damage to the book

All images in this book are accompanied by a thinner sheet of paper that was meant to protect it. However, it appears this paper has caused damage instead. This can be deduced from the fact that the parts of paper that touched these protective sheets have turned yellow, likely due to the acidity of the thinner paper. Wherever the protective paper did not touch the paper, it remains in good condition without acidity damage. This includes the edges of the stained pages, where a sharp line can be distinguished. The photogravures themselves have also stained the surrounding pages, the protective sheets did not prevent this. Additionally, the material used to glue the covering of the book to the cover has caused damage to the edges of the end paper.

 

The publication date

On the title page of the book, a librarian has written “[1927]” in pencil. This is because the publication date is not mentioned anywhere in the book. On Worldcat multiple publication years can be found, ranging from 1924 until 1927. Based on the author’s introduction to this book, it can be determined that its publication was delayed due to the First World War, and for a few more years after. In the Abraham Bredius archive, in possession of RKDarchives, a folder with a title that translates to “Pieces concerning the monograph of ‘Jan Steen’ Amsterdam 1927” can be found. Although this archive has not been digitized, it is, based on the title of this page, very likely that Jan Steen was published in 1927 or later.

 

The cover designer

The artist behind the cover of this book is not mentioned anywhere in the book or in any online catalogue or auction website, except for the Leiden University Library Catalogue. According to this catalogue, the cover was designed by Lion Cachet.  

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Several books with covers almost identical to the one of Jan Steen can be found on websites of auctions and antiquaries. One of these books is George Hendrik Breitner, which was also published by Scheltema & Holkema. Not only the cover but also the imprint, the title page and the printers logo are the same. Jacob Maris, written by T.H. de Block is another example of an almost identical book from the same publishing house. Interestingly, these books have been dated earlier, between 1902 and 1908 on Worldcat. According to auction and antiquary websites, the covers of both George Hendrik Breitner and Jacob Maris were designed by Lion Cachet, although it was not possible to confirm this through archival material or other sources. 

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Lion Cachet was a Dutch Art Nouveau artist who also designed book covers. It is very likely that Cachet designed the cover of Jan Steen as has designed several other book covers for Scheltema & Holkema. One example of these is the one for De Rembrandt tentoonstelling te Amsterdam, which was published in 1901. Before this time, he also participated in several designing competitions for this publishing house, so Cachet was well acquainted with the publishers. 

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Although quite different, the cover of De Rembrandt tentoonstelling te Amsterdam bears some similarity to the design of the covers of the other books mentioned. Particularly the framing found on these covers. Furthermore, the symmetrical design which includes natural elements are also typical of Cachet’s work. However, the cover of Jan Steen and the other similar covers are much less elaborate with less natural flowing elements than other works by Cachet.

 

The paper

According to an antiquary, the heavy paper in George Hendrik Breitner was produced by the papermill of Van Gelder. The watermark on all pages of Jan Steen, except the protective sheets which do not have a watermark, spells the title of the book. Although the font in the Jan Steen watermark is very similar to the one Van Gelder has used, it was not possible to compare them, for none of the books have been digitized and no photos of the watermarks in them could be found. However, based on the similarity, it can be presumed the paper in Jan Steen was also produced by the Van Gelder papermill.

 

Conclusion

It is likely that this book was published sometime in 1927 or thereafter, and that the cover was designed by Lion Cachet. Furthermore, the paper may have been produced by the Van Gelder papermill. However, more research is necessary to prove these hypotheses.

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This essay was written by Eveline Hoogeland. 

 

Eveline is currently studying at Leiden University for her Masters’ degree in Book and Digital Media Studies. She completed a Bachelors’ degree in Koreastudies from the same university. Eveline was responsible for the photography of this website.

 

About the book:

 

Title: Jan Steen, door A. Bredius, met honderd platen in photogravure

Publisher: Scheltema & Holkema Boekhandel, Amsterdam

Cover designer: Likely Lion Cachet

Publishing date: Likely some time in 1927 or thereafter

Paper: Likely produced by the Van Gelder papermill

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References

‘Archief Abraham Bredius’, RKDarchives. https://rkd.nl/nl/explore/archives/details/NL-HaRKD-0380/keywords/abraham%20bredius/withscans/0/start/0/limit/50/flimit/5/filters:ead.eadheader.eadid/NL-HaRKD-0380.

 

Abraham Bredius, Jan Steen (Amsterdam: Scheltema & Holkema's Boekhandel, 1927).

 

DE REMBRANDT TENTOONSTELLING TE AMSTERDAM : 40 PHOTOGRAVURES EN HET SUPPLEMENT DE REMBRANDT TENTOONSTELLING TE LONDEN: 26 PHOTOGRAVURES’, Koninklijke Verzamelingen. https://www.koninklijkeverzamelingen.nl/en/collectie-online/detail/96270e26-16ee-5804-b9fa-91a6d2752105.

 

Ernst Braches and Alfred Aubry, Het boek als Nieuwe Kunst, 1892-1903 : een studie in Art Nouveau (Utrecht: Oosthoek, 1973).

 

MARIS, JACOB, OVER/ DOOR TH.DE BOCK – Jacob Maris’, Antiqbook. https://www.antiqbook.com/books/bookinfo.phtml?nr=1528345757&l=en&seller=meilc5.

 

Michael Ann Holly, Mark Ledbury, Douglas Armato, et al. ‘Art History and Its Publishers’, Art Journal (New York. 1960) 65, no. 4 (2006): pp. 41–50. https://doi.org/10.1080/00043249.2006.10791226.

 

‘The Photogravure Process’, The Art of the Photogravure (October 19, 2020). https://photogravure.com/process/.