PM / A-D. PM Volume 4, Nos. 1 – 8, 1937- 1938. New York: The Composing Room/P.M. Publishing Co., 1948. Publishers bound volume [400 copies].

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PM: Volume 4, Nos. 1 – 8: 1937 – 1938

An Intimate Journal For Art Directors, Production Managers,
and their Associates

Robert L. Leslie and Percy Seitlin [Editors]

Eight issues of PM complete with original covers and all inserts bound into a single decorated cloth volume by the craftsmen at the Composing Room in an edition of 400 copies. Blue cloth boards with leather gilt spine labels. Blue spine cloth slightly darkened and all four tips nudged. Textblock lightly dust spotted. All eight bound issues in fine condition in a very good or better Publishers binding.

A unique opportunity of own a collection of PM when it was becoming the leading journal for American Graphic Design and a clarion for the Avant-Garde Immigration to the United States.

Robert L. Leslie and Percy Seitlin [Editors]: PM [An Intimate Journal For Art Directors, Production Managers, and their Associates]. New York: The Composing Room/P. M. Publishing Co., [Volume 4, No. 1: 1937]. Original edition. Slim 12mo. Four-color offset yapped wrappers. 34 [6] pp. Illustrated text and advertisements. Cover by Laszlo Matulay.

Robert L. Leslie and Percy Seitlin [Editors]: PM [An Intimate Journal For Art Directors, Production Managers, and their Associates]. New York: The Composing Room/P. M. Publishing Co., Volume 4, No. 2: October 1937. Original edition. Slim 12mo. 2-color letterpress wrappers. Align-O wire binding. 48 pp. Illustrated articles and advertisements. Multiple paper stocks. Original cover design by photographer Stanley Bernard Schaeffer [who is also the Featured Artist].

[Lester Beall] Robert L. Leslie and Percy Seitlin [Editors]: PM [An Intimate Journal For Art Directors, Production Managers, and their Associates]. New York: The Composing Room/P.M. Publishing Co., Volume 4, No. 3: November 1937. Original edition. Slim 12mo. Stitched and perfect-bound printed wrappers. 66 pp. Illustrated articles and advertisements. Cover design by Lester Beall.

Robert L. Leslie and Percy Seitlin [Editors]: PM [An Intimate Journal For Art Directors, Production Managers, and their Associates]. NYC: The Composing Room/P.M. Publishing Co., Volume 4, No. 4: December 1937 – January 1938. Original edition. Slim 12mo. Perfect bound and sewn printed wrappers. 84 [16] pp. Illustrated articles and advertisements. 4-color offset cover art by Edward Chaiter.

[Gropius & Matter] Leslie, Robert L. and Percy Seitlin [Editors] PM: AN INTIMATE JOURNAL FOR ART DIRECTORS, PRODUCTION MANAGERS AND THEIR ASSOCIATES. New York: The Composing Room/P.M. Publishing Co. [Volume 4, No. 5: February / March 1938 ]. Original edition. Slim 12mo. Stapled, photographically-printed stiff wrappers. 50 pp. Illustrated articles and advertisements. Cover by Lee Brown Coye.

Robert L. Leslie and Percy Seitlin [Editors]: PM [An Intimate Journal For Art Directors, Production Managers, and their Associates]. NYC: The Composing Room/P.M. Publishing Co., Volume 4, No. 6: April - May 1938. Issue Number 43 (on cover but actually number 42 in count). Original edition. Slim 12mo. Perfect bound and sewn printed wrappers. 112 pp. Illustrated articles and advertisements. One of the finest issues of PM. Cover design by Hans Barschel printed on a special cloth paper.

[Bauhaus] Robert L. Leslie and Percy Seitlin [Editors]: PM [An Intimate Journal For Art Directors, Production Managers, and their Associates]. New York: The Composing Room/P.M. Publishing Co., June-July 1938 [Volume 4, No. 7]. Original edition. Slim 12mo. Perfect bound and sewn letterpressed wrappers. 76 pp. Illustrated articles and advertisements. Cover is 2-color original design by Bauhaus student M. Peter Piening.

[Industrial Designer] Robert L. Leslie and Percy Seitlin [Editors]: PM [An Intimate Journal For Art Directors, Production Managers, and their Associates]. New York: The Composing Room/P.M. Publishing Co., Volume 4, No. 8: August-September 1938. Original edition. Slim 12mo. Thick printed perfect bound and sewn wrappers. 64 pp. Illustrated articles and advertisements. Multiple paper stocks. Cover is an original 4-color offset design by Hans Alexander Mueller.

[8] 5.5 x 7.75 volumes with 632 pages of articles and trade advertisements. Issue highlights include:

Type Designs of the Past and Present by Stanley Morison
Laszlo Matulay Insert designed by Laszlo Matulay. Laszlo Matulay began his career in his native Vienna. He left Austria in 1934 and came to New York. His illustration work was used in tapestries, book jackets, murals and advertising. In addition his work has been exhibited by the New York Public Library. He served on the faculty at the Laboratory School of Industrial Arts.
Language in Pictures - Development and uses of Pictorial Statistics: Rudolf Modley [Executive Director, Pictorial Statistics, Inc.]. Modley was a student of Otto Neurath who brought the Isotype theories to the US. He founded the Pictograph Corporation in 1934 after working for the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. Modley produced a number of large dictionaries and handbooks. Visual education was always the prime motive behind ISOTYPE. It was not intended to replace verbal language, rather it was a “helping language” accompanied by verbal elements. Neurath was deeply convinced that his "world language without words" would not only enhance education but facilitate international understanding. Neurath rejected histograms with numerical scales, pie charts and continuous line charts for a method that displayed facts in a more easily understood form, numbers were represented by a series of identical pictorial elements or signs, each of them representing a defined quantity. While his contemporaries showed variation by altering the size of their symbols, Neurath increased or reduced the quantity of symbols, each symbol representing a specific amount. Neurath called these "amount pictures" or "number pictures."
Lester Beall by Charles Coiner. Cover and 16-page letterpress insert designed by Lester Beall. The Beall cover for PM 39 is widely recognized as a singular high point in American Graphic Design—a perfect synthesis of the European Avant-Garde neue typographie, interpreted by an extremely sensitive Designer from Missouri. Lester Beall designed a photogram/typofoto advertisment for Sterling Engraving for their precision engraving of the plates for the Beall insert. This collaboration between Beall and Sterling preceeded the eight volumes of Photo-Engraving that beall designed for Sterling Engraving in 1938.
The Bauhaus Tradition and the New Typography by L. SanduskyThe 34-page, 2-color insert designed by Lester Beall that has become one of the standard bibliographic references for the cross-pollination of European and American avant-garde typography— a singular high point in the history of American Graphic design because it was the first published account in English of the Bauhaus Typographic philosophy. Features work by Wassily Kaninsky, Alexander Archipenko, Walter Gropius, Kasimir Malevich, El Lissitzky, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Karel Teige, Piet Mondrian, Jan Tschichold, Paul Renner, Herbert Bayer, M. Peter Piening and many others. While it seems common today to attach these names together under the common avant-garde umbrella, it was quite an intellectual stretch to merge the plastic arts of architecture, painting, typography, printing and sculpture into a coherent argument in 1938. Lester Beall's layouts for this article are truly amazing-- A classic piece of original graphic design and one of the best instances of the synthesis of the European Avant-garde into the American consciousness.
Letter to the Editor from Professor Josef Albers of Black Mountain College, NC gently correcting L. Sandusky's article on The Bauhaus Tradition and the New Typography. How cool is that?
Fifty American Prints 1933-1938 AIGA Exhibit (designed by Lucian Bernhard). Features 50 full-page black and white reproductions of the 50 prints of the Year Show sponsored by the AIGA (including price list!) Artists whose work is reproduced in this bound-in insert: Rita Albers, Ivan Le Lorraine Albright, John Taylor Arms, Peggy Bacon, Will Barnet, Fred Becker, Thomas Hart Benton, George Biddle, Andrew Butler, Paul Cadmus, Francis Chapin, Jean Charlot, Nicolai Cikovsky, George Constant, Howard Cook, Jon Corbino, Hubert Davis, John De Martelly, Mabel Dwight, Fritz Eichenberg, Philip Evergood, Don Freeman, Wanda Gag, Emil Ganso, Anne Goldthwaite, William Gropper, Rockwell Kent, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Joseph Leboit, Doris Lee, Russel Lembach, Charles Locke, Margaret Lowengrund,Peppino Mangravite, Kyra Markham, Jack Markow, Reginald Marsh, Thomas Nason, Edith Newton, Augustus Peck, Sanford Ross, Francis Shields, Raphael Soyer, Benton Spruance, Prentiss Taylor, Alice Tenney, Stow Wengenroth, Harry Wickey, Lois Wilcox,and Grant Wood. Wow.
Hans Barschel (designed by Hans Barschel) 8-page 4-color lithographic insert.
Essentials for Architectural Education by Walter GropiusA 16-page, photo-illustrated 2-color letterpress insert designed by Herbert Matter. This is the first of three issues that devoted themselves to detailed analysis of the importance of the recently-shuttered Bauhaus. In April 1937, Robert Leslie and Percy Seitlin announced their intent to devote the July or August PM to The Bauhaus Idea in America. The ambitious plan for Josef Albers to guest edit the contributions of Walter Gropius, Xanti Schawinsky, Grace Young, William Lescaze, and A. Lawrence Kocher was never realized. The Gropius contribution was published in the Feb./March 1938 issue and was followed by issues devoted to Herbert Bayer and the Bauhaus Typographic Tradition.
The Work of Lee Brown Coye (designed by Lee Brown Coye) Cover and insert by Lee Brown Coye, an artist who achieved fame as a preferred cover artist for Weird Tales.
Pratt Institute A 48-page student portfolio featuring industrial design, graphic art and illustration.
WPA Federal Art Project A review of Poster Show in New York City.
Hans Alexander Mueller at Seventy by Lynd Ward. 16-page insert illustrated with electrotypes from original wood engravings via 5-color letterpress.
Designers at Work in America A 31-page Industrial Design insert featuring work and self-designed 2-page profiles of: Ruth Gerth, Wilbur Henry Adams, Walter Baermann, Donald Deskey, Donald R. Dohner, Frederick J. Kiesler, Lucian Bernhard, and Russel Wright
PM Shorts mention Laszlo Moholy-Nagy announces New Bauhaus; Georg Salter; Richard T. Salmon; Tom Holloway; Otto W. Fuhrmann; L. Sandusky, Lester Beall, The Art Squad, Leon Friend, Herbert Matter, M. Peter Piening, Paul Smith, L. Moholy - Nagy, Frank E. Powers, George F. Trenholm, Alfred A. Cohn, Otto W. Fuhrmann, F. L Amberger, Irving Geis, Hans Alexander Mueller, Eleanor Treacy , Norman W. Forgue , Bob Carroll, Adolph Treidler, Howard Willard, Evelyn Harter, E. Van Elkan, Lynd Ward, Andre Kertesz, Robert Josephy, Sol Cantor , Frank Henahan, Congratulations to the New Bauhaus; AIGA; Fabir Birren;
Book Reviews: American Bookman History; The Handbook of Advertising - ed. by E. B. Weiss, F. C. Kendall, C. B. Larrabee; The Book - The Story of Printing and Bookmaking by Douglas C. McMurtrie; A Philosophy of Esthetics by Dale Nichols; An Enquiry Into Industrial Art in England by Nikolaus Pevsner and Handicrafts of the Southern Highlands by Allen H. Eaton
Advertisers include The Composing Room, Merganthaler - Linotype, Intertype, Allen - Hall Co. Inc., Wilbar Engravings, Ludlow Typograph, Russell Rutter Co., Inc., Silvertone Process Co., Reliance Reproduction Co., Colton Press, The National Process Co., Flower Electrotypes; Wilbar Photo Engraving; Intertype; Bauer Type Foundry, Allcolor Co., Griffin Miller Bates Co. Inc., Ludlow Typograph Co., Crafton Graphic Co.

PM magazine was the leading voice of the U. S. Graphic Arts Industry from its inception in 1934 to its end in 1942 (then called AD). As a publication produced by and for professionals, it spotlighted cutting-edge production technology and the highest possible quality reproduction techniques (from engraving to plates). PM and A-D also championed the Modern movement by showcasing work from the vanguard of the European Avant-Garde well before this type of work was known to a wide audience.

Herbert Matter (1907 - 1984) studied painting at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Geneva and at the Academie Moderne in Paris with Fernand Leger and Ozenfant. He worked with A. M. Cassandre, Le Corbusier and Deberney & Peignot. He returned to Zurich in 1932 and designed posters for the Swiss National Tourist Office and Swiss resorts. He came to the US in 1936 and freelanced with Harper's Bazaar, Vogue and other magazines. From 1946 to 1966 he was design consultant with Knoll Associates. From 1952 to 1976 he was professor of photography at Yale University and from 1958 to 1968 he served as design consultant to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. He was elected to the New York Art Director's Club Hall of Fame in 1977, received a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship in photography in 1980 and the AIGA medal in 1983.

Born and educated in Germany, Walter Gropius (1883-1969) belongs to the select group of architects that massively influenced the international development of modern architecture. As the founding director of the Bauhaus, Gropius made inestimable contributions to his field, to the point that knowing his work is crucial to understanding Modernism. His early buildings, such Fagus Boot-Last Factory and the Bauhaus Building in Dessau, with their use of glass and industrial features, are still indispensable points of reference. After his emigration to the United States, he influenced the education of architects there and became, along with Mies van der Rohe, a leading proponent of the International Style.

M. Peter Piening studied at the Bauhaus with Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Paul Klee and Mies van der Rohe. He received his PhD from the University of Berlin in 1931 and in the same year began working at the Ullstein publishing house. After working several years as a freelance designer in Paris he came to America in 1934. He worked as an art director for N. W. Ayer and J. Walter Thompson. He was on the editorial staff at 'Life' magazine and in 1942 was appointed art director of 'Fortune' magazine. He held that position until 1946. He taught at the New York Art Student's League and at New York University. In 1958 he was appointed to the faculty at Syracuse University."

Here is Lester Beall’s posthumous 1992 AIGA Medal citiation by R. Roger Remington: Creativity speaks to the heart of the process of graphic design. What were the creative forces that allowed Lester Beall to produce consistently treat art and design over the span of a 44-year career? Over this span of time, Beall produced solutions to design problems that were fresh and innovative. He studied the dynamic visual form of the European avant-garde, synthesized parts into his own aesthetic and formed graphic design applications for business and industry that were appropriate, bold, and imaginative. In his mature years he led the way with creative and comprehensive packaging and corporate identity programs that met the needs of his clients. Along the way in his work manner and style, Beall proved to American business that the graphic designer was a professional that could creatively solve problems and at the same time deal with pragmatic issues of marketing and budget. The qualities and values that led to Beall's effectiveness are timeless and provide contemporary practitioners with an historical reference base upon which to evaluate present standards.

Beall felt that the designer “must work with one goal in mind—to integrate the elements in such a manner that they will combine to produce a result that will convey not merely a static commercial message, but an emotional reaction as well. If we can produce the kind of art which harnesses the power of the human instinct for that harmony of form, beauty and cleanness that seems inevitable when you see it? then I think we may be doing a job for our clients.” For Beall that creativity was present at every stage of the design process. He said, “the designer's role in the development, application and protection of the trademark may be described as pre-creative, creative and post-creative.”

Born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1903, Beall's early childhood years were spent in St. Louis and Chicago. He was educated at Chicago's Lane Technical School and graduated from the University of Chicago. He began his design career in 1927. By 1935 Beall had decided to move to New York and in late September of that year had opened a studio/office in his apartment in Tudor City on Manhattan's east side. In 1936, while maintaining the office in New York, he moved to Wilton, Connecticut where he established his home and studio in a rural setting. He was to remain in Wilton until 1950. Many of the significant works from this period were done in this location. Through the 1930s and 1940s Beall produced innovative and highly regarded work for clients including the Chicago Tribune, Sterling Engraving, The Art Directors Club of New York, Hiram Walker, Abbott Laboratories and Time magazine. Of particular interest was his work for the Crowell Publishing Company which produced Colliers magazine. The promotional covers “Will There Be War?” and “Hitler's Nightmare” are powerful designs which distill messages of the time. In these works he utilizes angled elements, iconic arrows, silhouetted photographs and dynamic shapes, all of which captures the essence of his personal style of the late 1930s. Also of interest in this period are the remarkable poster series for the United States Government's Rural Electrification Administration. In all Beall designed three series of posters between 1937 and 1941 with the simple goals of increasing the number of rural Americans who would electrify their homes and increasing public awareness of the benefits of electricity. His poster for the ill-fated “Freedom Pavilion” at the 1939 World's Fair was another dynamic example of this time in which he used what he called “thrust and counter-thrust” of design elements.

Beall had moved his office to 580 Fifth Avenue around 1940. He worked there as well as from his home in Wilton, Connecticut. In 1949 he purchased Dumbarton Farm in Brookfield and, in 1950, he moved to consolidate all his operation there. He had developed some of the farm's out buildings into a professionally-praised office and studio space. During the 1950s and '60s Beall's design office expanded both in its staff and scope, adding associate designers and mounting full-scale corporate identification campaigns for large companies such as a Caterpillar Tractor, Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, The New York Hilton and Merrill Lynch, Fenner Pierce and Smith, Inc. His identity program for International Paper Company from 1960 was his most extensive identity program and is noteworthy for the graphics standards manual, one of the first to be so fully articulated.

Beall was a major synthesizer of the ideas of European avant-garde artists and designers into the mainstream of design for American business. An associate Fred Hauck, with whom he had shared office space in Chicago, was probably the major vehicle through which Beall received those exciting ideas from Europe. Hauck, who had lived and painted in Paris and had gone to Hans Hofman's school in Munich, returned to Chicago and shared with Beall an enthusiasm for the European artists and designers, especially the Bauhaus. Hauck showed Beall valued copies of the Bauhaus books and publications of the avant-garde which he had brought back with him. This interest as well as such publications as Arts et Metier Graphiques, and Bebrauschgraphik helped Beall consolidate his own thinking away from a limiting vision of design as ordinary middle-American commercial illustration and towards a new dynamic, progressive form of graphic communication.

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