IGNATZ WIEMELER, MODERN BOOKBINDER
Monroe Wheeler and Ignatz Wiemeler
Monroe Wheeler and Ignatz Wiemeler: IGNATZ WIEMELER, MODERN BOOKBINDER. New York: Museum of Modern Art, September 1935. First edition [1,600 copies]. Slim quarto. Printed stapled wrappers. 16 pp. 9 black and white photo plates. Cover typography by Ignatz Wiemeler. First and last page with a faint dampstain to gutters, otherwise a nearly fine copy.
7.5 x 10 softcover catalog with 16 pages and 9 black and white photo plates, as well as an introduction by Monroe Wheeler and an essay "Ideals in Bookbinding" by Ignatz Wiemeler, and limited to 1600 copies printed by William E. Rudge’s Sons. Catalog lists 54 books. MoMA exhibition catalog for an show that ran from October 2 to October 24, 1935.
A Museum of Modern Art press release from September 1929 reads in part: “The Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53 Street, announces that on Wednesday, October 2, three exhibitions will be opened to the public: an exhibition of paintings, drawings and gouaches by Fernand Léger, the distinguished French artist who is frequently called one of the four great cubists; an exhibition of modern bookbindings by professor Ignatz Wiemeler, considered by many the foremost living bookbinder; and an exhibition of models, plans and enlarged photographs of contemporary architecture in California, All three exhibitions will remain open through Thursday, October 24.”
“Ignatz Wiemeler was born in Westphalia, Germany, in 1895. With the exception of two years in the World War, in which he was wounded, his youth and mature life have been devoted to the study, practice and teaching of bookbinding. His apprenticeship began at eighteen and was followed by several years of study at the Hanseatic School of Fine Arts in Hamburg, He later taught at the Offenbach School of Arts and Crafts, and for the past ten years has directed the department of bookbinding at the famous Akademie fur Graphische Kunst in Leipzig. In the Exhibition of his work fifty-four of Professor Wiemeler’s volumes will be on view and a step-by-step display of the different stages of a book in the process of being bound will be shown. The volumes in the Exhibition have been drawn chiefly from the Collection of Dr. Karl Klingspor of Offenbach, Germany, and the Doetsch-Benziger Collection of Basel, Switzerland. The Exhibition will be held under the auspices of the Library Committee of the Museum and under the direction of Mr. Monroe Wheeler.
“A monograph, Ignatz Wiemeler; Modern Bookbinder, will be published by the Museum in connection with the Exhibition. It will contain an article by Professor Wiemeler on "Ideals in Bookbinding" and an introduction to his technique by Monroe Wheeler, Nine illustrations, showing the variety of his style, and a selected bibliography of books on bookbinding will be included. The cover has been especially designed by Professor Wiemeler for this monograph on his work.”