Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T20:25:21.179Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Art books in World War Two: a view from the archive

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2016

Valerie Holman
Valerie Holman*
Affiliation:
Art historian, London W2 4NY, UK
Get access

Abstract

Art books in the UK during the Second World War were highly visible and in great demand. Despite paper rationing, stocks destroyed by enemy bombing, and military demands on authors and artists, new types of art book were launched to great acclaim. The archives of Penguin and Phaidon reveal both the constraints under which publishers were forced to operate, and the ideas behind initiatives such as the Penguin Modern Painters series, or Phaidon’s early monographs. Both publishing houses sought to extend the market for art books by producing large quantities at low prices, and maintaining a reputation for high quality texts, design and reproductions.

Type
Research Article
Information
Art Libraries Journal , Volume 24 , Issue 2 , 1999 , pp. 12 - 15
Copyright
Copyright © The Art Libraries Society 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Groth, John, quoted by Michèle C., Cone in Artists under Vichy: a case of prejudice and persecution. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1992, p.86, and footnote 5, p.217.Google Scholar
2. Unwin, Stanley. Publishing in peace and war. London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd, 1944, p.17. By “circularizing” Unwin meant the paper used in advertising circulars.Google Scholar
3. Penguin Archives. All correspondence relating to Penguin Modern Painters is currently held together at DM 1819, but these papers have not been catalogued, and may not yet be accessible.Google Scholar
4. National Gallery Archives. Newton, Eric. Catalogue introduction to War Pictures at the National Gallery, 1941.Google Scholar
5. Penguin Archive DM 1819. Allen Lane draft letter, April 1944.Google Scholar
6. Penguin Archive DM 1819. Graham Sutherland to Eunice Frost, 2nd June, (1953?)Google Scholar
7. Penguin Archive DM 1819. Paul Nash to Kenneth Clark, 12th November 1942.Google Scholar
8. Penguin Archive DM 1819. Clive Bell to Eunice Frost, 5th June 1944.Google Scholar
9. Penguin Archive DM 1819. Eunice Frost to Jim Richards, 14th November 1947, and Richards, Jim to Eunice Frost, 18th November 1947.Google Scholar
10. A forthcoming special issue of the journal Visual Resources will be devoted to the early history of the Phaidon Press.Google Scholar
11. Allen and Unwin Archives (AUC). AUC 52/5, Stanley Unwin to E. M. Duddington, 20th February 1937.Google Scholar
12. Allen and Unwin Archives AUC 202/8. Bela Horovitz to Stanley Unwin, 27th May 1944.Google Scholar