If you do not know The Penrose Annual—especially its amazing years between 1964-1973 when it was edited by the esteemed art critic and design historian Herbert Spencer—you should become aware of its editorial riches. Pronto!
There are two days left to help Kickstart and support Graham Taylor’s publication Penrose 1964–1973: The Herbert Spencer Years, a well-edited selection of material from the long-running printing trade, design industry and typographics review.
The Penrose Annual was a London-based publication that began in 1895 as Process Work Yearbook—Penrose’s Annual. The U.K. book giant Lund Humphries published it until it was sold to Northwood Publications Limited, part of the Thompson Corporation, in 1974. Northwood ultimately shuttered it in 1982.
Spencer joined the publication following his editorial leadership of Typographica, and provided the best critique of England’s modern and eclectic heritage, coinciding with the wave of hippies and psychedelics. During the years that Spencer was editor, he broadened it from an industry focus to a publication devoted to aesthetics, styles and philosophical design-as-art.
I don’t usually promote Kickstarter campaigns in this space or I’d be inundated with requests. I believe that if the project is valuable to scholars, students and/or practitioners, funding arrives, even at the 11th hour. But Taylor’s worthy goal might not be met, and that would be a shame. I only learned about the campaign a few days ago. Being an avid collector of Penrose annuals, I am certain this collection of articles will be an essential historical resource.
The editors have sifted through these ad-filled volumes, filtering out the articles without relevance for today’s reader, and retaining a mass of useful material that shines a Midcentury light on typography and layout that could easily pass for contemporary.
The editors say that Penrose 1964–1973 “will be the first book to properly explore Spencer’s years at The Penrose Annual, celebrating the legacy of his work across the 10 annuals he edited. In them, he featured the work of many of the top designers, typographers, photographers and illustrators of the time, commissioning features that would chart the transition from traditional craft to new technologies.”
There is no time to waste. Back the Kickstarter here.