Introduction

For nearly a century, the Penrose Annual,  dubbed by one of its collaborators, The Annual Epitome of the World’s Triumphs in the Graphic Arts, was arguably the most influential periodical on everything related to the Arts of the Book. Over its 87 year span, more than 1000 collaborators from around the world contributed nearly 3,000 articles on subjects as varied as book binding, inks, illustrations, papers (and their conservation), photography, photomechanical processes, profiles of well known artists, designers, typographers, etc. Most volumes were enriched with exquisite examples of photomechanical reproductions supplied by the finest printers around the world.

It seemed that such a treasure trove of information deserved to be more readily accessible to present and future generations of historians, researchers and students of printing technology, the graphic arts, and social matters such as taste and design. It took this writer decades to assemble this collection, one of three known complete sets in the world. After reading the entire set of the Penrose cover to cover, it was decided to compile a comprehensive review and make it available as a book.

I started collecting the Penrose many years ago as I was building a library on the history of printing, photographic and photomechanical technologies. This was to be used for a research project that resulted in several monographs on photographic processes and my Encyclopedia of Printing, Photographic, and Photomechanical Processes.

The more recent volumes of the Penrose can be found in many libraries and on the used books’ market, but the early years are hard to come by. Each of the last three or four volumes took several years to appear and were quite expensive on account of their rarity. As of this writing I believe that I own the only complete collection in Canada and one of two complete collections in North America. I only know of three complete collections in the world. However, many libraries have most volumes and researchers can access them through their local inter-library loan service.

This site is a preview of this upcoming book which I am confident will save students thousands of hours of work. More information can be found in this pdf.

Free service to students and scholars

While this book is being completed, and within reasonable limits, researchers can contact me for information about the Penrose:

Please visit this other site by Luis Nadeau: http://photoconservation-encyclopedia.blogspot.com