Penrose 78-79 (1979)

The Penrose Annual 78/79. 

A series of annually released books that ran for almost a century, the Penrose Annual was a British trade publication reviewing graphic arts, the evolving techniques of print reproduction for text, art and photography.
In addition to its writing, it always included many samples of printing techniques on paper, cloth or other materials in its pages, allowing pioneering companies to advertise their work.

This tome shines with its foil cover using the Dufex process (similar to what’s known in France as “procédé héliophore”). Inside you’ll find a look at 500 years of printing at the Oxford University, a story on the print industry in India, a portfolio of German typeface and graphic designer Olaf Leu, a feature on the then-young ink jet printing technology, or a beautiful collage of labels that caught our eye.

But the most outrageous sample has to be the 4 metallic coasters glued on 2 pages. These were produced by the aptly named Metal Box Ltd showing their ability to print on metal in full color for product packaging, and easily add 300 grams to the weight of the book.

22x30cm.
276 pages.
Heliophore cover with color, b&w and color inside pages
4 Metal coasters.
Language: English
Condition: Very good.