The K. K. Hof- und Statts Druckerei Commemorates its Centennial in the Style of the Vienna Secession

In 1904, to commemorate its one hundredth anniversary, the W. K. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei in Vienna issued Zur Feier des einhundertjährigen Bestandes der KK Hof- und Staatsdruckerei. This elegantly designed and produced work had a cover influenced by the Vienna Secession or possibly Jugenstil. Its black and white text and illustrations were also influenced by that style; however its inserted portraits were strictly traditional. In my opinion this was one of the most elegant of all publications describing an industrial printing facility, reflective of its role as both a commercial and artistic production center, and the emphasis in all the images of individual people or very small groups involved in all the aspects of production, by hand or by machine. This was in contrast to the book on the facility published by Alois Auer in 1851 in which the size of the very large facility was demonstrated in many of the images. One distinctive, or even eccentric, element in the design of the 1904 work was the lack of any paragraph indentations. 1700 copies were printed.