This printer, est. 1703, made banknotes, (postage) stamps and the oldest, still existing newspaper: De Oprechte Haarlemse Courant. Enschedé also had a renowned typefoundry, which produced world-class types.
This collection contains thousands of beautiful and graphical designs, from the earliest sketches to the finished products and from banknotes to the letter-stamps. As such, the collection is an important piece of national heritage that deserves to be shown. This is why we want to make a permanent exhibition.
The fantasy-press
In this exhibition, which will be accessible free of charge, we will tell the story of Enschedé through objects, documents, texts and interactive installations.
With this campaign we want to raise funding for the central installation, the ‘fantasy-press’. This installation will be the eye-catching centerpiece which will introduce the story to the visitor. In the pictures above you can find the first concept-drawings for this ‘fantasy-press’
The North-Holland Archives
The North-Holland Archives is the place to discover the rich history of Haarlem, Zuid-Kennemerland and the province. We have thousands of archives and collections which give an unique insight in the history of this region.
These sources should not be kept hidden from the public. We want to actively share the stories contained within them and with this exhibition we’re letting everyone come in contact with this piece of national heritage. In our view, there is something magical about seeing the original documents eye-to-eye.
The archives are there for everyone who wants to discover and visit his or her own history
Help the North-Holland Archives to place the fantasy-press in the new exhibition!
Because this exhibition will be a permanent one, we want to make it as good as we can. The fantasy-press is crucial to this goal, and therefore you are crucial to achieving this goal.
We have a lot of great excess material and other services we can offer in return for a contribution. You can find these in the column to the right.
Comments
This sounds like a truly worthy project, Ramiro, and I share your enthusiasm. But you neglected to mention that Royal Joh. Enschedé is still an ongoing company, and a wealthy one at that. Enschedé is one of a handful of companies authorized to print Euros, and they print postage stamps for some 60 countries. The hold a large number of valuable patents for the printing of securities of all kinds.
It would seem to me that the company, itself, should be the primary funder of such a project, perhaps with the participation of Dutch government culture and historical preservations bureaus. Asking individuals to participate in a group funding project should be reserved for projects and issues that would not be able to achieve funding any other way.
Thank you for your comment. As the curator of the collection and project manager of the exhibition at the North-Holland Archives I'd like to explain a little bit about the nature of these collections and why Royal Joh. Enschedé as of yet is not involved.
The collections of Enschedé consist of the entire business administration and family archive, thousands of designs for postage stamps, banknotes and other material, and ofcourse, the typographical collection (type-specimen and punches). These are the property of the Enschedé Museum Foundation (stichting museum Enschedé) and not the Royal Joh. Enschedé itself. Due to the dire financial situation of the company when it was bought in 2013 by an investment fund, they decided there was no room to house and maintain the historic collections. Therefor they were transfered from the company to the North-Holland Archives in 2015, and the company has since not been involved in any way with the collections. We are now responsible for maintaining these collections and making them accessible for the public.
In this light we have took it upon ourselves to make an engaging, permanent and freely accessible exhibition about this important piece of local, regional, national and international heritage. We want people such as yourself and people less familiar with the history of Enschedé to become familiar with its interesting past.
For this we have already recieved several subsidies from different funds. However, we thought this project would be a perfect way for the public and all the people who would want to see this exhibition come to fruition to help out and become a part of it by contributing. We will try to reach the company to see if they're interested in participating as well, but for that I have no guarantees.
I hope this answered your concern/question and gives you a little more insight in why we are undertaking this project. If anyone else has a question about the project or the crowdfunding campagin, I would be happy to answer these.
Kind regards,
Mart
Thank you very much for the explanation, Ramiro and Mart. I read more about it online: another sad story of shark investors trading equity for debt, quite common in the U.S. I am sorry I was commenting with out-of-date information. Nevertheless, I would hope that the Dutch government and the Gemeente Haarlem would step up with leading contributions. It is, as you say, an essential Dutch heritage.
Here’s an idea for raising funds: Have you considered a reissue of Charles Enschedé’s Typefoundries in the Netherlands from the 15th Century to the 19th Century? The 1978 English edition, issued by the Stichting Museum Enschedé, was limited to about 1500 copies. It’s a great source for anyone involved in type design—not to mention an excellent showing of Jan van Krimpen's Romanée.
There are still copies available in the market at reasonable prices. I don't think anybody is planning to reprint it in a near future.
That is a good price, I’d say. I purchased my copy of the book when my MATD class visited the museum in 2008 (when it was still in the basement of the Enschedé building), and I believe that the museum shop price – which was much, much less than the external book-seller price – was €180. And that was 11 years ago already.
Now, if you can get your hands on the superior 1908 edition...
Being a KABK student in 1978 I definitely could not afford to buy Typefoundries […]. A few years later a renowned colleague purchased two copies of the book at the original price as investment. However, obviously the market for the book was (much) smaller than expected and the price collapsed at the end. The fact that today one can purchase copies for around €250 is proof of this small market and as long as these books are available for this price a facsimile does not make much sense, I reckon. My advice: buy the 1978 edition immediately if you can afford it. It is an absolute bargain.
Having put the 1908 and 1978 side-by-side to compare, to me the former remains superior in terms of the freshness of the type (understandable) as well as printing technique. As much as De Does was very much a master printer, the anonymous printers of the 1908 are clearly on another level. This is especially apparent in pages with both large and small type; I presume the makeready was more meticulous in the 1908.
This should be the key point for people who scan specimens to make revivals,