imagesimages-1Brian Cook, painter, graphic artist and publisher, pioneered the use of this striking watercolor printing method for the jackets of Batsford’s immensely successful travel books from the 1930s to the 1950s. In later life he became Chairman of Batsford Books, and changed his name to Batsford.

Berté started work on his letterpress process in France in the late 19th century before leaving for the USA. In 1929 Mr Berté’s book, Water Colour Printing: An Explanation of the Jean Berté Process of Water Colour Printing was published by Aldus Printers of New York. Using rubber plates, one for each color, the Berté process would layer transparent water-based inks to create their vibrant dramatic color effects. The rubber coated plate would usually be engraved by hand though a form of mechanical processing was also available.

Princeton’s graphic arts blog gives a brief account of the process. Diaphania reports on a talk given in 2008 (?) about the technique. It appears to have been more popular in America than in Britain, where Mr Cook’s jackets were printed by Herbert Reiach on London’s South Bank. The area was bulldozed after the war to make way for The Royal Festival Hall, and although Mr Reiach’s plant relocated to the Farringdon area, it appears not to have survived very long. The Harlequin Press in London also used the process under a license from Wallace & Tiernan Ltd.. Diaphania tells of a former worker for Lund Humphries who describes the way plates would be cut. Clearly Lund Humphries (originally printers of Bradford, Yorkshire, then of London and Ashford, Kent where they live on as an imprint of Ashgate Publishing) also used the Jean Berté technique at one time. I don’t think anyone is printing this way commercially nowadays, though it does seem to be available somewhere (the Netherlands?) as Joris Ammerlaan’s website suggests.

A gallery of Brian Cox’s designs can be found at Benedict Richard’s blog.