Brian 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.
Oh, look, another fan of the Jean Berté process!
I’m afraid I merely simulated the look using Adobe Illustrator for those pieces (I’m still doing them, actually—did one yesterday as a matter of fact), I think there’s an explanatory picture on the website somewhere showing how I do it…
You wouldn’t know of any more info being available than the few blog posts that are floating around, would you? I’m pretty sure you linked to the ones I know of, and I know there’s a Flickr collection, but that seems to be just about everything that’s left about this beautiful idea… 😦
Thank you for the response. The process does produce some lovely effects with those vibrant colors. I wonder if anyone is using the Jean Berté process nowadays. I was unable to find any links to current producers. The links I included were the principal ones I found, though it seems that following up on Ms Ridehalgh of Reading University might be productive (per Diaphania link).
Joris, thanks for explaining your process. I’m also interested in both an accurate digital simulation of the process… as well as trying my hand at the real thing using my proof press.
It seems to me that of all times in history, Berté’s process should find a warm reception with printmakers TODAY. Think about the recent greater awareness in using water-based environmentally friendly materials, as well as the strong resurgence in the past decade of artists bringing back older presses that have languished since the advent of desktop publishing 20 years ago. It’s the perfect storm for the process to be revived, I think.
In studying how to do my digital recreations, I noticed a couple things that you might consider incorporating to further enhance the look of yours. First is a paper texture: these originals don’t exist floating in air, the paint soaked into the fibers of old newsprint and book jackets, and if that paper was neutral or warm in tone, that changed the look as well. Frankly, nothing you or I design will ever look convincing without that texture. Using in your Roman ruins example, that would imply not using solid colors… but setting every layer to a blend mode.
Of course, that would mean you don’t have a solid red background in back… you’d have to create each section of color with the knowledge it needs to be ‘trapped’ and ‘registered’, just like the real color plates would have to be. This gives opportunities for shapes to overlap slightly, further giving the look of authentic printing plates. Lots of work — but way more fun if the result is something that doesn’t look clean and digital… but handmade and imperfect.
Best of luck.
Funny timing. You posted this just a few hours ago, and though I’ve known about the Berté process for several years — including finding an original copy of his book describing the process in depth — I decided to refresh my memory today. I’ve been toying with the idea of reviving this printing process using my Vandercook proof press… thanks for pointing me to the Diaphania link. Very cool.
Thanks for the response. I hope you have success with getting the process up and running. It certainly can produce some great effects.