Valdemar As A Visiting Ghoul

Valdemar Andersen, The printing shop of Simon Bernsteen, 1908.

The printer Simon Bernsteen was the type of commissioner, who is otherwise known as a nightmare. He would give Valdemar Andersen very specific orders down to the smallest detail "... and then you place an owl on the top of...". 

Their relationship, however, was that rare instance where it worked for both parties. Valdemar Andersen still found plenty of room to play and give the commission a twist of his own. The present woodcut is a homage to the first printing shop depicted in Europe from La grât danse macabre des hômes in 1499. 

Of course a printer deeply inspired by William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement wanted to have the quality of his work presented as the next in line to the first printers on European ground. The protagonist of both scenes is the printing press anchoring the picture plane. Below every stage of the printing process is presented along and around the printing press from typesetting, inking, and the pressing itself while it cuts to the bookseller in another scene behind them. 

The 1499-woodcut grasped the opportunity to present itself in a book on Death visiting high and low of society, nobles as well as printers. In the 1908-edition Valdemar placed himself as the disrupter; he too is bending forward to set off the movement through the scene. He is a dapper gentleman with gloves and cane, while Simon Bernsteen is dressed in his work wear highlighting the art of his craft. His vertical lines are twinning with his printing press while the two in turn correspond to the towers of Copenhagen in the distance. The pride of his craft is embedded in every line of the composition. 

Between the two are Valdemar's colleague, Hans Tegner, and to the right Bernsteen's daughters, Valborg and Cecilie. The former is presented as the bookbinder, while the latter is typesetting in the background.

Tegner and Valdemar participated in a collection of image plates honouring the work of the publisher Peter Nansen in 1908. They may be assessing those very plates fresh from the press before us.

Page from La grât danse macabre des hômes, Lyon 1499.
Scheide Library, Princeton University.