The Natural Enemies of Books: A Messy History of Women in Printing and Typography

by Maryan Fanni (Editor), Matilda Flodmark (Editor), Sara Floodmark (Editor)

The Natural Enemies of Books is a response to the groundbreaking 1937 publication Bookmaking on the Distaff Side, which brought together contributions by women printers, illustrators, authors, typographers and typesetters. It highlights the print industry’s inequalities and proposes a takeover of the history of the book.

Edited by feminist graphic design collective MMS (Maryam Fanni, Matilda Flodmark and Sara Kaaman), Natural Enemies includes several new essays and poems by Kathleen Walkup, Ida Börjel, Jess Baines and Ulla Wikander. It also offers conversations with former typesetters Inger Humlesjö, Ingegärd Waaranperä, Gail Cartmail and Megan Dobney as well as reprints of the original book.

The Natural Enemies of Books is funded by the Swedish Arts Grants Committee and through an artist-in-residence period at Grafikens Hus, in collaboration with the Södertälje Konstnärskrets.

Genres: Design, Nonfiction, History, Art, Books About Books, Womens, Feminism

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2020

Reviews

[Victoria Gillespie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the first couple of chapters but I thought the latter interview excerpts ended up being too repetitive and narrow …

[ariana · Rating 4 out of 5]

spellbinding (lol!) — a creative assortment of essays/interviews in pursuit of feminist heft. at times repetitive in their chronological style.

[Ana · Rating 5 out of 5]

My thousandth read book on Goodreads, and it's a history of women in the production of books. Beautiful. A fascinating read, and not so much messy as wonderfully visual as well as textual.

[Can Lejarraga · Rating 5 out of 5]

¡voy con retraso de mis reviews!

he entrado con un poco de escepticismo a este libro porque la mayoría de las reviews decían que era un poco mediocre y que no es nada más que una recolección de testimonios pero no entiendo que hay de mediocre en eso. la historia de las mujeres, en especial en campos de artesanías en las que no eran bienvenidas es una que no tiene una crónica vasta y minuciosa, sino que está comprendida de las experiencias de discriminación y separación que sufrieron las mujeres que trataron de adentrarse en ella. creo que este libro habría sido mediocre o sino no hubiese sido tan personal. y además, valiente conjetura, habría sido menos crudo y real si sólo hubiese sido una crónica. los testimonios de las mujeres de este libro te recontextualizan de una manera precisa y un poco dolorosa cuál es la lucha por un trabajo digno en un sector en el que no se esperaba encontrar a mujeres. ¿pero qué vas a hacer? ¿no querer aprender a usar herramientas que te dan vía libre a comunicar y distribuir tus pensamientos y filosofías? poco hizo quedarse en casa. luchar por la liberación de estereotipos ligados a tu género y apilado encima de eso, luchar por tener un trabajo digno y que te respeta, que te permite sindicalizarte, que te permite profesionalizarte más en el campo, hace una mella muy específica en el espíritu. no solo luchas contra la amalgama política que te ve como una hormiga, sino que luchas dentro de la propia colonia con tus compañeros.

este libro también me ha hecho pensar mucho en lo snob que se ha vuelto la profesión de diseño gráfico y lo lejano que está en muchos aspectos de la parte crucial de producción. esta noción de separar lo manual de lo conceptual usando los avances tecnológicos como excusa me parece una tontería. tengo muchos más pensamientos al respecto de esto y ya encontraré un momento de ponerlos sobre papel mejor, pero por ahora, no paro de pensar en el diseño gráfico como una profesión envenenada por el individualismo capitalista. tenemos que dejar de ser autónomos y montar un sindicato. el indesign saldría más barato al menos.

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the essays were more interesting to me than others, but I feel more informed having read it and am even excited to start collecting in relevant areas to it.

[wiwi · Rating 4 out of 5]

some of the essays were a bit repetitive / less exciting than the others, but overall a very nice book: an easy and quick read about in interesting topic – also, visually very pleasing.

[Sasjahouba · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting and modern take on women in printing, and a great contemporary reflection on ‘Bookmaking on the Distaff Side’ (1937). A unique book from 80 years ago, that contains several essays that examine the role of women within the history of Euro - American trade printing.

As a graphic designer myself if enjoyed to learn more about the conditions of women in print & design jobs “for feminist to run their own printing presses meant gaining control of the means of production and, crucially, of representation.”

Although the book is an easy read, I felt like there was a bit too much focus on trade unions and labor conditions. I absolutely loved the original essay “Are Women the Natural Enemies of Books?”

“I remember and this was long ago they were talking about automobiles and they were saying what one was and what another was and a man there who had them from the beginning said well all I can say about automobiles perhaps some are better then others but all automobiles are good. That is the way I feel about printing, as long as printing prints words I like them when they print my words I like it best naturally enough but all words have to be printed and I like it when it’s printing. “

- Gertrude Stein on printing

[Kaitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lively collection of essays and interviews that focuses on Euro-American breakthroughs in printing (not only in publishing and technique, but also unionising and labour rights) spearheaded by women in the mid to late 20th century. The publication's editors and contemporary interviewers do a commendable job in contextualising how these efforts resonate to the present day. By juxtaposing primary source materials from these radical publications, which were often irreverent in tone, with commentary from women looking back on the heyday of radical leftist printing, the reader is left with a nuanced and profound reflection on how we can reshape histories to better reflect the efforts of everyone who fought for change, and not just the leaders and figureheads.

This collection manages to be in-depth without feeling too heavy or academic.

[Tamsyn Lamond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn’t know much about printing and typography before so found this very interesting! Was a quick and easy read so obviously not a comprehensive history on the topic but I finished feeling like I’d learnt a lot :-) Really enjoyed the original content they decided to include from Bookmaking on the Distaff Side as well

[Mafalda Pinto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incrível

[Jacqueline Juneau · Rating 2 out of 5]

I need more context please.

[Kaat Vandenbroeck · Rating 4 out of 5]

enkele essays uit dit prachtig vormgegeven boek zouden een perfecte aanvulling zijn voor de zeer male-dominating about publications…

[Sol · Rating 4 out of 5]

cuteeeee if u like graphic design this book is so cute

[Léo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pas mal même si ça parlait pas de ce dont je pensais que ça allait parler

[Ester Mládenková · Rating 5 out of 5]

kamošom rada požičiam

[Minne · Rating 5 out of 5]

!!!!!!