Sunday 7 June 2015

I Found...A Nice Illustrated Book

As regular readers of this blog will know, I'm currently working on building Slania's Poland issues. I have been lucky enough to come to know a great Polish ebay seller who has pretty much all I need - and at reasonable prices. A couple of days ago this seller sent me a link to a couple of Slania books he is selling. One of them is the Slania catalogue my wife recently bought for me (and I'm still waiting for it to arrive). If you haven't read that blog yet click HERE The other book he sent me a link to I had never seen before. So I thought I'd do a blog having a bit of a look at it.

The book is entitled: My Great Artists - Slania, Naszarkowski, Heidrich. I've only been able to glean what's in the book by a series of pics the seller has provided on ebay. It looks to me like it explores three different graphic artists - Slania being one of them - and how they go about producing the artworks that eventually become stamps. The book was written by a fellow named Zygmunt K. Jagodzinski. The book is 186 pages and it includes some excellent illustrations. The text is in both Polish and English - the same as the Slania catalogue I recently reviewed. Unfortunately the photos aren't really that clear, but from what I could read the text seems quite informative regarding the process of designing a stamp. And who better to learn what goes into creating a great stamp the Czeslaw Slania!

The book also includes the work of two other engravers/designers. Being new to the study of stamp engravers I can honestly say I had heard of neither of these two gentlemen. So I did a bit of net trawling and here's what I found. Poitr Naszarkowski was born in Poland in 1952. He started his engraving career in Poland. In 1989 he started engraving for Sweden. His 100th stamp engraving was a Greta Garbo joint issue with USA. I haven't found much yet on Andrzej Heidrich. What I have found suggests he designed stamps for Poland. I found on the net some dinosaur stamps he designed.  I'll have to see if I can discover more on him.

I'll add a couple of photos, but please be aware they are not mine and the quality isn't too flash. Photographing pages from a book without damaging the spine can be a tricky business. But it'll give you an idea, anyway.









As to the price of this book...well, as you would expect it is expensive. To get it shipped to Australia I'd be looking to pay something in the region of $95. It is always disappointing when you spot such a lovely book - one that would fit so well on the shelf - and then be blown away by the price tag. Oh well, maybe one day. If anyone out there owns a copy of this book or has been fortunate enough to read it let me know in the comments. I'd love to hear what you think...

Until next time...

Stay Slania Crazy!

4 comments:

  1. It seems quite interesting 'cause it's not a simple catalogue but maybe it tells stories about three excellent fellows and about their work of stamp engraver. I hope to find it

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  2. I have this book. What would you like to know about it? These books about Slania works on Polish auction are not expensive (much, much cheaper than on Ebay). Problem is the shipping cost to Australia. The shipping cost is greater than the book price.
    About 2 weeks ago I have sent you a message on Yahoo Slania mailing list. But I think you have not received it.

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    1. Hi Keram,
      Thanks for your comment. Basically what I want to know is how much of the book is dedicated to Slania, and is the information in it worth tracking the book down, that is does it substantially add to information I can get for free on the net and stuff? Oh, regarding the Yahoo email, I only looked at that the once and now I must admit I have completely forgotten the password, so please don't think I am ignoring you :)

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    2. Hi Matt,

      In this book about Slania and his works are from page 22 to 101. And yes, you can read more than you are able to find on net. Especially about the portraits engraved by Slania and about horses in the art of Slania. The author of this book is an expert in the techniques of engraving and printing methods and has worked as the manager in PWPW S.A.

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