Westvaco Inspirations for Printers, No. 94

Launched in 1925 by the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company, Westvaco Inspirations for Printers served as a premier promotional house organ showcasing paper stocks, ink capabilities, and diverse printing processes. Before Bradbury Thompson’s modernist art direction began in 1939, issues from the mid-1930s (like this one) functioned primarily as rich, eclectic trade anthologies. Rather than avant-garde typographic experimentation, these layouts prioritized traditional, commercial letterpress and offset lithography arrangements. While the covers are often off-puttingly unremarkable (although we like the letters on this one), inside they are loaded with contemporary advertising reproductions, classic engravings, and varied artistic styles to visually demonstrate technical print fidelity and paper performance for a nationwide audience of trade professionals. A neat thing from the collection of Steve Heller.