Pioneers in Bookbinding

The Book Trade Workshop Anger & Bartsch

Charlotte Anger (1875–1957) and Margarethe Bartsch (1880–1971) belonged to the first generation of female students at the Academy of Graphic Arts and Book Trades (now the Academy of Visual Arts) in Leipzig. While they were still studying, the two young women became! the first bookbinders to take their journeyman’s examination before! the Leipzig Bookbinders’ Guild in June 1914 and founded the “Buchgewerbliche Werkstatt Anger & Bartsch” in October 1914, the first female-run bookbinding business in Saxony.

They played a leading role in the International Exhibition for the Book Industry and Graphic Arts (Bugra) in Leipzig in 1914: Bartsch! as chairwoman of the working committee for “Artistic Writing” and as artistic advisor in the “Writing and Paper Processing” department, Anger as second chairwoman of the “Bookbinding” working committee in the “ Haus der Frau ”. Both! designers presented their own designs and work and their book trade workshop received a bronze prize in the bookbinding category.

As early as 1917, they exhibited at the Leipzig Trade Fair, where they took part a total of 58 times and received numerous artistic awards. After Charlotte Anger died in 1957, Margarethe Bartsch continued to run the joint workshop until her death in 1971.

A partial estate of the Anger & Bartsch book

 

workshop with designs, photographs and life documents as well as email list colored paper samples is now located in the German Book and Writing Museum of the German National Library in Leipzig.

Margarethe Bartsch and Charlotte Anger in the bookbinding workshop of the Academy of Graphic Arts and Book Trades (now the Academy of Visual Arts) in Leipzig, 1913. Photo: DNB.
Paste paper by Charlotte Anger, around 1914-1920. Photo: DNB.
Paste paper by Charlotte Anger, around 1914-1920. Photo: DNB.
Paste paper by Charlotte Anger, around 1914-1920. Photo: DNB.

Bookplate by Charlotte Anger, color lithograph, around 1910. Photo: DNB.https://d-nb.info/1153950758

Admirable commitment from exile

For people who had to go into exile during the Nazi era, this style and functionality comparison was a difficult, often existential situation that they had to face. Exile changed their lives fundamentally, and many of them dealt with it in an admirable way. book your list Clementine Zernik was one of them.

After the annexation of Austria, Clementine Zernik’s license to practice law was revoked because of her Jewish origins. In July 1938, she emigrated to the USA. However, due to the different legal system, she was unable to work as a lawyer there. She looked after children, worked as a housekeeper and translator. She volunteered for refugees from Austria.

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