The Icons of Dutch industrial photography books 1945 1965

The heyday of Dutch industrial photography books, 1945 - 1965

Photographer Paul Huf Paul Huff: Highlights (English and Dutch Edition) once commented succinctly on his work as follows: 'They get what they ask for, but I deliver damn good work' - the very thing that makes industrial photography books so attractive. The books show work from a period during which photographers could not make a living as artists/photographers and depended on such prestigious commissions. With this highly professional approach, photographers like Violette Cornelius Violette Cornelius and Ata Kando: Hungarian Refugees 1956, Cas Oorthuys 75 Jaar Bouwen, Van ambacht tot industrie 1889-1964, Ed van der Elsken , Ad Windig Het water - Schoonheid van ons land and Paul Huf established their reputations and influenced our present-day impression of workers and entrepreneurs in the postwar Netherlands. Experimental poets and well-known writers also contributed to these books, fifty of which are on show. 'Het bedrijfsfotoboek 1945-1965. Professionalisering van fotografen in het moderne Nederland' Het Bedrijfsfotoboek 1945-1965 . 

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Een eeuw Hoenderloo
Publisher: Stichting Hoenderloo, Hoenderloo
Year of publication: 1951
Binding: perfect binding
Size: 220 x 250 mm
Number of pages: 168
Number of illustrations: 52 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: documentary and staged photography
Printer: N.V. Meijer, Wormerveer (offset); Drukkerij Hoenderloo, Hoenderloo (letter press)
Type of reproduction: letter press printing
Photography: Paul Huf
Design: Charles Jongejans
Text: M.B. van de Werk (introduction); O.G. Heldring (history)
Type: commemoration book (100 year anniversary)
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

Een eeuw Honderloo [A century Hoenderloo] shows a highly optimistic picture of post-war youth enjoying technical training. Daily life in the educational institute is recorded. Text sections are set in the Bodoni cursive and printed on different types of paper; photo sections are separated from text. Documentary and staged photography show aspects of education and leisure in typical Paul Huf (1924-2002) mise-en-scene, looking like small theatre plays.

NV COQ 1956: fabriek voor Hoogspannings schakelmateriaal
Publisher: N.V. COQ Fabriek voor Hoogspannings schakelmateriaal, Utrecht
Year of publication: 1956
Binding: spiral binding
Size: 240 x 260 mm
Number of pages: 60
Number of illustrations: 55 black & white photographs; 2 color
Type of illustrations: reportage; company profile
Printer: Drukkerij van Rossum, Utrecht
Type of reproduction: letter press
Photography: Nico Jesse
Design: Nico Jesse
Type: instruction book
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

The visual narrative in NV COQ 1956 is set up as a tour of the company manufacturing high-voltage cables. The spiral binding is similar to that of Oranje Nassau Mijnen (1953). The edition is trilingual: Dutch, French and English.

1909 PLEM 1959
Publisher: NV Provinciale Limburgsche Electriciteits-Maatschappij PLEM, Maastricht
Year of publication: 1959
Binding: hardcover, with dust jacket
Size: 260x240mm
Number of pages: 154
Number of illustrations: 136 black & white photographs, 7 color
Type of illustrations: photo-reportage; product photography; landscape photography
Printer: Firma Boosten & Stols, Maastricht
Type of reproduction: letter press printing
Photography: Cas Oorthuys
Design: Dick Elffers and Ben Duijvelshoff
Text: L. Harpman, en P.A. Becx (editing); B. Aafjes and R. Franquinet (literary essay)
Type: commemoration book (50 year anniversary)
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

Dick Elffers (1910-1990) was par excellence a designer who built on the functional typography developed by Piet Zwart and Paul Schuitema, also in the design of company photobooks. Both in De beurt is aan 1888-1955 (1955) as 1909 PLEM 1959 he applied the achievements of the New Photography in an unconventional way. Elffers considers the photographic picture as an equivalent element of a total design. In addition to the usual portraits of directors from the company archive, Cas Oorthuys (1908-1975) made documentary records and photographs of household equipment, and switchgear, as well as landscapes and cityscapes. The power plant is metaphorically represented as a fairy-tale palace from One Thousand and One Nights. Graphs are in separate sections printed on a different type of paper. The text is put into the Grotesk, Gill and Goudy. On the antiquarian market, 1909 PLEM 1959 is one of the most expensive photo books within the genre.

Plem 1909-1959 by : Martin Parr & Gerry Badger in The Photobook : A History volume II

It is a characteristic of the Dutch photobook, as it is of the Japanese photobook, that design is an important element of the total package. One of the best designed examples of the period was produced for the utility company PLEM ( Provinciale Limburgsche Electriciteits maatschappij), the electricity-generating company in the south of Holland, and it is the book's lead designer Dick Elffers, who is the driving force behind the look of the volume, even tough the photographic roster includes such distinguished names in Dutch photography as Cas Oorthuys (Oorthuys) and Koen Lenarts.

With its plethora of design 'references', the book might even be considered a prototype of the postmodern photobook, although graphic design, like fashion, was always a matter of visual appropriation. The borrowing begins with the cover, where the letters 'PLEM' are arranged in exactly the same way as the letters 'CPDE' on the cover of Man Ray's Électricite' (1931; see pages 182-83).

Another important design feature is a grid pattern that relates to the De Stijl movement of the 1930's, which numbered amongst its exponents Piet Mondriaan and Gerrit Rietveld. De Stijl was noted for its rigorous geometry and use of primary colours, and this is echoed throughout PLEM. Most notably, its piece de resistance is a two-page panorama of a power station at night, in which the space is fractured and expanded by means of red and yellow overlaid shapes.

50 jaar Bruynzeel 1897–1947
Publisher: C. Bruynzeel & Zonen, Zaandam
Year of publi cation: 1947
Binding: hardcover
Size: 330 x 260 mm
Number of pages: 130
Number of illustrations: 154 black & white photographs; 20 color (schematic drawings, pen drawings)
Type of illustrations: photo-reportage; humanist photography; company profile
Printer: Firma L. van Leer en Co, Amsterdam
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Carel Blazer; Eva Besnyö
Design: Jan Bons, Jaap Penraat
Text: M. Redeke [Maurits Dekker] (company history)
Type: commemoration book (50 year anniversary)
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

50 jaar Bruynzeel 1897-1947 [50 year of Bruynzeel], this handsome commemoration publication is arranged according to the type of product involved – doors, kitchens and floors. The factory is presented as a living organism. Jan Bons (1918-2012) emphasized the organic structure and function of an ‘extractor system’ in the Bruynzeel factory by creating a photomontage with rough edges and colored strips of paper, a device alluding to 1920s typography. The innovative feature of 50 jaar Bruynzeel is that Carel Blazer (1911-1980) and Eva Besnyö (1910-2002) took pictures of the production process, of the relation between humans and machines, the human relations on the shop floor and even of staff relaxing after work. The style features of the New Photography seem to lend themselves to this approach. This concept of socially balanced humanism is indebted to Russian propaganda art and film. Furthermore, this jubilee book is an early example of teamwork between photographers and designers.

An excerpt from "The Photobook: A History, Volume 2" by Martin Parr and Gerry Badger:

"Almost as much as the Soviet propaganda books of the 1930s, postwar Dutch photobooks were total products. That is to say, the photographers were often just part of a larger team that included writers and graphic designers, with no single element having prominence over another.This was particularly true of company books in the 1950s and 1960s, but the trend was apparent even by the late 1940s, as seen in this fine early example of the way Dutch graphic designers eagerly grasped the opportunities that had been cut short by World War II. The photographer for 50 Jaar Bruynzeel was Carel Blazer, a leading light in the 'Underground Camera' and the radical GKf Group of documentary photographers. As such, and as a member of the Dutch Communist Party, his involvement in the production of a commercial company book may seem contradictory, but apart from the obvious reason of making a living, reconstruction was the main priority in postwar Holland, and as Bruynzeel was a timber and building products company, commerce and communism had overriding motives in common. Blazer's pictures are stolidly conventional in any case; the book's radicalism lies in its design, and the way in which the images are incorporated into the total graphic package.As is typical of many company books of the period, [this book's] ideological message presents man and machine as two aspects of a single entity. The complicated services and communications systems of the factory are compared to the human body with its arterial and neurological systems. In a famous double-page spread, ducting and pipes look like arteries or nerves, either feeding or cleaning the body corporate." (Martin Parr & Gerry Badger).

Oranje Nassau Mijnen
Publisher: NV Maat schappij tot Exploi tatie van Limburg sche Steen kolen mijnen, Heerlen
Year of publi cation: 1953
Binding: hardcover (spiral, in slipcase)
Size: 260 x 280 mm
Number of pages: 146
Number of illustrations: 163 black & white photographs; 2 color
Type of illustrations: photo-reportage; company profile; humanist photography
Printer: Th. van Rossum, Utrecht
Type of reproduction: letter press
Print run: 3535
Photography: Nico Jesse
Design: Nico Jesse
Type: commemoration book (60 year anniversary)
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

NV Maatschappij tot Exploitatie van Limburgsche Steenkolenmijnen, Oranje Nassau Mijnen [O.N. Mines] for short, released this commemoration publication on the occasion of its 60th anniversary. In a visual narrative, to be characterized as pious, the sense of community among the miners is central. The print run was 3535 copies and the book was released in several foreign editions. ‘Oranje Nassau Mines’ is one of the first post-war company photobooks in which the ins and outs of a company are shown on the basis of an on-going photographic picture story. Both the photography and the layout of Oranje Nassau Mijnen are provided by medical doctor/photographer Nico Jesse (1911-1976). It is one of the few post-war company photobooks with a spiral binding; the half linen hardcover is firmly encased in a sleeve. Jesse cautiously introduced in this book the theme ‘a-day-in-the-life’ of a miner.

60 jaar ons huis: 60 jaar volksontwikkeling
Publisher: Ons Huis, Amsterdam / NV Van Munster’s Uitgeversmaatschappij
Year of publication: 1952
Binding: perfect binding
Size: 250x170mm
Number of pages: 94
Number of illustrations: 74 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: reportage; documentary photography
Printer: Senefelder NV, Amsterdam
Type of reproduction: letter press printing
Photography: Violette Cornelius
Design: Han de Vries
Text: D. Kouwenaar (introduction); G. Kouwenaar (literary essay); H.J. Barentz (company history)
Type: commemoration book (60 year anniversary)
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

‘Our House’ was founded in 1892 and aimed at the improvement of the working class. Focus was on people's education and culture dissemination. The community center that stood in the middle of the Jordaan city neighborhood had a reading room; there were gymnastics, cooking and fencing classes, and academic lectures held in the center. The paperback 60 jaar ons huis; 60 jaar volksontwikkeling [60 years Our House: 60 Years People's Development] (1952) contains documentary photography by Violette Cornelius (1919-2000) on everyday life in Our House. The importance of group formation and community is central to the reportage. A realistic picture of everyday life is unusual for the early 1950s. The booklet is interleaved with red pages in a tripartite division: a retrospective, a portrait by an experimental poet and a promotional text by the center’s director.

In 1952 werd het zestig-jarig bestaan van vereniging Ons Huis gevierd. Een fraai herdenkingsboek, waaraan onder andere door Gerrit Kouwenaar werd meegewerkt, rolde van de persen. Zoals eertijds in 1893 de dame uit de aanzienlijke stand en de arbeider door Tours werden rondgeleid door het gebouw aan de Rozenstraat, zo werd ook de dichter Gerrit Kouwenaar in de gelegenheid gesteld door het gebouw in de Rozenstraat te wandelen om nader kennis te maken met het werk van de vereniging.,,Het werk van Ons Huis'', zo schreef Kouwenaar,,,is niet langer volksontwikkeling in de geijkte (en beperkte) zin, maar is pioniersarbeid, welke in het gegeven kader van 'Ons Huis' de mens in welke groep of klasse hij ook behoort. Ik dwaalde rond door het uitgestrekte gebouw. Het was een mooie voorjaarsavond. Ik keek neer op de door verlichte vensters omspannen binnenplaats, waar een groep opgeschoten jongens en meisjes volleybal speelde. Ergens achter een deur klonk een stem, die nadrukkelijk een Franse zin uitsprak, welke daarna door een jonge meisjesstem werd herhaald. Uit een ondefinieerbare richting drong een wals van Chopin tot mij door. De volleybal kletste tegen de stenen. In de huiskamer zat een groepje vrouwen rustig babbelend onder een schemerlamp. En ik dacht er aan, dat er in dit gebouw een 300 mensen bezig waren met andere, vollediger mensen te zijn, dan zij in hun gemechaniseerd nummerbestaan in fabriek of kantoor konden wezen.''(17)

Mensen van Menko: 1800 mensen fabriceren stoffen
Publisher: N.J. Menko NV, Enschedé
Year of publi cation: 1956
Binding: hardcover
Size: 290 x 210 mm
Number of pages: 87
Number of illustrations: 144 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: photo-reportage; company profile; staged photography
Printer: Bosch, Utrecht; Nederlandsche Rotogravure Mij, Leiden
Type of reproduction: letter press / copper plate printing
Photography: Nico Jesse
Design: Nico Jesse
Text: M. Verdenius (literary essay)
Type: commemoration book (100 year anniversary)
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

Medical doctor-photographer Nico Jesse (1911-1976) made the reportage and carried out the staged photography as well as the design of this commemoration book Mensen van Menko [People from Menko. 1800 people manufacture textile materials] on the occasion of the centenary of textile manufacturer N.J. Menko NV in 1956. The production process runs parallel to a narrative ‘from the cradle to the grave’ and pictures of vaudeville. The layout of this picture story is similar to that in VTF 25 (1957) and Oranje Nassau Mijnen (1953). Work ethics, adaptability and concentration are central to this trilingual edition (Dutch, French, English). Staged photographs of problem situations on the shop-floor are accompanied by fictitious dialogues.

De draad van het verhaal
Publisher: Koninklijke Textielfabrieken Nijverdal-Ten Cate NV
Year of publication: 1960
Binding: hardcover (with acetate dust jacket)
Size: 310 x 250 mm
Number of pages: 76
Number of illustrations: 92 black & white photographs; 2 color
Type of illustrations: photo-reportage; humanist photography; company profile
Printer: Meijer NV, Wormerveer
Type of reproduction: letter press printing and offset
Photography: Cas Oorthuys
Design: Jurriaan Schrofer
Text: Bert Schierbeek (literary contribution)
Type: commemoration book (200 year anniversary)
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

De draad van het verhaal (1960) [Thereby hangs a tale] is typically the kind of company photobook in which parallel to the company profile a visual narrative appears along the theme ‘from the cradle to the grave’. Concepts are intertwined: the industrial reportage running parallel to a broader theme that has a Family of Man-like character is a formula that was used frequently by graphic designer Jurriaan Schrofer (1926-1990) in company photobooks. Another remarkable phenomenon is the ‘staccato-style’ in the captions with the photographs, in which aspects of modern life are cited. The poet Bert Schierbeek (1918-1996) wrote in white bars below the photographs by Cas Oorthuys (1908-1975): 'The spinners are humming, the white cords gathered, divided and pulled, the fibres stretched ...Oh roll thatcotton ball; a white transparent skin out of a wrapping of clouds.’ The text is set in the Baskerville italic.

100 jaar Grasso
Publisher: Grasso’s Machinefabrieken NV, ‘s-Hertogenbosch
Year of publication: 1958
Binding: hardcover
Size: 280 x 240 mm
Number of pages: 74
Number of illustrations: 100 black & white photographs; 1 color
Type of illustrations: documentary; product photography (machines, compressed air installations)
Printer: Drukkerij Meijer NV, Wormerveer
Type of reproduction: letter press printing, offset
Photography: Violette Cornelius; Carel Blazer
Design: Benno Wissing
Text: E. Eberle (company history)
Type: commemoration book (60 year anniversary)
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

100 jaar Grasso [A Century of Grasso Engineering works] is a trilingual commemoration book commissioned by Grasso’s Machinefabrieken NV in Den Bosch. The idea and concept for this book are by graphic designer Benno Wissing (1923-2008). The book consists of two parts, with the first discussing the history and application of cooling technologies and the second a history of compressed air. The people on the shop floor of this family firm hardly appear in this company book. Eugène Eberle, violinmaker and reviewer of the left-wing daily Het Vrije Volk described the history of the firm and the production process. The distinguishing feature of 100 jaar Grasso is the varying page layoutswith sometimes a number of smaller photographs and a fair amount of white space, in some cases the photographs are set opposite a large bleed – small and informative versus large and evocative.The text is set in the Baskerville. An edition prepared for the personnel is published as a paperback.

Vuur aan zee
Publisher: De Koninklijke Nederlandsche Hoogovens en Staalfabrieken NV, IJmuiden
Year of publication: 1958
Binding: hardcover cloth bound / paperback with plain celluloid dust jacket (publication for staff)
Size: 310 x 250 mm
Number of pages: 80
Number of illustrations: 46 black & white photographs; 8 color
Type of illustrations: reportage; documentary photography
Printer: Meijer NV, Wormerveer
Print run: 3000 (Dutch edition 1958); 500 (English edition 1961); reprint 1962
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Cas Oorthuys; Violette Cornelius; Ed van der Elsken; Paul Huf; Ata Kandó
Design: Jurriaan Schrofer
Text: Paul Rodenko (literary contribution); G.S.K. Blaauw (company history); J.F. ten Doesschate a.o.
Type: commemoration book (farewell gift director)
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

In 1958 Koninklijke Nederlandsche Hoogovens and Staalfabrieken NV in IJmuiden published the photobook vuur aan zee [Fire beside the sea, was released in1961] on the occasion of the retirement of the chairman of the board, Arnold Hugo Ingen Housz. This photobook is widely regarded as a pioneering book and as exceptional in the genre in part because five, now renowned, photographers contributed with portraits of the workers and reportages of the company: Violette Cornelius, Ed van der Elsken, Paul Huf, Ata Kandó and Cas Oorthuys. A sequence of photographs, cinematic in style, and usually based on a written scenario is prominent in the photobooks designed by Jurriaan Schrofer. In vuur aan zee the designer did not aim for a linear first-person narrative, as in the photonovel Love on the Left Bank (1956). Instead, he employed a method based on a combination of pacing, rhythm, dynamics and movement. He succeeds in explaining the production process throughout the book layout. Schrofer designs highlight aspects of Hoogoven’s main production process and of the by-products, with respectively white or black bars alongside or beneath the photographs. These bars have become a trademark of designer Schrofer.

Willem Ruys. To see the world
Publisher: Koninklijke Rotterdamsche Lloyd NV, Rotterdam
Year of publication: [1961]
Binding: hardcover (cortina folded)
Size: 190x150mm (folded open 375cm)
Number of pages: 60 (with endpapers)
Number of illustrations: 23 black & white photographs, 18 color
Type of illustrations: travel reportage; documentary photography
Printer: Meijer NV, Wormerveer
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Carel Blazer
Design: Jurriaan Schrofer
Text: Max Dendermonde (literary contribution)
Type: promotional book (putting into service)
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

Willem Ruys. To see the world is a report of a trip around the world in photographs and so far the only known post-war company photobook executed in the form of an accordion fold, the perfect shape for an ongoing visual narrative and a cinematic mode of storytelling. Vertical white bars bound the zigzag folded pages. Jurriaan Schrofer regarded the 'zig-zag-idea' as his invention. In the colophon of the publication, however, Schrofer (1926-1990) declared never to have obtained credit for this contribution. The title is printed on the cover in red or blue; in short, there are two cover versions. Also an English-language edition was published. More or less simultaneously with this booklet appears Uit en toch thuis [On the road and yet at home]: a photo pocket following the putting into service of the Willem Ruys as a cruise ship. Commissioner is the Royal Rotterdamsche Lloyd NV. Carel Blazer photographed service and recreational activities on board of the Willem Ruys, landscape and citylife between Rotterdam and Melbourne. Novelist Max Dendermonde (1919-2004) was also on board. The booklet includes two maps of the Panama- and the Suez Canal.

4 gaten in de grond
Publisher: Maatschappij tot Exploitatie der Steenkoolmijnen Laura & Vereeniging, Eygelshoven
Year of publication: 1961
Binding: sewed
Size: 250x210mm
Number of pages: 44
Number of illustrations: 40 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: reportage; company profile; graphics (map, technical drawings, statistics, circles)
Printer: Meijer NV, Wormerveer
Type of reproduction: letter press printing and offset
Photography: Carel Blazer
Design: Benno Wissing
Text: Eugene Eberle (company history)
Type: promotional book
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

With regard to camera angle, print technique and size 4 gaten in de grond [4 holes in the ground] (1961) contains full bleeding images contrasting photo mosaics on adjacent pages. Graphic designer Benno Wissing (1923-2008) managed with predominantly static motives (stone and coal transport, processing to fine coal) to animate the layout. This aspect of his working method has been identified earlier in 100 jaar Grasso (1958). As 'architect' of the booklet Wissing invited a best friend, the violinmaker Eugene Eberle, whose style, similar to spoken language, seemed applicable for a promotional book. Both had, in collaboration with photographer Violette Cornelius (1919-2000), realized100 years Grasso three years earlier. After a successful collaboration on a company photobook, in a subsequent assignment the same team was formed 4 gaten in de grond is proof of that. The director of the private mining company commissioned this small booklet. The book theme focuses on people.

Tomado: wie glimlacht niet die zichzelf beziet?
Publisher: Tomado-huis, Dordrecht; Commissaris of the Queen, province Zuid-Holland
Year of publication: 1962
Binding: spiral
Size: 210 x 160 mm
Number of pages: 20
Number of illustrations: 10 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: interior; urban landscapes; in- and exterior
Printer: Vlasveld & Co, Rotterdam
Type of reproduction: letter press printing
Photography: Jan Versnel
Design: C.L.W. Wirtz; B. van den Born (illustrations)
Text: A. Buffinga, T. Schaap
Type: promotional book (putting into service)
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

Tomado: wie glimlacht niet die zichzelf beziet? [who does not smile that looks at himself] is a rare example of a company photobook containing commissioned photography by Jan Versnel (1924-2007). Architecture photography is presented in this booklet with spiral band and the publication is interspersed with urban landscapes. As often in Versnel’s work, people are not central. B. van den Born made 11 comical cartoons on corporate culture.

De verbinding/The connection
Publisher: Staatsbedrijf der PTT, The Hague
Year of publication: [1962]
Binding: perfect binding
Size: 240x200mm
Number of pages: 76
Number of illustrations: 39 black & white photographs, 10 color
Type of illustrations: documentary, staged and product photography
Printer: Steendrukkerij de Jong & Co, Hilversum
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: V. Cornelius; E. Posthuma de Boer; P. Huf; H. de Bouter
Design: Jurriaan Schrofer; Jan Bons (doodles, cartoons, atomic bomb jokes)
Text: Jan Elburg (literary contribution)
Type: promotional book (putting into service)
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

Both de jong & van dam (1962) and De verbinding [ The connenction] (1962) display colloquial text and imagery. Both are printed in point-to-point varnish. The so-called quadrat prints, goodwills by Drukkerij De Jong & Co based in Hilversum, acted as stepping stones to this one-off publication launched on the occasion of the automation of the telephone network in the Netherlands. Jurriaan Schrofer (1926-1990) wrote the scenario, performed as the director and compiled a large and multidisciplinary team. The photographers Eddy Posthuma de Boer (1931) and Violette Cornelius selected pictures from their archive. Paul Huf was commissioned to making a series of staged color photographs showing phone calls between model Corinne Rottschäfer and author Herman van Eelen. Jan Bons (1918- 2012) scribbled doodels on the back cover and made illustrations of atomic bomb jokes in the inner work. Writer-poet Jan Elburg (1919-1992) wrote the connecting texts. Small portraits of the compilers are squeezed into a rotary dial on the front cover. An English-language edition was published in the same year. The booklet contains 10 folding pages; the font is Courier.

Nieuwe Matex Amatex
Publisher: Matex / Van Ommeren concern, Rotterdam
Year of publication: [1965]
Binding: paperback (square), glewed
Size: 240x240mm
Number of pages: 38
Number of illustrations: 35 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: reportage; company profile
Printer: Joh. Enschedé en Zonen, Haarlem
Type of reproduction: letter press printing and offset
Photography: Carel Blazer; Frits Rotgans a.o.
Design: Jan Bons
Text: Anonymous (informative)
Type: promotional publication
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

On the basis of formal aesthetics this company booklet is of the type cinematic scenario. The layout of the English-, German- and Dutch-language publication is similar to that of de jong & van dam (1962). This state-of-the-art publication designed by Jan Bons (1918- 2012) contains panoramic photographs by Frits Rotgans (1912-1978) of Rotterdam Botlek, storage and transport, as well as pipelines. Further it contains a printed transparent page and maps on waterways.

de jong & van dam
Publisher: De Jong & Van Dam NV, Hilversum
Year of publication: 1962
Binding: perfect binding
Size: 350x260mm
Number of pages: 28
Number of illustrations: 31 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: company profile; staged, fashion and product photography
Printer: Steendrukkerij de Jong & Co, Hilversum
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Ed van der Elsken
Design: Jan Bons
Text: Jan Bons (company history, handwritten)
Type: commemoration publication (50 year anniversary)
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

The company photobook de jong & van dam (1962) appeared in the same year as De verbinding [The connection], likewise at Steendrukkerij De Jong & Co in Hilversum in offset print and is compiled by Jan Bons (1918-2012) and Ed van der Elsken (1925-1990). Van der Elsken made some colloquial fashion photographs and a reportage incorporating the company profile. Jan Bons joined the full-page bleeding photos seamlessly. In 1960, Jan Bons and Ed van der Elsken were co-founders of the magazine Twen. Partly for this reason matches are visible between both publications: both the folio size as the font has de jong & van dam in common with this non-conformist magazine for young people. The text is set in Clarendon. Manufacturer of machine-made seamless stockings, De Jong &Van Dam in Hilversum commissioned this seminal company photobook.

Dag nieuwe dag
Publisher: Ubica Matrassenfabrieken NV, Utrecht
Year of publication: 1960
Binding: hardcover (with dust jacket)
Size: 300x230mm
Number of pages: 130
Number of illustrations: 127 black & white photographs; 63 color
Type of illustrations: company profile; documentary photography
Printer: Bakker, Zaandijk
Type of reproduction: letter press printing and offset
Photography: Cor van Weele; J.H. Hasewinkel
Design: Piet Marée (illustrations: beds, floor plans and drawings of sleeping room design)
Text: Martie Verdenius (literary contribution)
Type: promotional publication
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

Dag nieuwe dag [Hello New Day] (1960), commissioned by Ubica Matrassenfabrieken NV in Utrecht and with photographs by Cor van Weele (1918-1989), has the characteristic of a product catalog. A tripartite division characterizes the photo book: first there is a visual narrative on one-day-in-the-lifeof the Dutch workforce anno1960. A second part treats the cultural historical context of the act of sleeping through the ages. Then, in a third part, the production process of mattresses is described and visualized by Piet Marée, culminating in the delivery program and design suggestions. The text is set in Baskerville.

Gouden Banden:
uitgegeven ter gelegenheid van het vijftigjarig bestaan van de Coöperatieve Condensfabriek ‘Friesland’
Publisher: Coöperatieve Condensfabriek Friesland, Leeuwarden
Year of publication: 1963
Binding: perfect binding
Size: 280x210mm
Number of pages: 64
Number of illustrations: 47 black & white photographs; 14 color
Type of illustrations: company profile; documentary photography
Printer: Meijer Offset, Wormerveer
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Ed van der Elsken
Design: Theo Kurpershoek
Type: promotional publication
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

Not everyone lends him/herself to working in a team or on assignment, and Ed van der Elsken (1925- 1990) retained control over the composition of company photo books in which he was involved. He was a loner who loathed the making of reportages for a company profile. He preferred making loose documentary travel reportages for a movie or photo book, whether a monograph or a promotional publication concerning the dairy industry such as Gouden Banden [Golden Ties] (1963) and Wereldreis in foto’s [World Travel in Photos] (1968) was all the same to him. Typical of Van der Elsken was that he managed to achieve the corporate world to pay for his projects. Gouden Banden is a prototype of a company photo book in which social documentary (from Sweet Life, 1966) is included that does not refer to the company. The book contains grainy street photography in foreign markets of the milkfactory.

Wereldreis in foto’s 1–4 Ed van der Elsken
Publisher: Coöperatieve Condensfabriek Friesland, Leeuwarden
Year of publication: 1967-1968
Binding: perfect binding
Size: 250x250mm
Number of pages: 52
Number of illustrations: 57 bl&wh (vol1); 45 bl&wh (vol 2); 55 bl&wh (vol 3); 51 bl&wh (vol 4)
Type of illustrations: company profile; documentary photography
Printer: Meijer Offset, Wormerveer
Type of reproduction: offset
Photography: Ed van der Elsken
Design: Ed van der Elsken
Text: E. van der Elsken; J.A. van Dongen (editing)
Type: promotional publication
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

Not everyone lends him/herself to working in a team or on assignment; Ed van der Elsken (1925- 1990) kept control over the composition of company photo books. He was a loner who loathed the making of reportages for a company profile; he did not do that sort of thing. He preferred making loose travel reportages for a movie or documentary photo book, whether it is a monograph or a promotional publication concerning the dairy industry, such as Gouden Banden [Golden Ties] (1963) and Wereldreis in foto’s [World Travel in Photos] (1968) was all the same to him. Typical of Van der Elsken was that he managed to achieve the corporate world to finance his projects. Wereldreis in foto’s, in 4 parts, appeared at various times. Part 1 is released in March 1967, part 4 as a New Year's gift for 1968. The company itself is not presented. The series of four photo booklets is a prototype of a company photo book in which social documentary (from Sweet Life, 1966) is included that does not directly refer to the company. The books contain grainy street photography in foreign markets of the milk factory.

BBB: bouwen en industrie; bouwen en speurwerk; bouwen en organisatie
Publisher: Bredero’s Bouwbedrijf NV, Utrecht
Year of publication: 1960
Binding: hardcover with dust jacket
Size: 270x260mm
Number of pages: 116
Number of illustrations: 120 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: company profile
Printer: Drukkerij Meijer NV,Wormerveer
Type of reproduction: letter press printing
Photography: Cas Oorthuys
Design: Dick Elffers en Bob Duyvelshoff
Text: D. Dresden; J. de Vries (editing); B. Schierbeek (literary contribution); J.J. Vriend
Type: promotional book
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

BBB (1960) is typically a graphic design by Dick Elffers (1910-1990), and similar to that of another company photo book he composed that appeared a year earlier: 1909 PLEM 1959. Cas Oorthuys (1908-1975) made a company profile in a reportage, photographed the building process and research, made from studies of B2-blocks, documented completed buildings and the work field abroad. The promotional book contains functional illustrations, including schematic drawings, a graphic representation of a construction skeleton, as well as a map of Netherlands. In BBB the frequent use of primary colors directly onto the photographs derives straight from the design for IBB (1950) by Piet Zwart.

Heterogeen evenwicht
Publisher: Chemische Industrie Uithoorn NV CINDU, Uithoorn
Year of publication: 1961
Binding: perfect binding
Size: 210x240mm
Number of pages: 36
Number of illustrations: 37 black & white photographs, 12 color
Type of illustrations: company profile; urban landscapes; documentary photography
Printer: Kasteel van Aemstel, Amsterdam
Type of reproduction: letter press printing
Photography: Cas Oorthuys
Design: B. Mol
Text: J.B.I. Born; M. van Marwijk Kooy
Type: promotional publication
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

Heterogeen evenwicht [Heterogeneous equilibrium] (1961) immediately stands out in the stylish characteristics of modernism in the design of the front cover. Alongside a company profile reportage of chemical industry Uithoorn NV (CINDU) Cas Oorthuys (1908-1975) delivered urban landscapes, made photographs of a blast furnace, the laboratory, flats, children in a swimming pool, storage, and form studies of vessels, petrochemical units and the application of plastics and polyesters. The booklet includes tabs and is interleaved with transparent pages. An English language reprint was published in 1965.

cavalcade: Philips world-wide
Publisher: Philips, Eindhoven
Year of publication: 1963
Binding: hardcover with dust jacket
Size: 270x280mm
Number of pages: 108
Number of illustrations: 435 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: company profile; product photography; interior/exterior
Printer: Drukkerij Meier NV, Wormerveer
Type of reproduction: letter press printing and offset
Photography: company photographers
Design: J. Schrofer and K. Nieuwenhuijzen
Text: L.P.A. Soeterboek; J.H. van Lonkhuyzen and J.Th.A. van Haaren (editing)
Type: promotional publication
Collection: Mirelle Thijsen/IPhoR, Amsterdam

Cavalcade (1963) is one of the rare examples of a company photo book directed and designed by Jurriaan Schrofer (1926-1990) that does not involve a team of photographers, or even commissioned photography by a professional photographer, but relies entirely on archival corporate photography. The book is prepared according to cinematic principles; a mounted promotional publication for Philips contains collages of product and corporate photography, photographs of lighting, sound and electronics in public buildings, telecommunications, education, in-and exteriors of hospitals. Graphic designer Schrofer was responsible for supervising the book production and compiling a color scheme for the chapters. The text is set in the Gill. The dummy of the English-language edition Cavalcade is in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and provides insight into his system typography and layout, a trademark of Schrofer, consisting of cinematic photo-strips.

The finishing touch 100 jaar Twentsche Stoombleekerij NV door Max Dendermonde en Carel Blazer
Publisher: NV Twentsche Stoomblekerij, Goor
Year of publication: 1957
Binding: hardcover
Size: 270x200mm
Number of pages: 96
Number of illustrations: 94 black & white photographs; 2 color
Type of illustrations: reportage; company profile; landscape photography and folklore
Printer: Drukkerij Meijer NV, Wormerveer
Type of reproduction: letter press printing
Photography: Carel Blazer
Design: Gerard Wernars
Text: Max Dendermonde (company history)
Type: commemoration book (100 year anniversary)
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

Copywriter and novelist Max Dendermonde (1919-2004) wrote the company history for the finishing touch: 100 years Twentsche Stoombleekerij NV (1957). Carel Blazer made a company profile by way of a reportage in this factory for steam bleaching and some pictures of landscape and folklore. Because of the way the story is told, this commemoration book is both reflective of the type filmic scenario and visual narrative. The text, prepared in columns and set in Baskerville, instantaneously responds to the photography. Carel Blazer ((1911-1980) has collaborated with several designers. In addition to Benno Wissing, Gerard Wernars (1924) has been a frequent collaborator. In 1957, Blazer and Wernars compiled The finishing touch, seven years later the team put together another notable publication:Verkenning van het onbekende [Exploration into the unknown] (1964) for Royal Dutch Shell.

Staaltest. Vijf en twintig jaar van kijken & kiezen
Publisher: Röntgen Technische Dienst nv RTD, Rotterdam
Year of publication: 1962
Binding: perfect binding
Size: 230x210mm
Number of pages: 62
Number of illustrations: 16 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: company profile; documentary photography
Printer: Drukkerij Hooiberg, Epe
Type of reproduction: letter press printing
Photography: Ed Suister
Design: Charles Jongejans
Text: Jan Elburg (literary contribution)
Type: commemoration book (25 year anniversary)
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

Jan Elburg (1919-1992) was a poet and lecturer at the Institute for Arts and Crafts Education in Amsterdam. His poetry was brisk and locked into the dynamics of post-war optimism as proclaimed in the company photobook. Elburg is the author of two important company photobooks published in 1962: De verbinding [The connection], commissioned by the PTT, and staal test [steel test] (1962), commissioned by the X-ray Technical Service (RTD). The commemoration book contains full bleeding images of twenty-five years of (professional) looking and choosing, tasting and testing, in everyday life. The language is proverbial and the text fragments are reproduced on thin transparent paper. The edition includes an English language academic text on the book topic.

De trein hoort erbij: Ter gelegenheid van het 125-jarig bestaan van de Spoorwegen in Nederland
Publisher: NV Nederlandse Spoorwegen NS, Utrecht
Year of publication: 1964
Binding: paperback
Size: 180x120mm
Number of pages: 160
Number of illustrations: 53 black & white photographs; 6 color
Type of illustrations: company profile; reportage; archival photography
Printer: A.W. Bruna & Zoon, Utrecht
Type of reproduction: letter press and copper plate printing
Photography: Kees Scherer; Cas Oorthuys; Hans de Boer; Dolf Toussaint; E. Salomon; J. Kamman
Design: Jaap Romijn and Gerard Douwe
Text: J. Romijn, P. Kemp; C. Busken Huet; F. Coenen; S. Carmiggelt (literary contribution)
Type: Commemoration book (125 year anniversary)
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

De trein hoort erbij [The train belongs here] (1964) is one of the few commemoration books that have appeared in the form of a photo pocket published in the Bruna-pocket series. The text is set in Bembo. The captions with the photographs run through on the double pages and enhance the story line. Dynamic pictures of rail travel by Cas Oorthuys (1908-1975) are realized as part of a commission for the jubilee stamps 125 Dutch railways. Included in the pocket are numerous fashion prints, engravings, advertising posters and children's drawings on the cultural history of traveling and the introduction of the train. The editors considered the encyclopaedic form of the handy pocket as the most democratic way to show that everyone in the company is ‘in principle equal – the mechanic is as indispensable as the Director.’

Een eeuw in beweging
Publisher: Koninklijke Machinefabriek Stork NV, Hengelo
Year of publication: 1968
Binding: perfect binding
Size: 230x190mm
Number of pages: 56
Number of illustrations: 27 black & white photographs; 12 color
Type of illustrations: reportage; archival photography
Printer: Koninklijke Drukkerij G.J. Thieme NV, Nijmegen
Type of reproduction: letter press printing
Photography: Aart Klein
Design: Hans Barvelink
Text: A. Alberts (company history)
Type: Commemoration book (100 year anniversary)
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

In the late 1960s photographer Aart Klein (1909-2001) and designer Hans Barvelink (1931) worked together as a steady team. The cooperation stemmed from the communal book production Holland wordt groter [Holland becomes larger] (1961). They compiled four company photo books in the period 1966-1973, including Een eeuw in beweging [A Century in Motion] (1968). In this booklet a large number of fullpage graphic images by Aart Klein is reproduced. This commissioned photo work, and photographs from the archives of the photographer and the company's, show industrial progress, daily life and leisure activities. Novelist and historian A. Alberts was the author involved in the first three publications.

Synthese: kunst hars fabriek synthese n.v. Katwijk Holland
Publisher: Kunst hars fabriek synthese n.v., Katwijk
Year of publication: [1958]
Binding: perfect binding
Size: 230 x 210mm
Number of pages: 32
Number of illustrations: 38 black & white photographs
Type of illustrations: company profile; documentary photography
Printer: Drukkerij Meijer NV, Wormerveer
Type of reproduction: letter press printing
Photography: Cas Oorthuys
Design: Dick Elffers
Text: Max Dendermonde (company history)
Type: promotional book
Collection: Jan Wingender, Leusden/the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

Synthese (1958) appeared in the same year as AKI, and has similar features and is commissioned by a factory in practically the same branche, the synthetic resin industry. The publication is typical for the signature of Dick Elffers (1910-1990) of the type photo-typo-text and is interleaved with transparent pages. The brochure contains archival photography from non-private archives, waterscapes, and reportages by Cas Oorthuys (1908-1975) on the winning of pine resin and the production of synthetic resin. Synthese includes 19 illustrations by Dick Elffers, including a city map, dots, squares, and a graphical representation of chemical structures.