Author Archives: JJ Rezaei

“Krokodil” and its Role in the Mass Distribution of Political Propaganda in Soviet Russia

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Historically, political cartoons have been a common form of communication through which readers could be swayed, humored, or upset. Krokodil was a highly influential and popular Soviet satirical magazine which ran from the years 1922 to 2008 and circulated over 5.8 million copies at its peak (East View). This essay will use analysis from a physical copy of the 31st edition of the 1957 volume from San Diego State University’s Special Collections library to argue that by creating and distributing politically dense magazines which are inexpensive and easy to read, Krokodil’s accessible nature makes it able to be highly present in the public eye, making it an ideal form of distributing political propaganda. Drawing from the concept of the communication circuit in Robert Darnton’s What is the History of Books? and key bibliographic analysis concepts from How the Page Matters by Bonnie Mack, I study Krokodil in a holistic manner by going beyond the contents of the text on the page so as to study this edition of Krokodil as an object.

The parts of Darnton’s communication circuit which to be discussed in this essay are authors/illustrators, publishers, readers, and political/legal sanctions. Given that “images took up 50 percent more space in Krokodil than text,” I have decided to merge the categories of author and illustrators together (Waterlow 6). As demonstrated in Darton’s diagram below, this is only a few sectors of his communication circuit. Any further discussion would be of interest, however, it is outside of the scope of this essay. 

Darnton’s Communication Circuit

Krokodil was a magazine that received reader submissions regularly and often published it (Waterlow 7). This creates a dialogical nature between the author/illustrators and readers of Krokodil. This plays a role in what is considered by many scholars to be “a positive role of popular humor in the USSR… to vent dissatisfaction and obviate political opposition (Etty 23). By being provided the opportunity to send in material, readers feel that they have a say in criticism regarding local or federal level politics. This implicit quieting of dissent, as will be further explained in this essay, played a positive role in maintaining the accessibility of Krokodil in the face of broader media censorship.

It is important to understand the role of political satire as a whole in the Soviet Union and the readership for Krokodil. As Jonathan Waterlow writes, “leading Soviet figures considered humour, and satire in particular, to hold significant power to effect social change” thus leading to the creation of a sector of government in 1930 called the Commission for the Study of Satirical Genres in Art and Literature (5). This is no small feat, as in the 1920’s there were around 250 magazines similar to Krokodil but by the early 1930’s only Krokodil remained due to a variety of issues which “combined to privilege Krokodil’s position after the extension of state control over cultural production” (Etty 8). It was decided with the creation of the Commission for the Study of Satirical Genres that satire would be allowed, however, only if it fell in line with Soviet policies (Waterlow 6). This was a major advance in terms of accessibility, as it meant that Krokodil can be distributed legally. It is important to note that Krokodil would not have existed if it were not for luck and its editors who had “inside knowledge of Central Committee priorities” (Etty 8). In other words, the magazine from the beginning had the advantage in remaining legally accessible.

As Krokodil succeeded as one of the only remaining satirical magazines and Krokodil’s publisher Pravda became increasingly influential on its contents, the jokes in Krokodil became “almost exclusively toward the capitalist West” (Etty 102). The fact that it no longer targeted even lower level Soviet bureaucrats made it ever safer of a satirical magazine to engage with as a citizen. Soviet Union residents were able to buy copies of Krokodil without any concern of punishment from the state. 

Bibliographic Analysis

I am doubtful about the order of pages presented to me in Special Collections because what I believe to be the cover of the magazine was on the second page and the cover presented to me seems to be the last page of a different edition.

It is very difficult to find digitized copies of Krokodil online and many which are accessible do not have the full pages thus it is difficult to cross reference the magazine that was available in Special Collections. Since I could not find any online reproductions to cross reference, I was nervous to analyze the order of pages in the magazine. Upon further examination of the order of pages, however, it is plausible that the back cover of another edition was simply picked up with this magazine. This would not compromise the order of any other pages. For this reason, I will not be analyzing what was the first page of this codex when I received it, however, I will be analyzing the rest in the order it was given to me. For the purposes of this essay, I will be focuses primarily on the cover and first two spreads as they demonstrate the most political relevance.

The cover of this edition displays an American (demonstrated by the dollar on its hat) dropping down egg-shaped weaponry. The Russian written on it translates to “U.S. base”. The cover is the first thing the reader sees before they decide to buy the magazine. It, with little to no words, describes what will be the contents, theme, and general perspective of the interior of the magazine. Thus, immediately, Krokodil tells its audience that this magazine will be criticizing American militarism.

This edition was published on November 10, 1957. The Sputnik 1 landing–where the U.S.S.R. successfully sent a satellite into space happened on October 4, 1957, and Sputnik 2–where the U.S.S.R. sent Laika the dog into space happened on November 3rd, 1957 (NASA). Despite the recent (and massive) cultural successes of the Soviet Union, Krokodil’s cover page makes no mention of the space race and chooses to focus on anti-Western propaganda. This decision will be analyzed in depth later in this essay.

The pages of Krokodil have a significant amount of variation in the amount of ink utilized. High ink productions draw the reader’s eye and encourage an increased amount of time spent examining the meaning of the art.

The first spread of the magazine is filled with art of different styles and vibrant colors–almost all of them about space or space satellites. As Bonnie Mack writes in How the Page Matters, “the placement of images on the page… is a sign from designers about the value of the illustrations and how they are meant to be read. Illustrations may be designed to displace or replace letter forms” (17). These eye-catching illustrations displace and replace words.

The borders, drawn in pink, remove the need for a page number. This pink border has the added effect of highlighting the importance of the first spread of the magazine. Since no other spread has this border, it is demonstrably eye-catching and important. The pink border then bleeds down into an image of what looks like Sputnik 1 being launched into space. The border bleeding down complements the Sputnik satellite being launched up, immediately drawing the reader’s attention.

The amount of page space and color which is given to the first spread demonstrates its importance yet remains fairly simple. Most images will take up a quarter of the page (if not more) and rarely have intricate scenes. This has the effect of being easy on the eyes and mind–it does not take a significant amount of extra effort to decide what to look at and decipher the message behind it.

These artworks leave less room for interpretation and more for an explicit message. In regards to Soviet newspapers explicitly writing “(laughter)” in speeches to demonstrate the appropriate response readers should have when reading, Waterlow writes “This is instructive: the response was directed rather than naturally evoked; laughter was here a didactic tool as well as an offensive instrument” (7). Similarly, satire which leaves little room for interpretation and is clearly intended to be humorous like the illustrations in Krokodil contain an implicit monological communication with the reader teaching them what is and is not funny. In other words, it is in addition to how “images can propose an interpretation that is complementary, supplementary, or even contradictory” that images can be didactic (Mack 17). The clear-cut messaging of these satirical images would have played a critical role in preserving the legality (thus accessibility) of Krokodil in the face of media censorship. 

On the spread on the following page, there is a larger image on the left side of the spread which is a black and white caricature of a man in the American military with bloodied hands. The dark red ink draws even more attention than the image–which is already the largest on the spread–does. This is the final image regarding the Sputnik moon landing, gradually bringing the reader into less overtly space-related topics. This brings an end to the theme of the images regarding the Soviet success in the space race

The man, dressed in an American military uniform, is protesting loudly at the radio. The message coming from the radio translates to “the Russians launched a satellite with a dog” and the title and caption read “Compassionate Colonizer” and “Oh barbarians! You’ve offended the poor dog!” respectively.

Images which use less colorful ink and smaller images may not be as immediately noticeable, however, they have a significant impact on the reader’s experience. Mack describes empty space on a page as giving readers the opportunity “to pause and consider the thoughts that they have encountered” (17). Illustrations which do not have much diversity in color, are small relative to the text, or even stylistically simple have a similar effect. Mack writes further that “images can propose an interpretation that is complementary, supplementary, or even contradictory” (17). In this case, small images beside large amounts of writing would serve a supplementary effect to the reader, aiding their understanding of the text. A prime example of this phenomenon would be the spread on page 5 of the magazine, where small black, white, and pale yellow illustrations are accompanied by many paragraphs of text.

These drawings are some of the smallest present in this magazine edition, an important thing to note when images (in total) take up more than 50% of the magazine (Waterlow 6). This stands in direct contrast to the previous spread on page 3, where various art styles and colors take up most of the page.

The see-saw-like relationship between images and text creates a balance which makes the reading experience all the more palatable. In other words, no single spread holds significantly more or less information than the other. This creates an experience which does not bombard the reader with information. Rather, information is neatly organized in a manner which encourages leisurely reading.

The decision to make the first spread of the magazine about the space race and not the cover is an interesting one. The first spread of the magazine implies extreme pride in the Soviet’s win in the space race, yet does not flaunt it on the cover. The emphasis on deriding opponents as opposed to flaunting successes demonstrates a desire from Krokodil’s editors to uplift messages which demonize the West more so than uplifting the U.S.S.R. The strong themes present in the cover and other spreads creates an easily digestible linear storytelling method. This linear storytelling method has an effect which is similar to a grocery store putting milk at the back of the store. In pursuit of milk, the customer goes through at least one full aisle. The customer is much more likely to buy something they did not initially want as they are forced to look at other groceries while in pursuit of milk. Similarly, any person who is interested in reading Krokodil must go through the first few pages of nationalist propaganda to engage in less overtly propagandized entertainment. This has the effect of entrenching propaganda into the magazine. Similar to how the average person does not get upset at the latent marketing of milk placement in grocery stores, it goes to say that the average person reading Krokodil would not be upset at latent propaganda in their weekly magazine. Thus, nationalist messaging in the first few pages of Krokodil make for a form of propaganda dissemination while at the same time being a pleasurable read for the residents of the Soviet Union.

Though this edition of Krokodil was published over 85 years ago, it still provides a lens through which to analyze society today. Various factors indicate that Krokodil was a magazine which emphasized easy to read messages by presenting it through a medium which encouraged leisurely reading. This includes but is not limited to the fact that it was one of the only legalized (which did not carry risk of punishment) political satire magazines. Additionally, it spread propaganda in a more covert and less obtrusive way by employing a linear progression of themes, allowing clearly messaged propaganda to be dissolved without causing much frustration to the reader.

This curated reading experience closely resembles the role social media plays in society today. Leisurely, digestible, and often highly politicized, social media platforms like Instagram, Meta, and X provide millions of people bite-sized and easily digestible forms of content. Similar to how the ease of reading Krokodil makes it an ideal medium for political propaganda, the ease of access of social media content makes it a prime breeding ground for political propaganda and thus radicalization. In many ways, the medium has not changed as radically as some may believe. Many similarities exist between the “read and swipe” culture of modern social media and the “read and flip” culture of Krokodil. As stated in Jessica Pressman’s “Old Media/New Media,”  “Media do not replace one another in a clear, linear succession but instead evolve in a more complex ecology of interrelated feedback loops” (2). What I hope to emphasize here is not the relevance of old media or new media in isolation, rather, identifying and acknowledging old media as the architectural basis to new media. Even though technology and propaganda takes a different form today, Krokodil should not be seen as something of antiquity but rather a method through which to understand our modern forms of propaganda. Ultimately, by dissecting and analyzing old forms of technology, it is possible to gain a unique lens through which to examine modern forms of technology, communication, and potentially most importantly, propaganda.

Thank you for the wonderful semester!

Works Cited

Darnton, Robert. “What Is the History of Books?” Daedalus, vol. 111, no. 3, 1982, pp. 65–83. JSTOR.

Dawn of the Space Age – NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/history/dawn-of-the-space-age/. Accessed 14 Dec. 2025, NASA History.

Etty, John. Graphic Satire in the Soviet Union: Krokodil’s Political Cartoons. University Press of Mississippi, 2019. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvbj7g8s.

“Krokodil Digital Archive.” East View, http://www.eastview.com/resources/journals/krokodil/. Accessed 14 Dec. 2025.

Mak, Bonnie. How the Page Matters. University of Toronto Press, 2011.

Pressman, Jessica. “Old Media/New Media.” John Hopikins Guide to Digital Media and Textuality.

Waterlow, Jonathan. “Sanctioning Laughter in Stalin’s Soviet Union.” History Workshop Journal, no. 79, 2015, pp. 198–214. JSTOR.

Extra Credit – Exploring the San Diego Central Library

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For this extra credit blog post, I will be documenting and analyzing my experience exploring the San Diego Central Library with my partner. I did not go into the library with the intention to find a book. Rather, I had gone in the past and wanted to show my partner what it was like. To connect this to the concept of bookishness, our exploration of the library was dissimilar from the experience of exploring other places in a fundamental way. While exploring the library, there is a feeling of immersion into a sacred place. Everything felt valuable–like a relic.

Catalog Cabinets

One of the first things we saw were card catalog cabinets. These contained cards which could point you to something which was of interest to you. I would imagine the experience of finding something through this catalog differs from looking it up online because you come across significantly more information “accidentally” as you look for the card which is of interest to you.

The cards looked as if they had been typed on a typewriter which is in line with the vintage feel of the cabinet. Presumably, if the cabinet were for a functional purpose, the cards would be printed. The decision to keep typewriter cards demonstrates a desire to preserve the ambiance created by the card catalog, the ambiance being that of from a time before the digital age.

What was especially interesting were card cabinets which explicitly encouraged exploration, such as the “curio card catalog.” This catalog was on the penultimate floor of the library–right under the rooftop floor. The placard for it defines a curio cabinet as a “specialized type of display case for presenting collections of curios, interesting objects that invoke curiosity, and perhaps share a common theme” from Merriam Webster.

This Wikipedia summary from a DuckDuckGo search shows a typical curio cabinet and a slightly more descriptive definition than provided above.

I forgot to take a picture of the Curio Card Catalog, however, you can see a portion of it in the picture to the bottom right. Evidently, it is designed to emulate the experience of looking through a physical library catalog. There is implicit message that while, yes, online catalogs may be more efficient and easier to use for many people, the experience of browsing a physical catalog is completely different. The curio card catalog serves to encourage the observer to view catalogs not as a means to and end, but a “display case for presenting… interesting objects that invoke curiosity” (Merriam Webster).

Special Collections

The Special Collections section of the library was like a museum. Many books were out for display with placards providing a brief description. Given that I had come here before, I was familiar with some of the material. To my surprise, however, I was much more familiar with the material than I once had been.

Thanks to this course, I am no stranger to approaching the book as an object. However, it was surprising to me seeing it outside of class–almost like running into a classmate outside of school for the first time. This book was the sole book on the table with a single light illuminating it, demonstrating its importance.
Similar to seeing the book through 5000 years, I surprised myself when I already knew what “fore-edge paintings” were.
The woodcut lettering on this music piece is not something I would have been able to identify by name a few months ago. Nor would I have been analyzing the importance this music peace must have had given its’ extravagance for its time.
Moby Dick special mention!
An Ethiopian scroll similar to the one we saw in Special Collections. Additionally, a book written on bark which demonstrates the resources available in Sumatra. Thanks to Borsuk, I wonder how the bark influenced Sumatran writing style.
The Ethiopian scroll pictured above was opened to this section. The drawing is something which could have easily been drawn today. It may have been opened to this section to make the observer feel a sense of comradery or familiarity with the artist of this piece.
An engraved stone from Kermanshah, Iran–the region where my grandfather was born and raised. I suspect the spelling “Kermansh” is a typo. It was an initially exciting and then dissonant feeling seeing something emotionally close to me from a far away place somewhere which is very familiar. I feel similarly in museums, which this experience made me realize are closer to Special Collections than I once thought.

Final Project Proposal – Soviet Union Comics

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For my final assignment, I will be analyzing political cartoons as a form of reality construction from the Soviet Union era. I will examine the way these political cartoons created nationalistic sentiment in the Soviet Union in the face of broader Western influence. In other words, I ask: What role did political cartoons take in culturally validating the U.S.S.R.? This will include any paper medium, primarily but not limited to, posters and political comics in the newspaper. My analysis will be guided by Edward Bernays’ philosophy towards public relations and marketing, which approached marketing as a way to construct the reality of the general population.

There will not be an explicitly artistic component for this project, though my essay will be printed out on printer paper to emulate the physical medium these political cartoons were consumed in at the time. I hope to find a political cartoon in the form of a newspaper clipping or poster to analyze in Special Collections and have emailed Anna for a direction of where to look. 

Annotated Bibliography

David-Fox, Michael. The Secret Police and the Soviet System: New Archival Investigations. University of Pittsburgh Press, 2023. Project MUSE, https://muse.jhu.edu/book/111641.

Studies the role of the secret police in the Soviet Union through archives of “information, technology, economics, art, and ideology”. David-Fox attempts to get a full picture of the Soviet secret police through a variety of different archives.

Etty, John. Graphic Satire in the Soviet Union: Krokodil’s Political Cartoons. University Press of Mississippi, 2019. Project MUSE, https://muse.jhu.edu/book/63713.

Etty focuses on the popular and long-lasting satirical magazine Krokodil (especially from the years 1954 to 1964). The magazine was “the most significant, influential source of Soviet graphic satire” and was in production for over 70 years

Norris, Stephen. “The Weapon of Laughter: Soviet Political Cartoons and the Making of a State Viewer.” Ab Imperio, vol. 2021 no. 3, 2021, p. 171-179. Project MUSE, https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/imp.2021.0058.

A lecture from a Professor of Russian Studies Stephen Norris regarding Soviet Union popular cartoonist Boris Efimov, who drew many caricatures and political cartoons.

Peteri, Gyorgy. Imagining the West in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. 1 ed. University of Pittsburgh Press, 2010. Project MUSE, https://muse.jhu.edu/book/1442.

Peteri describes how various indicators in architecture, film, writings, products, and more indicate shifts in Western ideals among Eastern Europeans. Acceptance of Western ideals make it not possible for Communism to meet the needs of its people, thus contributing to its downfall.

Smith-Peter, Susan. “Rethinking: “The Russian Archives”.” Ab Imperio, vol. 2022 no. 2, 2022, p. 63-69. Project MUSE, https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/imp.2022.0032.

Pushes the idea that Russian archival work overwhelmingly takes place in Russia as opposed to examining Russian archives present in the United States (specifically Alaska because it was owned by Alaska for a significant period of time and Pennsylvania for its Russian immigrant population) and Ukraine. In other words, the author is saying that Russian archives exist in many more, less-searched places than Russia.

Starks, Tricia. Cigarettes and Soviets: Smoking in the USSR. Cornell University Press, 2022. Project MUSE, https://muse.jhu.edu/book/99516.

Starks analyzes the massive success of cigarettes in the USSR, specifically how it became and why it continues to be so popular.

Velychenko, Stephen. Propaganda in Revolutionary Ukraine: Leaflets, Pamphlets, and Cartoons, 1917–1922. University of Toronto Press, 2019. Project MUSE, https://muse.jhu.edu/book/108060.

This book goes over the various dissemination giants (both governmental and corporate) in Ukraine from 1917-1922, their publishing techniques, and both their successes and failures.

Waterlow, Jonathan. “Sanctioning Laughter in Stalin’s Soviet Union.” History Workshop Journal, vol. 79, 2015, p. 198-214. Project MUSE, https://muse.jhu.edu/article/579908.

This research examines humor in the Soviet Union, noting how it has previously been perceived by researchers and how it is actually more nuanced than expected. The state ultimately would decide what was or was not acceptable humor in a relatively arbitrary manner.

The Books Who Breathe

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This is my first time engaging in a Walter Benjamin reading and, to begin, his writing style is beautiful. It lacks pretentiousness while conveying a full-bodied story. What I got from *Illuminations* is a telling of how the value of a book can come in many different ways from the text, as evidenced by the act of collecting. Benjamin describes important information beyond the text, such as “dates, place names, formats, previous owners, bindings and the like: all these details must tell [the collector] something–not as dry, isolated facts, but as a harmonious whole” (63-64). All of these can provide some value for the collector, thus demonstrating that value does not come from any single place. Rather, it is ascribed by the collector themselves.

The creation of meaning by a dialogical relationship between book and author is beautifully stated by Benjamin: “I am not exaggerating when I say that to a true collector the acquisition of an old book is its rebirth” (61). The wording of “rebirth” is important here because it is not the creation of a completely new entity. “Rebirth” is a recreation or reiteration of something that previously existed–thus it is the recreation from the same book. In Benjamin’s writing, the book can not be reborn without the collector. Albeit in a more dramatic and morbid manner, this concept reminds me of an excerpt from an essay written by Jacqueline Rose for the London Review of Books: “After all, if I can’t exist without you, then you have, among other things, the power to kill me”. Both of these writers acknowledge life as perception. For Benjamin, the rebirth of the book is dependent on its’ perception by the collector. In other words, for a book–or a person–to be re-born or alive, then it must be perceived.

Making History

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Christophe Cloutier in Shadow Archives: the Lifecycles of African American Literature sees the archive as something active–a creation of a story. He states that “the archive becomes a site where an author’s hidden identities, affiliations, and political ambivalences and fantasies can be hammered out, notably when these things were deemed too difficult, messy shameful, or inchoate for public presentation” (10). In other words, the archive is a living thing which changes depending on the person archiving it. The subjectivity of the archive makes it such that it reflects systems of oppression, thus the importance of focusing on African-American (and other minority) archives.

The various forms or “multiplicity of lives” (12) which an archive can have demonstrate the impossibility for objective storytelling. If the same archive can have various different associations, then it is impossible for it to have an essential story. This is relevant when put in the context of academia when it is in pursuit of truth. As Cloutier states, “archivists guide–or perhaps one should say, manipulate–scholarly practice” (24). The archive denotes the understanding of what is being archived. In other words, in a sense, the archive speaks for itself.

Visualized Mathematical Word

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The first printed edition of Elements by Euclid on May 25, 1482–also the first printed book to include geometrical diagrams (SDSU Special Collections). A gold line runs along the edge of the black pigskin binding, complementing the gold title on the spine and green covers. On both sides, the spine is separating from the binding, the split revealing dark orange. The fore-edge is a dark, vibrant red which bleeds into the pages occasionally.

The flyleaf is annotated “Hain-Copinger*6693 Proctor 4383”. The leftmost inch of the flyleaf contains some kind of tape or glue, potentially as a result of earlier repair. The paper is thicker and with stronger grooves than the rest of the book. The first page of the book block contains a name in watery brown ink. It reads “Rizancdi Rizax Ph., is.M., 17 amicoz”. The ink and handwriting remain consistent throughout. Despite being otherwise empty, it contains one of the strongest fingerprint markings in the whole book on the bottom right and significant staining Overall, fingerprint markings and other staining is much more noticeable in the beginning and last 15-20 pages

Edited increased brightness and contrast for added effect.

The following two pages contain an introduction of some kind in Gothic type. The left page is only writing, however, the right page has a floral woodcut and woodcut historiated initials. The woodcuts were floral, resembling flowers and leaves. The second page also contains the introduction of geometric shapes. Pilcrows (used to indicate paragraphs) are scattered throughout. The first woodcut of the book also makes an appearance, of the biggest size present in the book. The rest of the writing in this book follows this format.

There are no page numbers throughout the book. Readers can keep track of their place and reference sections with the book number and its’ subheading. Each paragraph begins with a woodcut historiated initial which reflects the woodcut in the introduction. The sizing depicted below was most common, though it would occasionally be larger.

Diagrams

Geometric diagrams are a vital part of this book and are present on most pages. Fundamental parts are straight lines and circles. These form the basis of various semicircles, circles, squares, rectangles, triangles, crosses, and more. Occasionally, squiggly lines are used to form these shapes..

Often, the vertices are labeled with printed letters in the same font as the rest of the text (henceforth called variables). Variables are occasionally placed in blank spaces, such as variable a in the middle triangle below. Diagrams often have imperfections. As circled in red below, the semi-circle at the top has a hole next to variable h, the bottom right vertex of the middle triangle is incomplete, and the bottom right triangle’s vertex is missing near variable e. Similar imperfections are present throughout the book.

The image to the right displays two circles of differing sizes yet joining at one intersection. Despite the precision necessary for this diagram, both circles are disconnected for a similar length.

Complexity of the diagrams increases over the course of the book, indicating an increased complexity of the material. There is a sharp increase in variables and number of lines.

3-Dimensional shapes begin to appear in conjunction with more complex diagrams. Such an example is the triangular prism to the left. This comes in tandem with diagrams to support the 3-D diagram, as illustrated to the right of the triangular prism where the author decided to include a 2-dimensional demonstration of the lengths of distance in the triangular prism.

Circles take a slightly different form as the complexity of the material increases.

The circle is much more regular when it is inscribed, as shown in the bottom right diagram. When a circle is circumscribed, the printing method tends to create small divots at each vertex, as seen in the diagram to the left and top right. Given the pervasiveness of this quirk, it is not likely that it was intentional.

Marginalia

In terms of marginalia, there is a brown penned notetaker throughout the book. They annotate certain sections more than others. Their handwriting, pen color, and method of notetaking remains consistent throughout the book, alluding to a single reader

The most common form of annotation is additional variables added to the diagrams. These are rarely paired with additional calculations. Common in certain sections were annotations in Latin, occasionally paired with underlines or insertions (“carrots”).

Early into the book, there is small hole surrounded by ink. The edges of the hole are irregular, indicating some kind of accidental and natural damage (as opposed to the fine line of something such as, say, scissors). The ink is stronger on one side of the page (see Figure 14) than the other (see Figure 12). The pages before and after have no visible marks of damage

Miscellaneous Markings

The damage resembles an annotation next to the left of the diagram. The unintelligible letter implies a mistake in printing or annotation. It is possible that the paper got soaked due to a surplus of ink, causing a tear.

Stains are easiest found towards the beginning and end of the book, but they are not impossible to find in the middle and end. Stains are typically brown or gray. On the bottom right corner of pages, they are typically the size of a fingerprint and gray. When brown, they are large light-colored splotches or deep dark brown sections.

The End(sheets)

On the bottom of the latter quarter of the book contains a wormhole. The endsheet and cover are not damaged by it. The endsheet is in good condition, with very little staining and damage. Nor is there sign of repair, unlike the flyleaf.

One of few signs of use on endsheet is small handwriting on the top right, written in pencil. There is no similar marginalia throughout the whole book.

Analysis

This edition of Elements was published in the height of the Renaissance and was the first book to have printed geometric diagrams. Printing allows for the mass production of books. Complexity does not make a significant difference once the initial print is made. Diagrams with many different shapes and variables were created for unprecedented numbers of people. The ability to print diagrams allowed for complex visualized math to reach the hands of more people than it had ever been able to in the past. This was all done during a time when science as we know it today was more important to the general population than it ever had been. I chose to write about the diagrams in this book as they provided intellectual accessibility in the middle of a period of massive cultural change.

Within geometry, the Oxford English Dictionary defines diagrams as “a figure composed of lines, serving to illustrate a definition or statement, or to aid in the proof of a proposition”. This definition feels lacking the cultural context of a diagram. The broader definition given by Oxford English Dictionary is “an illustrative figure which, without representing the exact appearance of an object, gives an outline or general scheme of it, so as to exhibit the shape and relations of its various parts” (emphasis added). Diagrams display what you need to know of complicated visual concepts to understand them. They exist for the same reason why this class goes to Special Collections every Tuesday—visualization is essential to understanding. The diagrams in this book were evidently important to the learning process because they were present on almost every page of the book. The gold outline on the binding of this book and the red fore-edge shows that this was a high-quality book for the time. Yet, though the quality was above average, it was not rare to see variables off-center or lines which were incomplete or smudged. This goes to show that the quality of this book was not necessarily in its’ aesthetic—rather, it was in the knowledge it made available.  

Mathematics is a theoretically heavy subject which is the basis of many scientific discoveries and explanations. Without geometric diagrams, it was significantly more difficult to understand complex mathematical concepts. The Renaissance put man at the center of the universe–there was an unprecedented surge in science and technology in conjunction. The diagrams in this book put complex mathematical concepts in an understandable and accessible form for the first time. The fundamental basics to scientific and mathematical discovery were made more easily understandable than they had ever been. In other words, the diagrams in this book are a direct reflection of the revolutionary values of the Renaissance.

The creation of the diagram put it in the hands of an individual to teach themselves concepts. By making it easier to learn complex topics, the teacher is no longer necessary. Learning becomes an isolated activity. In other words, by making it easier to self-teach and visualize complex mathematical theories, learning as a social activity is obsolete. If the medium is the message, then the message of mathematics turned into one of the relationship between human and their book. Reflecting man-centered ideas of the universe, it was no longer necessary for one person to teach another core ideas of their world. Mass-publication of the bible and increased literacy coincided with the decline of Catholicism as a pervasive social structure. It was no longer necessary for there to an arbiter of what is and is not a moral action because the people had gained the ability to read the bible directly and make decisions for themselves. Similarly, there was no longer a need to learn math in a classroom setting to the same degree because it was possible to own a book which showed you it directly. Students were able to teach themselves concepts in a manner which provided them with an agency in how to approach the material.

Reminiscing on Marshal McLuhan’s words: “we march backwards into the future”, the popularization of mathematical diagrams makes me think of modern forms of math education. Since the Renaissance and the publication of this edition of Elements, there have been thousands of versions of math and geometry textbooks. Yet, nothing compares to the change which was the video. Animation has made it possible to show diagrams in a dynamic manner. YouTube and other video platforms provided audio-visual learning experiences which made it possible to learn and review complex topics at any point with unprecedented ease. The parallel I am trying to draw here is between something like Elements with its’ diagrams and modern educational YouTube videos which use a variety of animation styles to teach an audience. The intellectual accessibility which animation has provided reflects that of the diagrams in Elements.

Works Cited

“Diagram, N., Sense 1.” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, July 2023, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1591277285.

“Diagram, N., Sense 2.” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, July 2023, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1021068184.

Euclid., et al. Preclarissimus liber elementorum Euclidis perspicacissimi: in artem geometrie incipit qua[m] foelicissime. Translated by Adelard, [Erhard Ratdolt], 1482.

Obtaining, Processing, and Distributing the Interface

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I found the descriptions regarding legal gray areas that The Internet Archive and Google Books went through very revealing of the digital age’s growing pains. The Internet Archive went through a major legal case after quarantine when several large publishers accused Archive for giving out free copies of books under something Archive called “the emergency library”. The emergency library was created for people to continue to access books even though they did not have physical access to their libraries. In the end, The Internet Archive lost the case. This case reflects Google Books when the “Author’s Guild… filed [a] suit in 2005 for copyright infringement… they argued that the library project, which scans numerous copyright–but out-of-print–works, was illegal, and that Google needed to pay royalties for these books” (Borsuk 228). Google argued that their use was “like an author quoting a source… but at the level of the code” (Borsuk 228).

Both of these cases illustrate how distribution manifests itself very differently with e-books. While free distribution of copyrighted books is not allowed, searchable snippets are. The digital age has brought a different way to interact with books that was not possible before. Now, we can distribute a near-infinite number of books of all kinds. We can parse through them with unprecedented detail. Yet, only certain forms of distribution are allowed. In large part, Capitalism plays a role in the logic of distribution legality. The Archive wanted to freely distribute books, Google wanted to make it easier to find snippets of books which the reader would (presumably) eventually buy. I do not want to make any claims of foul play in the decision making process of these cases, however, I will argue that there is a capitalistic ethos at play which seems to almost arbitrarily draw lines on copyright law until one considers the monetary potential of these decisions. In other words, stealing intellectual work only matters when someone can’t make money anymore. It only seems to matter when the entity unable to make money from intellectual work has enough bargaining power to make someone listen. In this case, it is the major publishing companies.

People no longer need to go to the library or scour through multiple books to find the information they need. Knowledge is as far away as a few clicks. The distribution of knowledge is as free as it ever has been, presumably this gives further justification to ideas of meritocracy. Additionally, e-lit can be parsed through for information incredibly quickly in a way that physical books cannot. This rationalizes the modern fetishization of physical books–of book-ishness. E-Lit is for information, physical books are for leisure. In some ways, it is a symbol of class divide. To have time to read is to have time for leisure, to have time for leisure is to be upper-middle class.

Politicization of the Message

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This week’s readings had various sections which detailed how text–or even the paper itself–comes from a heavily politicized place. For example, Meggs and Purvis write about Alexander Rodchenko who was an “ardent communist” and “abandoned painting and turned to visual communication because his social views called for a sense of responsibility to society instead of to personal expression” (chapter 15 page 7). He was one of a few named Russian artists who saw a need to utilize their talents for political means.

Meggs and Purvis’s description of his “strong geometric construction, large areas of pure color, and concise, legible lettering” (chapter 15 page 7) makes me think of “the dynamic relationship of materiality and mattering in the page” as said by Mak. The description of Rodchenko’s art, in this case, would be the materiality and his communist philosophy would be the mattering. The “strong geometric construction” and “concise, legible lettering” makes evident Rodchenko was removing himself from abstract art in favor of direct and loud communication. Painting often consists of a scene or close-up which leaves much of the message up to the interpretation of the viewer. In line with modernist perspectives, Rodchenko moves on to a more “objective” form of art which leaves much less room for subjectivity.

Even later in his life, Rodchenko continued to use “bold, blocky type and hard-edged shapes…” (chapter 15 page 7). It makes me think of the Uncle Sam posters which featured huge letters and imagery that almost made it impossible to not read it. Out of curiosity, I looked up some of Rodchenko’s art and it looks stylistically similar. Presumably, the political messages of both were a major factor in why they are as eye-catching as they are. For the creators, it was imperative that they be read. Here, the message dictated the medium.

Book as Text – Text as Art

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Within their respective text’s, Borsuk and Drucker identify an “artist’s book” not as a strict definition, but rather, a “‘zone of activity’ by artists and writers who create books as original works of art that ‘integrate the formal means of [their] realization and production with [their] thematic or aesthetic issues’… as long as the impulse is to create an original work of art through the accumulation and juxtaposition of these materials…” (Borsuk 115). I love this definition because it leaves so much room for interpretation. The key word being the “zone of activity” is denotatively vague. The emphasis is not on the end product, rather, the way in which the product is created–the activity. Even the wording of “zone” feels fluid–zones change, they imply social construction.

Later, Borsuk identifies the dialogical nature between reader and book, revealed by how “artists’ books continually remind us of the reader’s role in the book by forcing us to reckon with its materiality and, be extension, our own embodiment” (147). The wording of materiality and embodiment imply non-living and living. Books are made of material, people are made of bodies–thus Borsuk makes the argument the dialogue is between the book and the person reading it. When reading a book for information, one is reading to understand what the author is saying. In other words, they are seeking a conversation between themselves and the author. Borsuk contradicts this notion using artists’ books. The dialogue is not between what information the author is trying to convey and the reader. Otherwise, it would not be an artists’ book. The dialogue is, rather, between the book and the reader. The material and the body.

The Banking Method of Education as Reflected by the Bibliography

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The readings today were posted by the Bibliographical Society of America to familiarize readers with the history and various definitions of bibliography. Personally, I was unaware of Belanger’s various types of bibliography which was vastly different from my understanding of bibliography as simply a list of citations. I would argue that the banking method of education as coined by Paulo Freire illustrates the reason why enumerative bibliography is so much more popular than analytical bibliography. For context, the banking method of education is a liberation pedagogy which states that students are treated as receptacles to be filled with information as opposed to human beings with the ability to critically think and learn.

Analytical bibliography encourages subjective interpretation as opposed to enumerative and descriptive bibliography, which seem to study books in a denotative and scientific manner. This encourages very little critical thinking because it is all observation. The information input and output has little subjectivity of human experience. “Analytical bibliography may deal with the history of printers and booksellers, with the description of paper or bindings, or with textual matters arising during the progression from writer’s manuscript to published book…” all of which require students of the book to analyze with their subjective and heavily experiential knowledge of history, people, technology, and much more.

Analytical bibliography is less easily utilized by a banking method of education because it is harder to treat students as receptacles to be filled with information when they are actively encouraged to use their knowledge which is informed by their experiences. I think it is very important to teach students the differences between various forms of bibliographies because it can be the difference between teaching books (and thus, most science and literature) in an alienated versus human manner. Additionally, students being taught how to approach information in books contextually paves the path for a more critical analysis of concepts otherwise seen as objective.

The readings spoke tragically little regarding Liberation Bibliography from Spires and the connections between critical theory and bibliography as written by Maruca and Ozment, however, these are texts I suspect would discuss similar topics to Freire and I would like to delve into at another time.