Retropressathe old bound volume: a magazine about reading old newspapers and magazines

An independent magazine about old periodicals and how to read them. Not an editorial office, publisher or library, and not connected with the former site on this domain.

History

History

Anyone opening an old Russian issue for the first time usually notices two things at once: unfamiliar spellings and an unfamiliar-looking page. The first comes down to the Russian spelling reform, which has precise dates. The second reflects gradual changes in typesetting, printing and layout that took a long time and don't fit a single timeline. So the dates on this page refer only to spelling, and we describe the look of the magazine in general terms.

The letters left the alphabet but stayed on the old pages, and reading them is far easier than it looks.

— Editor's note

Timeline

  1. 1917

    The Russian spelling reform is announced. The letters yat, fita and “decimal i” are dropped from the alphabet, to be replaced by the letters for E, F and I. The hard sign is no longer written at the end of words or of parts of compound words.

  2. 1918

    On October 10, 1918, a decree makes the new spelling mandatory in print. The hard sign survives only as a separator inside a word. That is why issues printed earlier are usually set according to the old rules.

How the look of the magazine changed

Early magazines looked more like books: dense type in one or two columns, a modest masthead and few illustrations, which were often printed separately and pasted in. People read such an issue slowly, from start to finish, and the editors built it as one continuous read.

Over time the page became more varied. More columns appeared, along with large headlines, regular sections with fixed names, and borders and rules separating one piece from the next. The newspaper page turned into a map that lets the eye find what it needs quickly.

Illustrations changed too. Drawings translated into engravings gave way to lithographs, and then to photographs, once printers learned to print them together with the text. Each new method left its own mark on the page, and that mark can give you a rough idea of when an issue appeared.

Paper has a story of its own. Cheap wood-pulp paper made large print runs possible, but it yellows quickly and turns brittle. That is why so many old issues have reached us in fragile condition and need especially gentle handling. Readers of older English-language papers will recognize the same yellowed pages, and the same older spellings and letterforms, from their own collections.

  • Analysis

    What makes up an old newspaper page, and how to tell from the print itself how an illustration was made.

  • People

    Editor, proofreader, typesetter, makeup editor, illustrator and circulation department: who got an issue ready for print.

  • Articles

    The magazine's six topics, from how an issue is built to caring for a bound volume, plus our article catalog.

  • Old issues (in Russian)

    A note on an archived address: where to find old magazine issues and how to read them.

  • Archive

    The magazine's table of contents and what happened to this domain's old addresses.

Sources

  • Reference materials on the Russian spelling reform
  • Retropressa editorial materials

Facts about the Russian spelling reform come from reference materials; everything else is described in general terms, without reference to specific publications. Check reading room, exhibition and lecture hours with the organizers.