Kolkata: City of Print is a literary essay by Mara Züst realised through research conducted during several stays in Kolkata and focused on different aspects of the print medium in this Indian city. Formerly known as Calcutta, the city was founded as a trading post for the British East India Company, which introduced book printing in the late eighteenth century. Modern-day Kolkata is strongly identified with print, from artistic print making to lithographed circus posters produced in mass quantities. Print as an aesthetic element is also the mainstay of the design of the resulting experimental book project, which has just been released as a two-part publication (in English and Bengali): the first part is a large-format artist’s book elaborately produced using various print techniques, while the second part consists of a small-format reader reproduced as a facsimile. Both will be produced locally in print workshops in Kolkata. The two-part publication is a co-production of Spector Books (Leipzig) and Lyriqal Books (Kolkata). The publication appears as part of the Applied Publishing Studies series.
164 pages, softcover, 19.5 x 13.5 cm, Spector Books.