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Posted By: MIke Peich

Thanks to Patrick and Brian for an enlightening discussion of the back variation on 1911 Obaks. I want to add credence to Brian's conclusion about the use of the design to fill out space. One of my interests is printing history. Early twentieth century printers, unlike their counterparts in 2004, were more attuned to questions of aesthetics, like too much empty space, in relation to the text, on a printed surface. Too much space could create a distraction to the reader's eye, and printers employed visual tricks to keep the text looking balanced on the printed surface. If there was too much space, they would insert a rule, a decorative design, that would be subtle, but fill out the space in such a way that the reader would think nothing of it.

If you look at the back of an Obak you'll see that the Obak advertising is in virtually the same place at the bottom of the card, with the player's bio above it. Similarly, the top of the bio always appears in the same spot, the same distance from the top of the card. If there was a short bio, and space appeared between the bio text and the Obak ad, a printer was trained to fill in that space so that it would not look unusual. All he (and they were mostly men) had to do was insert a decorative rule, the visual space disappeared, and textual harmony was restored to the printed surface. The fact that no one noticed the rules before Patrick's discovery is testimony to the success the printer achieved by putting in the rule to create balance, and not distract the reader.

Because of Patrick's attentive eye, and late-night thinking, we'll all look at Obak backs much more carefully. Thanks, again, Patrick.