Abstract
Approach to the life and work of Blai Bellver (1818-
1884), printer, writer and editor, in order to recover his
contributions to the history of graphic design and of the
printed product, and to restore his figure as a man of
outstanding culture, unjustly valued.
The investigation tackles the background in the world
of printing, paying special attention to typography, to the
technological advances, to the evolution in the treatment of
illustrations, and to the sociocultural context that favoured the
printing of books of historical importance.
The revolutionary bourgeois process, that covers the 19th
century, including the aspects related to culture and education,
to agriculture and industry, to politics and ideologies.
Focused in X…tiva, everything that determines the necessary
parameters to value the importance of Blai Bellver?s life and
career.
Finally, the study of his printer?s includes his posthumous
catalogue, of 1886, signed by his son Blai Silvino Bellver, the
xylographic collection, the majority of pieces attributed to
his brother Manuel Bellver, the machinery of his time, and all
the printed matter found with his imprint, standing out: the
notebooks for writing, the books published, including his own
literary production, the press, including his own and other
newspapers, advertising and posters.
In all, it is proved that the New Typography is in debt
with the 19th century and with men such as Blai Bellver,
and that Graphic Design has its origins in the beginning of
industrialization and in those who learnt how to improve
and make the product more profitable, who systematized
aspects of design, who contributed with plastic values to their
works and who encouraged printing as support and vehicle of
culture.