书评：完美的铅笔

查尔斯·祖伯 博士 【译】本刊编辑部

AS DESIGNERS,WHO AMONG US DOESN’T ALWAYS HAVE A FEW PENCILS HANDY,YET HOW MANY OF US KNOW MUCH OF THE HUMBLE PENCIL’S HISTORY?

作为设计师，我们当中谁不总是手边有几支铅笔，然而我们中有多少人知道不起眼的铅笔的历史呢？

According to Caroline Weaver,the story begins with the discovery of graphite in the 16th century.Among the many uses that graphite was put to,the pencil must rate as the most significant for artists and designers,even though its history is relatively unknown.

根据卡罗琳·韦弗的说法，这个故事始于16世纪发现石墨。在石墨的众多用途中，即使它的历史相对未知，铅笔对艺术家和设计师来说也是最重要的。

Who knew that Burrowdale mine in England was the most significant source of graphite for pencils,and remained so for a couple of centuries? In its raw form,the graphite was blended with clay,and then encased with suitable timber to form what we know as a lead pencil.Although lead was never a component of the pencil,the name has remained in use to this day.

谁知道英国的伯罗代尔矿是铅笔用石墨的最重要来源，而且持续了几个世纪？在其原始形态中，石墨与粘土混合，然后用合适的木材包裹起来，形成我们所知的铅笔芯。虽然铅从来不是铅笔的组成部分，但这个名字一直沿用至今。

In the early chapters Weaver takes the reader on an easy,well researched journey into the development of the wood cased pencil,noting the 18th century saw the emergence of some of the companies that we are familiar with today,such as Conte,Staedtler,and Faber Castell.

在最初的章节中，韦弗带领读者踏上了一段轻松又精心研究的木杆铅笔发展之旅，指出18世纪出现了一些我们今天所熟悉的公司，如康特、施德楼和辉柏嘉。

As well as the developments in technology and manufacturing,she weaves a tale of family feuds and jealousies right the way through to the 19th and 20th centuries.

随着科技和制造业的发展，铅笔世家进行了长期的互相竞争，一直贯穿于19世纪和20世纪，这种竞争也促进了铅笔业的发展。

By the 21st century there were many improvements and the manufacturing processes took on a more varied international style.

到了21世纪，有了许多改进，制造工艺呈现出更加多样化的国际风格。

Towards the end of the book the author takes a particular interest in the USA and the pencil’s development there.This it not surprising as we learn more about her own business,a small shop on the lower east side of Manhattan.Her personal investment in collecting pencils shows in this labour of love resulting in this fascinating hardback publication.

在本书的结尾，作者对美国及其铅笔的发展特别感兴趣。这并不奇怪，因为我们了解了更多关于她自己的生意，一家位于曼哈顿下东区的小店。她在收集铅笔上的个人投资体现了这种爱的辛劳，从而使这本有趣的精装本出版。

IF THERE IS ANY CRITICISM TO BE MADE,IT IS THAT THE ENTIRE BOOK IS ILLUSTRATED BY ONLY ONE PERSON–ORIANA FENWICK.HER WORK GIVES THE BOOK A GRAPHIC STYLE AND SOME UNITY,BUT IT ALSO MEANS THAT A WIDE RANGE OF EXPRESSIVE,CREATIVE WORK IS ABSENT.

如果要提出任何批评，那就是整本书的插图仅由一个人—奥莉安娜·芬威克来完成。 她的作品赋予了本书图形化的风格和统一性，但同时也意味着缺少大量富有表现力的创造性作品。

The photographic influence on the style of the illustrations makes them appear too much like warm,softfocus photographs.Some expressive and divergent “works on paper“could have demonstrated just how versatile the pencil can be in the right hands.The capacity to use a variety of pressures and the right grade of pencil guided by a beautiful eye often tells us how talented artists sketched out the foundations of many famous artworks using the pencil.

摄影对插图的渲染使它们看起来更像温暖柔和的照片。铅笔在使用中可以充分表达多种效果，呈现一些富有表现力和发散性的“纸上作品”。有才华的艺术家使用不同浓度等级的铅笔，运笔轻重结合，勾勒出许多著名艺术作品，给人们带来美妙的视觉体验。

Despite this criticism,the hardback book is nonetheless a well-designed publication that gives the reader so much information about the humble drawing implement that we call the lead pencil.It’s a good book for all art and design students,and a reminder that not all communication devices involve a computer to start with.After all,the pencil is still the perfect tool to pick up first for nearly all artists and designers.

尽管有这样的批评，精装书仍然是一本精心设计的出版物，为读者提供了很多有关铅笔这种不起眼的绘图书写工具的信息。这本书对所有艺术与设计专业学生来说都是一本好书，同时也提醒我们，并非所有沟通手段都是从电脑开始的。毕竟，对几乎所有的艺术家和设计师来说，铅笔仍然是首选的理想工具。