S.L.1 and the Mystery of the “Baby-Killer” Schütte-Lanz Airships is a minimally bound or “exploded” book, printed in an edition of six.
The book consists of sixty-eight postcards, pigment printed on both sides with two wrappers and a tin of map pins. Each postcard is 3.5 x 5 inches.
Included as part of the book is an introductory set of cards that explain the title, the reason for the book and a brief explanation of the airship maker, Schütte-Lanz.
Here are the introductory cards with the full title, project statement, and colophon.
S.L.1 is an “exploded” book because it can be taken apart and experienced in multiple ways. It can be read as a book of postcards, displayed as one large composite image, or pinned up as sequence of sixty-four individual pictures.
The S.L.1 composite image side of the postcards, made up of sixty-four image pieces, each held in place with a small black map pin. Approximate size is three by four feet.
The Mystery side of the postcards displayed in order with a historical overview of the Schütte-Lanz airships.
S.L.1 uses a vintage 1918 mailed German postcard (postkarte) as the foundation for its composite image. The original front and back of the postcard also serve as the front and back cards of the unbound book.
The first card, front and back. Note the “Postkarte” is displayed on a found image of a Schütte-Lanz Airship. The composite side is one small part of the large image.
The Mystery side of the cards feature found imagery of Schütte-Lanz Airships and the full-text article about the craft written by Peter M. Bowers.
Each card features an actual scanned text block, taken from the original 1970s weathered magazine paper.
Using Postkarte as a guide, each row is taken from one letter. P is the top row, O is the second row, S is the third row and so on spelling Postkarte. As you go across the row, the first card has one P, the second two P’s, the third has three P’s until you reach the last and eighth card with eight P’s. These are the page or location numbers.
Page 7 and 8 of the P row.