Companies

Elvino Pocai

Since: 1909
Until: 1956
Activities: Typography, Book binding, Typesetting

Pocai & Weiss letterpress printing shop, whose first works appeared in 1909, had Elvino Pocai and Augusto Weiss as partners. They printed small publications monthly and were located at Largo do Arouche nº 1, in the center of São Paulo city.

In 1911, the printing shop composed and printed a very important publication for the city: Monographia do Theatro Municipal de S. Paulo (“Monograph of the Municipal Theater of S. Paulo”) a special pamphlet with 42 pages, 37 photogravures and a special gold engraving on the cover, distributed on the day of the theater’s inaugural performance, September 12. This was also the year of an important publication by the medical scientist Vital Brazil: A Defesa contra o Ophidismo (“The Defense against Ophidism”), a 152-page work with figures and photographs printed on special coated paper.

In 1912, the printing shop was located at 280 São João street. In 1914, after the death of Augusto Weiss, the company was renamed Pocai-Weiss and Cia. and set up at 60 João Adolfo street, also in the center of São Paulo.

Around 1916, Elvino Pocai established himself as Pocai and Cia. Under this name he printed, for example, in 1917, Há uma Gota de Sangue em Cada Poema (“There’s a Drop of Blood in Every Poem”), the debut book by the modernist Mário de Andrade, who signed it with the pseudonym Mário Sobral. And soon after the magazine Papel e Tinta (“Paper and Ink”), directed by Menotti Del Picchia and Oswald de Andrade, whose first issue circulated on May 31, 1920, and whose graphic quality was renowned.

After moving to other addresses in Bento Freitas Street in the 1920s, and establishing himself as Elvino Pocai, he moved to Rodolfo Miranda Street, now in the Bom Retiro neighborhood, settling at number 207 until the end of his life.

Pocai’ was known for to his graphic perfection, and also for the wide variety of genres he produced: books of poems, short stories, biographies, law and history, which gave him greater creative freedom. According to journalist Henrique Matteucci, the printing shop in Rodolfo Miranda street was small, with four or five machines, half a dozen workers and a secretary. Pocai didn’t accept just any service, such as electoral ballots or small posters. He only accepted services that required art. Another element that Pocai paid a lot of attention to was the colophon of the books which, over the years, was composed in three different ways. These signatures were also his graphic trademark. The three types of colophons included information such as the printer’s name, the city and the date, as well as illustrations.

 

[By Cristiane Tonon Silvestrin]

Sources:
BOLETIM DA INDÚSTRIA GRÁFICA. “Faleceu o sr. Elvino Pocai”. São Paulo, ano VIII, n.
83, jan. 1957, p. 17 (printing industry bulletin).
MATTEUCCI, Henrique. “Faleceu aos 75 Anos de Idade o “Poeta das Artes Gráficas”. Jornal
Folha da Noite. São Paulo, 12 dez. 1956. First section, p. 10 (newspaper).
SILVESTRIN, Cristiane Tonon. Elvino Pocai: O Artista do Livro. Senior thesis for bachelor’s
degree in social communication with a major in publishing, Escola de Comunicações e Artes,
Universidade de São Paulo (ECA-USP), São Paulo, 2001.

---

---