The meaning of the word "album" is understood by the layman as a notebook with white thick sheets for drawing, fastened along the narrow side. This definition is known not only in a professional environment. Primary school students and preschoolers who draw at home and under the guidance of a teacher are accustomed to this understanding.
But many other publications for personal creativity and already completed art projects are called in the same way.
Collections of reproductions of paintings or family photos, herbariums or guest books - all these are albums. A collection of songs released on various media also bears this name.
Sketchbook
Among art lovers, the sketchbook has long been popular. Unlike albums of A4 format (or close to it), such a book-album is small in size, very convenient for sketches on a trip.
For those who are learning to draw or do it professionally, hasvalue is not only the format of the album. The most important characteristic is the quality of the paper. Most often, a sketchbook is suitable for all types of pencils and pens, and sometimes for markers, pastels and watercolors. In it, not only draw, but also make the necessary notes. For artists, it is much more practical than a simple notepad.
However, small albums with quality watercolor paper are also on sale.
Photo album
A family album is a collection of photographs accumulated over the years, most often arranged in chronological order.
Wedding or for newborns are family album options that are popular these days. Of course, you can store much more photos on electronic media. But there are times when it is more convenient to take these testimonies of joyful events out of the closet and show them to guests in a long-established, traditional format.
Especially touching are old family albums with yellowed photographs, with old photos on thick paper. It is a pity that those who collected these photographs sometimes did not leave a signature next to the portrait of a relative or colleague. And in school albums, the name of a classmate is not always written, but only the surname and initials.
Family and guest books, diaries
The diary is an album that has been in circulation since the 18th century. The fashion for such handwritten books required the inclusion of poetry in them. Works transcribed with one's own hand or inherited from kind and attentive guests were the subject of interest and vanity of young ladies in France, Germany, and Russia. AtV. A. Zhukovsky, A. S. Pushkin and other Russian writers can be found mentioning this hobby. The girl's album is a mixture of poems, sayings, sketches, and sometimes you could find a curl or dried flowers there.
Guestbook is an old tradition. Visitors, whose opinion and presence are especially significant for the hosts, can leave wishes, poems or just a signature in such an album.
Family books, special professional hand-made, luxuriously made: in leather bindings with embossing and precious metal overlays, silk bookmarks and slipcases. This edition expands the idea of a regular photo album: it allows you to describe a family tree, attach photos of all your ancestors found in the archives, and even include memories of grandparents.
Albums for collections
What collections are convenient to keep in albums? Stamps, coins, postcards and dried plants are the treasures on the shelves that are organized and placed on thick pages. In this case, not necessarily on white, but often on dark sheets.
There are collections of samples of fabric, paper, labels, etc. Most of them have special names. For plants, this is a herbarium. For coins and stamps - a stockbook, although the word "album" is also suitable.
High-quality handmade herbarium album is thought out to the smallest detail - it has special fasteners, durable binding, a place for a signature, fordrawing or photo.
In stockbooks for philatelists, special pockets made of transparent materials are made on strong cardboard sheets, where stamps, blocks, envelopes are inserted. Thin sheets separate each page.
The album for coins has strong transparent cells, and for bills - a specially formed film.
Scrapbooking
What is a scrapbooking album? This is another kind of creativity. Such a scrapbook is sometimes completely self-made, starting from the binding. They are used to collect the most interesting information about the trip, special events in the life of the family, information about any subject that captivates a person.
You can learn how to make such an album with your own hands at master classes. Needlework is interesting in that the choice of material for scrapbooking depends only on the author, on how he understands the topic that interests him, and on what needs to be presented on the pages. Postcards, photographs, newspaper and magazine clippings, booklets and personal notes - whatever seems appropriate can be used.
Sometimes in the personal archive we come across maps, tickets, recipes, plans and drawings left over from a trip. Why not combine these relics in one album?
Song albums
The release of such albums is a serious stage in the work of any artist. For a soloist or musical group (orchestra, rockbands) is critical to the success of their recordings with the listener.
Vinyl records used to be either singles (containing only one piece per side) or albums containing multiple songs.
There are unique albums. Michael Jackson's Thriller has sold over 110 million copies. The collection The Dark Side of the Moon Pink Floyd sold in the amount of 50 million pieces.
