where did I come from?

Had to get a picture of these hilariously illustrated endpapers found in:
Where did I come from?
by Peter Mayle / Illustrated by Arthur Robbins / Designed by Paul Walter

I'm due on April Fools' Day—no joke!

little blue books

At the top of my favorite publishing endeavors are Little Blue Books, published by Haldeman-Julius Company out of Girard, Kansas. Over 1900 titles were published between the years of 1923-1978 and the books were affordable to most—as low as 5 cents a book. I particularly enjoy the faded newsprint colors, the uniformity of type as well as the crazy-odd titles intermingled amongst the classics.

The backside of some books has a logo that reads: "Little Blue Books * A University in Print * Read the World Over".

A sampling from my collection can be found on my flickr.

it is friday!

Summary of a long rattling icy week.

It's something like-15° here and it's time for a sauna.

These images are scanned from one of my all-time favorites Fairburn System: The Fairburn System of Visual References. I occasionally pick them up on ebaby, I'll acquire the whole set someday.

enjoy the start of your weekend!

Designs for the Printed Page

Designs for the printed page.
A thoughtful promotion for Fortune magazine designed in (1957?) by the incredible and witty Leo Lionni. More spreads here.

Lionni interprets each design's intent…

page 4
Variations in size and color on a constant theme (a trademark perhaps?).

page 5 In black space (often more effective than white space) delicate lines weave a strong pattern.

page 14
Photography can have the quality of design if it follows the principles that govern design.

page 15
A half-page sacrifices half of its space to create its own generous margin and to move its center of gravity toward the middle of the page.

page 24–25
When a design expands from the center to the margins the space seems larger. ariations within repeated symmetries add vitality to the forms.

Make sure to watch: Leo makes a mouse!

morgan press

From Wood 2.
Morgan Press printers and typographers.
Design: John Alcornx. Author: Morgan Press.

Published: Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y. : Morgan Press, [1964?]

more wood here!

ANCIENT MAN

I'm very fond of this book.

Ancient Man
The Beginning of Civilizations

Written and Drawn and Done into Color by Hendrik Willem Van Loon, A.B., PH.D.
New York. Boni & Liveright. 1920


and his Dedication:

To HANSJE AND WILLEM.

My darling boys,

You are twelve and eight years old. Soon you will be grown up. You will leave home and begin your own lives. I have been thinking about that day, wondering what I could do to help you. At last, I have had an idea. The best compass is a thorough understanding of the growth and the experience of the human race. Why should I not write a special history for you?

So I took my faithful Corona and five bottles of ink and a box of matches and a bale of paper and began to work upon the first volume. If all goes well there will be eight more and they will tell you what you ought to know of the last six thousand years.

But before you start to read let me explain what I intend to do.

I am not going to present you with a textbook. Neither will it be a volume of pictures. It will not even be a regular history in theaccepted sense of the word.

I shall just take both of you by the hand and together we shall wander forth to explore the intricate wilderness of the bygone ages.

I shall show you mysterious rivers which seem to come from nowhere and which are doomed to reach no ultimate destination.

I shall bring you close to dangerous abysses, hidden carefully beneath a thick overgrowth of pleasant but deceiving romance.

Here and there we shall leave the beaten track to scale a solitary and
lonely peak, towering high above the surrounding country.

Unless we are very lucky we shall sometimes lose ourselves in a sudden and dense fog of ignorance.

Wherever we go we must carry our warm cloak of human sympathy and understanding for vast tracts of land will prove to be a sterile desert--swept by icy storms of popular prejudice and personal greed and unless we come well prepared we shall forsake our faith in humanity and that, dear boys, would be the worst thing that could happen to any
of us.

I shall not pretend to be an infallible guide. Whenever you have a chance, take counsel with other travelers who have passed along the same route before. Compare their observations with mine and if this leads you to different conclusions, I shall certainly not be angry with you.

I have never preached to you in times gone by.

I am not going to preach to you today.

You know what the world expects of you--that you shall do your share of the common task and shall do it bravely and cheerfully.

If these books can help you, so much the better.

And with all my love I dedicate these histories to you and to the boys and girls who shall keep you company on the voyage through life.

HENDRIK WILLEM VAN LOON.

young rats

A little Calder and a couple spreads from Three Young Rats by Alexander Calder. Just all around awesome!

The book was first published in 1944 in an edition of 60 copies with an original drawing & signed by Calder as well as an edition of 700 copies. I recently purchased a 2nd edition published by Museum of Modern Art, 1946.

Scans are from my book and photographs found here and here.

who's who + coconut bars

Great cover huh! I do love the editor's claim to fames; i think Roland may be friend with Bernie.

I have yet to sample any recipes from the book, but I have read over the 'celebrity' bios. Don Draper, no?!

For a great dinner option…

kitties, circuses, dioramas—OH MY!

All images are scanned from Bauhaus Photography.
Everything that I love!

*** * ***

This should be required reading for adults too. I'm quite fond of the Maltese cover.

one of my all-time favorite designers
+
my absolute favorite kid

a world without words

I stumbled upon this perfect book by Jasper Morrison a couple weeks back in MCAD's library. A quiet book with great image pairings. i will add this to my wish list...

more publications by Jasper Morrison here.

history of france. pt. 1

and some more from the Philibert's Bright Ideas by Henri Avelot—1932.

+

I get really lost in this site

three good finds

u s e f u l and l o v e l y!

from Faulty Diction:
whack, what, which, etc
Pronounced hwac, hwat, hwich, etc.: not wac, wat, wich, etc.
The English are especially lax in the pronunciation of such words as these, almost uniformly dropping the initial h sound, while many Americans err by making the aspirate too sharply prominent.

Published by Funk & Wagnalls Company. 1909 – 1915.