Monday, May 30, 2011

Mid-Century Asian Book Covers







I wish I knew the score on these book jackets. All that I know is they are from Quinn Dombrowski's Flickr set which she titled South Asian Books. Anyone else have a clue about them? My guess is they are of the mid-1960s and from either Thailand or Burma quite possibly? 
:: U P D A T E
After sending a query to Quinn the other day, she has informed me these books were acquired for the University of Chicago from the Library of Congress Field Offices in New Delhi and Islamabad. Doh! Quite a distance from Thailand or Burma as I suggested, yet she confirmed they are from the 60s and 70s.
      I might add that Quinn spends a lot of time in libraries and has been documenting graffiti found in the public study areas at the Regenstein Library at the University of Chicago. Her collection of images began as a giant Flickr set and later developed into her blog, and a companion book. Well worth a read!

4 comments:

  1. I think the trick would be to ask the digitiser, the fabulously interesting Quinn Dombrowski and/or the folks at Chicago's Regenstein library where the books reside (and where I *think* Quinn works).

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  2. Jennifer Kennard, Sr. LetterologistMay 30, 2011 at 8:02 AM

    Thanks Peacay! I posed the query to Quinn...

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  3. Hi Jennifer, these books are all Bengali, specifically from West Bengal, India. From the list of authors, I might add that they were all presumably published In Calcutta. Hope that helps :)

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  4. I haven't looked at these covers in a long while, and I can now view them in a new light. Thank you so much for enlightening us all. They are a window into the history of the book in India.

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