Books: The Gift that Keeps on Giving

In 1865, Boston-based printer Louis Prang (1824-1909), introduced the Christmas Stocking Library, a boxed set of chapbooks full of holiday merriment for the kiddies. This was published nine years before he introduced the first commercial Christmas card to the American public in 1874. Prang, a German immigrant, learned the art of dyeing, printing, and engraving from his father who was a textile printer of calico fabrics. In 1848 Prang was forced to flee Germany because of his political opposition to the Prussian government. Two years later he arrived in Boston and supported himself by making wood engravings for various publications and eventually partnered with Julius Mayer to form Prang and Mayer, Lithographic Printers. They specialized in the printing of business cards, advertisements, and other job printing, and also gained some success with the printing of a series of colored album cards featuring scenic landscapes, animals and flowers which were sold for $3/dozen inside a patented envelope. Just like this boxed set of Christmas chapbooks, the illustrated album cards were printed in four colors, each drawn on stone and folded into accordion structures. The label appearing on the box of the Christmas Stocking Library was printed five solid colors.  

The title page and interior illustrations in each chapbook are early examples of Prang's chromolithography.

As a side story to this lovely little Christmas Stocking Library; it was sold last February at the PBA Galleries auction for $5500. This very rare boxed set belonged to book collector, Pamela Harer, who I last reported on July 3, 2014 when she attended the opening of her Early 20th Century Soviet Children's Books exhibition held at the University of Washington's Allen Library in Seattle. Unbeknownst to me at the time, Pamela was very ill and died the day before I wrote the post. She lived just long enough to receive a private family tour of her remarkable exhibit on July 1st, and quietly died at home on the following day. This exhibit was a dream Pamela had envisioned for many years. It was also her remaining wish that this rare collection of Soviet children's books was to permanently reside at the UW Library. Although much of her research was sadly eclipsed by her illness, Pamela Harer's collection of early 20th century Soviet children's literature remains intact and we can all benefit from her generous gift. At this time her collection has not been entirely digitized, however an earlier endowment of her rare 18th - 20th century children's literature can be seen here. Happily, the gift of books is everlasting. Happy holidays all!

Joyful Holiday Greetings

I could not let the holiday season slide by this year without some seasonal best hits from some of the 20th centurys' most notable designers. Leading off here is an accordion four-panel card by Alex Steinweiss, the inventor of the album cover. Steinweiss (1916-2011), who spent much of his career designing for Columbia Records, preferred to just put a bow on it. I'm just sorry I didn't put this on my own xmas list, but it's still available here if anyone is feeling overly generous. 

This 1958 holiday card by Dutch designer Dick Bruna (b.1927-) was designed for Pastoe, a furniture company in the Netherlands. 
::via Centraal Museum

This undated Christmas greeting found here was illustrated by Erik Nitsche (1908-1998.) Though there is little record of its origin, Nitsche often signed his work which to a small degree, has helped to preserve his legacy. This seasonal design is rather unusual for Nitsche, who is more widely known for his bold, daring, and modernist artworks produced for the General Dynamics company in the 1950s and 60s. Below is another unusual holiday piece found here, which he designed as a circular in 1936 for the F.A.O. Schwarz Toy Company, titled the St. Nicholas Special. These are both great examples illustrating Nitsches' broad range of styles and lettering. 

Last up is a particularly handsome holiday card from 1955, designed by Scottish designer, Robert Stewart (1946-1995) for the famed Dovecot tapestry studio in Edinburgh. 

     You can find a seasonal sampling of last year's best hits here. May all of these timeless holiday treasures brighten your day!  

::via Writing Warp & Weft

Bring on the Dancing Bears!

Hello again from Letterologyland! I happily return after many long months of hibernation. My sincere apology for not surfacing much earlier after abandoning my post rather suddenly last August. I'd like to say I was working on a fine print edition of Letterology musings, but this was not entirely the case. For the past year, I've been struggling with severe episodes of vertigo related to an ear disorder. At worst, the unpredictable episodes have been frequent and debilitating, with no relief but to sleep it off for a day or more. Lately, they are just as frequent, but less severe, and I'm slowly learning how to anticipate them. When I feel dizzy, I mostly just lie low and agonize until my balance returns. When I'm good, I feel like dancing! 
     I am very grateful to all the loyal Letterology readers who sent me their kind notes and queries while I was away, and I'm happy to have the support of good friends and family. It has been quite a humbling experience on many levels, and I savor all the good days, yet regret the continual loss of time. It is now all about finding balance, and that dang, yin-yang symmetry of life. As I struggle to keep balance in my equilibrium, I also struggle to find balance in my work, sleep and play time. I wonder if I will ever get caught up entirely, but as someone wiser than I once said, "there is never enough time unless you're serving it." Life goes on with or without us, and it is all I can do to keep the balance and dance.
     Enough about me however...I am eager to share so many exciting new and old things I have discovered recently, so please watch this space. The first feature I'd like to share now is of a lovely 19th C hand lettered ABC album I stumbled upon at the Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair in October. It was displayed at the booth of White Fox Rare Books of Vermont, and owner Peter Blackman was kind enough to show it to me just at closing time. This unusual book is presumed to be created by a Maryette Shepard Bennet of Des Moines, Iowa around 1884, and contains her handiwork of dried seaweed letters, a popular pastime in her day. Her large, roughly six inch tall pressed seaweed letters nicely mimic the bifurcated wood type of posters and signage of this era, however her attention span dwindled some before completing it. Near the end, she chose to watercolor U, V and X, and then rendered Y & Z only in pencil. Over the years, I have seen many fine examples of dried seaweed images—often referred to as "nature printing"—but I have never seen such a charming book of mostly seaweed letters. For more information and sale price, contact Peter Blackman here. 

The Needle Makes a Fine Point for Printing

The Needle is an odd name for a periodical on the printing arts, but the publishers evidently had a really good point to make, as their subtitle suggests. This monthly print journal began as an advertising medium for Young & McCallister, one of the largest print and advertising firms in Los Angeles in the early 20th century. The Needle's first issue was published 100 years ago, in April, 1914 and continued its run for another 12 years. This nearly complete set of 15 bound leather volumes of The Needle once belonged to the editor and publisher, Bruce McCallister and just sold at auction. The journal was heavily illustrated and included typographic examples, pochoir and stencil colored plates, and tipped-in samples of their fine press work. 

Bruce McCallister (1881-1945) was a letterpress tramp printer who came out to California from South Dakota to find work. He arrived in San Francisco in 1906 on the day of the Great San Francisco Earthquake, and soon after made his way to Los Angeles where he found work at Senegram Printers. In 1912, he formed a partnership with letterpress printer, Frederick Young who emigrated to the states from England. Their timing dovetailed nicely with the Los Angeles real estate boom and by 1919, they dominated the advertising field with many colorfully printed promotional materials. McCallister was a fine pressman, salesman and innovator. He launched an in-house bindery and a separate screen printing department to meet the demands for colorful sign and poster printing. 

Image via sign industry

In 1927 McCallister hired a young typographer and book designer, Grant Dahlstrom and pursued the printing of fine press books. Their first book together, The History of Warner's Ranch and Its Environs was chosen as one of AIGAs 50 best-designed books of 1927. A second AIGA award was received for the design and printing of California Hills and Other Wood Engravings by Paul Landacre in 1931.

Image via Bonhams

Although Young & McCallister achieved great success in the printing field, they did not survive the Depression. In later years, Bruce McCallister continued to find success in the printing of books for The Huntington Library, Los Angeles bookman Jake Zeitlin, and his friend, Grant Dahlstrom who went on to acquire The Castle Press in Pasadena. Through his associations and mentoring of young printers such as Dahlstrom and Ward Ritchie, he set the stage for Los Angeles to become the West Coast center of fine press printing and publishing for a good part of the 20th century.

Bavarian BonBon Bags

Kirstein cough drops originated in Nuremberg, Germany in 1899 when pharmacist Dr. Carl Soldan combined eucalyptus and menthol to create a soothing lozenge for sore throats. Malted sugar cough drops were added to the company product line in 1932 and are still being produced today from the original recipe of boiling the malt sugar over an open fire and breaking them into chunks. Soldan's cough drops have been enjoyed by many generations and long considered to be a Bavarian treat, however I would argue that their glassine bags are the sweetest treat. These examples have no date, but could be as old as the 1930s when anthropomorphic advertising characters were routinely popularized for marketing purposes. Early in the 1930s, the Soldan company began printing their paper bags in their own print shop which was considered as an innovative move at that time. I presume they also had a small in-house art department of accomplished illustrators and lettering artists as well. Each of these glassine bags are currently available from this Viennese dealer. Below is an undated advertising postcard for Kirstein's cough drops from Vintage Postcards.

Below are two metal signs introduced in 1955. These Bavarian malt sugar characters are taking to the hills to promote the Kirstein cough drop family enterprise. The images were designed by Margit Sidonie-Doppler (born Kovaks), a student of Austrian-born designer, Joseph Binder. Via Genuin.

And here are two more BonBon bags from another Viennese sweet treat manufacturer also available here.