Daily Doodles

Do More of What Make you Happy, the delightful daily doodles of self-taught Tokyo artist, Mogu Takahashi. This sentimental platitude is a nice reminder for all of us to attempt to embrace throughout the year. I hope Takahashi's daily doodles give her as much joy as they do me. See so much more of Takahashi's daily doodles and sketchbooks here. And look for a wee bit more of me in this space in weeks ahead...

The Greatest Cake on Earth

This edible oversized cake is nearly too sweet for words. It is a remarkable replica of one of the 20th century's greatest Russian children's books, Tsirk (Circus) written by Samuil Marshak and illustrated by Vladimir Lebedev. It is also the culinary creation of Eleanor Ionis of Ella's Cakes. In the publishing world, this book facsimile might be considered an infringement of intellectual property, but in this instance, she has artistic license to thrill. No detail was overlooked, including the headbands and page leaves. And just as every book has a story, this "greatest cake on earth" is no exception. 
     To honor the publication of a long-awaited book catalog and exhibition of early 20th century Soviet children's books, this magnificent cake was recently presented to book collector and author of the catalog, Pamela K. Harer by her husband, family and friends. Long an avid collector and scholar of early 19th and 20th century children's books, Pamela Harer has spent years researching and assembling this prized collection of Soviet children's literature, and beginning this week, her curated collection will be on display until October 24, 2014 at the Allen Library, University of Washington, Special Collections in Seattle. Both her collection and breadth of knowledge about these spectacular books are an achievement few others have gained, making it a highly recommended visit. Earlier this week I had a brief opportunity to see the exhibition, and I promise to report on it in much greater detail in coming weeks.

Like any great book, this one was devoured from beginning to end and will not be on display at the library. A 1928 edition of Tsirk (Circus) will do nicely in it's place however.

The poster for Harer's exhibition "From the Lowly Lubok to Soviet Realism" also features Lebedev's cover illustration. Below is a photo of Pamela Harer staring in stunned surprise at the presentation of her wondrous cake.

Flags & Fireworks of Every Description

Some nicely illustrated advertising covers sure to spark a Fourth o'July holiday spirit. Dates of these extremely rare envelope covers from various fireworks manufacturers and importers, range from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

And one seven-star confederate flag cover printed with wood blocks, and an imprint advertising a Georgia bookseller and dealer in musical instruments.
All covers via Schuyler Rumsey Philatelic Auctions 

The 18th Century Art of Fireworks

Though this rare botanical specimen looks much like a Dr. Seuss plant, it is actually an 18th century roman candle masquerading as a potted plant. It is one of the more interesting images included in a 1780 DIY manual on the fabrication of pyrotechnical instruments and the construction of fireworks. This 376 page Dutch manuscript is entirely handwritten and illustrated (probably not from the same hand) and provides the crafty 18th century DIY guy with clear instructions on how to build your own fireworks spectacular. This entire manuscript from the Getty Research Library can be fully explored on the Internet Archive. 

The handsomely illustrated watercolor of the hand and puffy sleeve is the only human influence we see in the entire manual. I'm happy to see the use of a long match extension to safely light the rocket, however the hazardous smoke surrounding this floating arm is somewhat puzzling, not to mention suspicious. All of the illustrations are quite detailed in nature and created by someone who obviously knew a thing or two about the proper display of visual information. Their are a number of color-coded bar charts with decorative baroque headers and titles describing what must be the recipes for quantities of ingredients to create special effects. 

It amazes me to see how bright and clean this book appears considering it is nearly 225 years old. Some of the images have a gold paint on them to portray flame and gold or brass metal parts. In Fig. 70 below, the potted roman candle plant is seen again in an elaborate display.

The title page from this anonymous fireworks manual is rather uninspiring; especially in light of all these lovely watercolor images. I did want to include it however, as it is the most essential page of any book. 

Space-Age Packaging Design

With the rise of science-fiction novels and movies in the post-industrial age and the allure of space travel decades later, it is no wonder we all became fascinated with the anthropomorphic robot. The robot represented an optimistic future which would relieve the factory worker and provide us with more leisure time. After WWII, it was the toy robot which helped pave the way to economic recovery in Japan and the US, when toy manufacturers quickly seized the opportunity to meet a demand for this funny little tin man. The robot future was securely sealed when Japanese manufacturers introduced the first battery operated robot in 1955, and they continue to be on the march today. Robots purchased for under $5 even fifty years ago, now bring as much as $25,000 to $50,000 at auction when in their original packaging.
     Judging from the early robot package designs offered up at Morphy's Auction house this past February, the vision of space-age exploration was still being invented. More than likely, the packages were illustrated by nameless artists envisioning the future toy, sight unseen. As the package example above illustrates, the robot has little resemblance to the actual tin toy inside, however it is not without its charm and personality. Sidenote: No wonder his "eyes light up" when he sees that $110 price tag. What a steal! It just sold at auction for nearly $600. 

Space-age Wordspacing

Sometimes, I believe we take lettering and typography rules much too seriously. These space-age package designs are a true folk art, and were just as theatrical as the mechanical marvels they portrayed. The Japanese artists who hand-lettered much of the English text on the early box designs, gave little forethought to word and letterspacing or alignment, because they probably didn't even speak the language. They ventured where few lettering artists had gone before, bringing a whole new meaning to the term outer space. Graduated italic titles with airstream strokes characterized space-age travel; dramatic lightening bolt lettering symbolized electricity; and rivets and gears suggested the perfect industrial machine-age toy. 

The "Non Stop Robot" is fun for the entire family...until the batteries die out. And I'm still waiting for all that extra leisure time.