Book!s and More

Silkscreened title on cover of Book!s, designed by John Alcorn. Below are 4 interior pages.

I have no idea of the name of this funny words font from Books!, but I'll just call it Sixties Hallmark Card. Much of the Hallmark greeting card style of that era was heavily influenced by the Push Pin Studio culture which John Alcorn helped to create.

John Alcorn (1935-1992) is a member of an exclusive league of gifted illustrators who happen to also excel at design and typography, and his career crossed many varied paths. He worked briefly at Esquire magazine before joining the celebrated Push Pin Studios team of Milton Glaser, Seymour Chwast, Edward Sorel and Reynold Ruffins in 1956 and left his indelible mark on much of the Push Pin published works. In 1958 he joined Lou Dorfsman at CBS where he helped to define the brand of the iconic CBS eye logo. His accomplishments in the publishing world were many, including dozens of book cover designs for Rizzoli in Milan, and his playful, invented letterforms and illustrations adorned many children's books. In 1962 he illustrated and designed Murray McCain's book, Books!, which was selected as one of the AIGAs best fifty books of the year (50 Books | 50 Covers) in 1963. This book was followed up in 1964 with the children's book, Writing! In addition to book design, he went on to design posters and opening credits for several of Federico Fellini's legendary films. 
      Clearly, Alcorn helped to define much of the graphic look of the 1960s and 70s, influencing everyone from Mad Men advertisers, album cover designers, Hallmark card artists and numerous magazine art directors. Even Peter Max seemingly found inspiration in his work. He's not alone—as a young artist in the 60s, I myself, can recall being heavily influenced by Alcorn's flamboyant style as well—yet I never knew who to credit until now. Not until I picked up the book, Books! and did a little google-sleuthing, and I'm glad I did. Below are more images of his work, but you really must visit the John Alcorn Gallery archive to see far more. However, don't leave there without taking a look at this 1956 photo.

From Jan Wahl's book, Pocahontas in London, 1967, Delacorte Press.
::Via Oange's Flickrstream

John Alcorn's ironic instructions on how to create a Dadaist poem. Published in the Push Pin Graphic, No. 11, December 1957. Coincidentally, I came across a similar concept in a video on Beat poet and writer William Borroughs this past week.
::Via the Container List: Milton Glaser Archives.

Alcorn's Push Pin Monthly Graphic cover, About Fishing issue, 1957.
::Via Animalarium

Poster design of Alcorn's for Fellini's 1973 film, Amarcord.
::Via VinMag

Less is Mo

A slightly edited photo from Last Shit's Flickrstream.

500 Years of Printing at a Glance

Five Hundred Years of Printing, by S.H. Steinberg, Pelican Books, 1974 edition. A great resource on type, printing and book design. 
:: Via Things Magazine where there is a nice archive of Pelican book covers categorized by decade.

Moss Poetry

After the previous fern post below, I can't think of a better segue than moss lettering. This enviromental graffiti is the handwork of Anna Garforth who plants poetry around the urban landscape of London. The final artwork below is to spell out Grow beyond what you know with each word planted in a different location.

:: Photos above Via Crosshatchling and BumBumBum. The Photo below via Webponce.

Cultivating Ferns & Fine Typography

Being a native Northwestern girl, I am a big fern fan and friend of the frond. OK, the type on this Catalogue of Ferns is pretty damn nice too. It was published in 1884 by the W&J Birkenhead Fern Nursery, in Manchester England, and is chock full of beautiful B&W botanical illustrations. Ferns were extremely popular in England at that time and collecting and growing specimens became all the rage. Ferneries became tourists destinations and ornate miniature greenhouses were invented (called the Wardian Case) to house indoor ferns. 
      The W&J Birkenhead Catalogue claimed to have the largest stock in the greatest number of species and varieties in the trade. Inspired by it, I began a small fern garden this past year and have a few ferns which I have propagated from spores. Finding the typography equally inspiring, I also intend to further my studies on how to propagate this lovely type from spores. I might better my luck by beginning with the rustic type on the catalog cover below.

This version of the 1899 W&J Birkenhead Fern Catalogue with the lovely rustic typography on the front cover claims to have over 1400 different fern species listed. It is available at auction at this time. 
:: Via the Letterology Archives.

Russian Storybook Redux

Last month I reported upon two beautifully illustrated Russian childrens' books and had lamented that I was unable to read either of them. A kind reader forewarded an excellent English translation onto me today of the first book, and a brief of the second book. The first book is actually a children's art book published in 1971, and is titled Drawing By Lines, by Russian poet S. Porgorelovskyi. The translated text is provided in or near each spread below, and as always, images are clickable. Thank you Volkov Evgeny! I didn't think it was possible to love this book more, until now.
      The second book which you can find in my original post is titled Choose Any Horse, and it is about two children who ride the the world over to see if there is a horse better than their own. They meet a clay horse, a gingerbread horse, wooden and paper horses, and a very good horse in a capital city. In the end, they decide that their horses are the best, because they are their's alone.

Historic Book Decoration

Cover design and interiors, of a 1920 paper sample on historic book decorations from the S.D. Warren Paper Company of Boston.

Border design inspired by Pompeii ruins, W.A. Dwiggins.
:: Via the Letterology Archives.

A Fountain of Blackletter Text

A very unusual title page from a German text, dated 1676. It is said to be an early example of concrete typography, and it can be yours for only $450 on eBay. 

BIOgraphy of a Book

Sarah Bryant, of the Big Jump Press in Aurora, NY has been receiving all sorts of honors for her new book, Biography. Already she has received the award for Artistic Excellence at the Pyramid Atlantic Book Arts Fair this past November and most recently, the top MCBA Prize from the Minnesota Center for Book Arts last month.

      In her book Biography, Bryant has performed a sort of a visual information graphic in a narrative form that tells the story of our chemical make-up by way of the Table of Periodic Elements. She describes it as "an examination of the chemical elements in the human body and the roles they play elsewhere in the world. This book grew out of my desire to use the periodic table, our visual method of categorizing every particle of matter in the universe, as a tool for creating a portrait of a human being." Each element in Biography is identified as a specific colored rectangle and these rectangles gradually reoccur in diagrams which describe what we are made of, what we are similar to and where we originate. As her book progresses, it becomes apparent that these same elements are also in everything we make including weaponry, medicines, and tools. The diagrams are somewhat difficult to decode as the book continues, until the many colors fade and are interrupted by blind embossed organic shapes near the end. 

      Biography was letterpress printed in 2010 with polymer plates on Zerkall paper. It is bound as a hard cover drumleaf binding and enclosed in a clamshell box in an edition of 75. Numbers 1 through 10 are available as a deluxe edition which you can see below. I had an opportunity to view this book last Fall and it blew me away. Not only did Bryant do a masterful job of printing and binding, but her concept, typography and design are very thoughtfully produced. I suspect there will be many more honors in her future. Look for more information about Sarah Bryant and Biography at Big Jump Press or at Vamp & Tramp Booksellers. You might also enjoy visiting the MCBA site which has posted an online gallery featuring many of the other entries and the other finalists in their recent juried competition. 

Alphabetical Wonders

In Bologna, Italy in 1839, decorative artist Antonio Basoli published a fantastic set of lithographs for his book, Alfabeto Pittorico (Pictorial Alphabet, or a collection of pictorial thoughts composed of objects beginning with the individual letters of the alphabet). His elaborate architectural drawings of twenty-four letters of the alphabet and one ampersand (sorry J & W), became later known as Basoli's Alphabet. View all of them in this video below.

Basoli wasn't the first and only to propose this idea of architectural alphabets. In 1773, Johann David Steingruber published his book of palatial plans, Architectonisches Alphabeth, where he designed grand construction plans based on the twenty-six letters of the alphabet. To learn more, read Giornale Nuovo's post on Steingruber's alphabetical wonders, which is fortunately, still on life support. You can also read his dispatch on Basoli's Alphabet here.