Make the Yule Type Gay

Now this theatrical typography makes me happy! Letters of all stripes, slants, size, shapes and scripts brighten up any holiday. All of these inspired greetings were illustrated by highly skilled and talented artists, who often remained nameless. Their lettering was illustrated by hand with many of the concepts often repeated, such as the candy cane-striped lettering, ribbon type, musical note type, and the smokey letters from candles. However, their unmistakeable charm remains. The greetings displayed here are just a few of the Flickr gems which caught my eye recently. The handlettered novelty clown type above is from here, while the candy cane greeting below is from here.

The Christmas candy small caps above are from here. The next eleven handlettered greetings below, and many more are available here.

 

Candy cane condensed, courtesy of ContraryMary. The musical santas below are from Calsidyrose and RoadsidePictures in that order. 

Xmas Maximus Posters

A great 19th century British circus bill most likely from 1884. This 15x21" bill advertised the Great National Xmas Fair at the New Cross Public Hall in South London with a host of savory and not-so-savory gigantic attractions. Below is an 1881 circus bill for a Christmas Eve opening performance at the Royal Agricultural Hall. It measures 15x20". Both of these chromolithographed bills are from the British Library's Evanion Catalogue. 

More from the British Library's Evanion Collection: The Royal Agricultural Hall in Islington saw much circus maximus in its day. The 2 posters immediately above and below are for the same event of the 1879 Boxing Day Grand Christmas Fète avec Monstre Christmas Tree. Accommodation for 80,000 people wet or dry! The poster bill above measures 15x21 inches. The poster below measures approximately 20x30 inches. The beautiful woodcut engraving below is an interpretation of the same lithographed illustration just above.

An undated circus bill with wood type headlines for The Royal Circus Company opening on Boxing Day, December 26th. The circus bill below for the Grand Christmas Ball is dated 1858. Both are from Leeds Playbills. A reprint of the poster image above is available here.

Mid-Century Holiday Sheet Music from Russia

Just a portion of a Soviet children's songsheet collection for sale from Russian Art and Books.  

Playtime

With the holidays upon us, my mind easily turns to toys and books—two of my favorite things. This featured 1951 book of popular toys from around the world, covers both bases very nicely. In Folk-toys Les Jouets Populaires, author and illustrator Emanuel Hercik presents the development of the handmade folk toy from early civilization up to 1950. It is published in Prague where there is a long tradition of folk art and design. Hercik's unpretentious illustrations are a delight and with 176 color plates in all, he reminds us why these simple folk toys still hold our interest. These few random pages are from Tooknap Press, but you can also find more images here and here. Not just for children. 

19th C Cold Type

Time for another episode of winterized cold type of the snow-capped kind. 'Tis the season afterall. The lovely rustic typographic greeting above, dripping with icicles, is brought to you by the Diamond Ink Company of Pittsburg. Okay, I lie...it is page 186 of the 1870 Harpel's Typograph Book of Specimens, published by Oscar Harpel of Cincinnati OH. Harpel was partially responsible for influencing a great number of printers in the artistic printing movement at the time his book was published. The other direct influence according to George Joyner, author of the 1895 Fine Printing: Its Inception, Development, and Practice, was "the introduction of highly finished coated paper capable of producing amazingly detailed and exquisitely colored work that rose to a level of fine art". In the spirit of giving this holiday season, I give you the clickable links to both of these fine books. Happy reading!

A colorful trade card from the Magee Furnace Company, courtesy of the excellent Sheaff Ephemera Archive gaslight album. No date listed, but estimating 1890s perhaps. Below is a particularly handsome trade card from 1888 promoting Columbia bicycles. It is as found on eBay last month from this seller, but original link is no longer valid.

Sorry, but the metal sign for Kemp's Ice Cream just above, sold on eBay in September for $180. It's not 19th C, but it is old enough to avoid global warming issues. The book cover below is from an 1888 edition of A Snow Baby published by Ernest Nister, in the UK, courtesy The International Children's Digital Library where you can read the entire text for free.

Another book cover from The International Children's Digital Library. The Poet & the Brook, published in London for the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. Check out the nice cap P on Poet made from a cattail reed. Not so sure about the dead goose however. Below is a cropped image I took of a beautiful songsheet cover from Kevin Lynch's collection. This Snowed In Galop commemorates an 1872 three week snowbound train passage in Wyoming. Probably not a big hit, but you can't judge a galop by its beautiful cover. Or can you? Based upon the design, it probably sold quite well.
     Many more materials on cold type can be found in last year's post here.