Since the recent leaks and revelations of the NSA surveillance program and the controversy over privacy rights, George Orwell's, 1984, has been at the top of many Summer reading lists. Are we all angry and paranoid readers? It would seem so. Currently, this classic dystopian novel sits at No. 56 on Amazon's top 100 bestsellers list; up from 12,507 just a week ago. That is an astonishing rise in sales of nearly 6000% for a book that was first published 64 years ago! And Amazon keeps track of all of our purchases in case the NSA needs this data as well. Today seems like a perfect day for Letterology to take a look at some of the many published and unpublished portrayals of Orwell's popular book. The first unpublished example seen above is a particularly brilliant solution by the Adronaut design team, Patrick Pichler and Wolfgang Warzilek in Vienna. Below is one of my all-time favorite Penguin reissues designed by David Pearson.
1984 as portrayed by Jon Vallance above. The three images below are of an unpublished 1984 version by Travis Roof, a former student in my book design course at Seattle Central Community College in the Fall of 2009. A particular favorite of mine;)
< Joanna Weiner's unpublished 1984 interpretation realizes a text solution.
Artist Hadyn Symons in the UK cleverly illustrates his Orwell classic. Below is another unpublished example. This one by designer Emily Kouri.
This list of REcovers would be incomplete without this imagined version by Ben Jones in Manchester, England. It was submitted to a Call for Entries in 50 Watts' Polish Book Cover Contest several years ago. Contestants were asked to design the "Polish Edition" of their favorite book. Jones nailed it with his entry.
Book designer Jon Gray does a nearly all-type solution for this Penguin reissue.
< The first US paperback; a 1955 Signet pulp release.
< The very first UK edition of Orwell's 1984, released on June 8th, 1949. Below is the first published US edition found at Good is Dead. Neither design credits are listed.
Swedish designer Olle Eksell (1919-2007) designed this cover in 1959. BBC released this short documentary,The Beauty of Books: Part 4, several years ago, and it takes a close look at the range of Orwell's1984 and the Clockwork Orange book covers. Definitely worth a watch. ...is it just me, or does it sound like Big Brother is the narrator here?
These airliner badge designs are featured in a 1955 promotional booklet, Know Your Airliners, published for BP and Shell Oil in England by Brown Knight & Truscott Ltd. As airlines come and go, so do badges. I'm not sure any of these still exist with exception to the TWA logo, originally designed by Raymond Loewy. All the rest of the badges have taken winged flight. Even the Qantas Airways badge has a winged kangaroo (looking more like a flying tyrannosaurus.) This is an earlier 1925 version of the KLM badge/logo. It also took flight a year later.
The illustrations for this 1955 booklet were made by Roy Cross, recognized as "the doyen of aircraft artists" by Chris Mullen at the exceedingly dense, yet amazing Visual Telling of Storiessite. Mullen deserves a badge just for this incredible design archive.
A couple weeks ago I featured the historic decorated papers of bookbinder Carmencho Arregui in Italy. These extraordinary papers struck a chord with many including myself. Since that time, I wanted to feature some of her modern conservation binding examples which include many of these same historic papers, as I find them so alluring. Some of the papers date back to the 16th and 17th centuries and their beauty reflects some of the historic printing processes of old wallpapers which were often wood engraved and stenciled. Arregui was surely inspired by many of the papers as she set out to decorate some of her own using a stamping process she refers to as Rolling Rollers. She generously shares this process and others on her site in addition to examples of her papers. When I asked her if any of the modern conservation bindings were bound with her own decorated papers, she did admit to this. Arregui preferred not to reveal their identity however, as "it is fun to guess" she added. It's the case of the paper history mystery...
What a nice surprise to see cameos in this trailer of my two good friends, Bonnie Thompson Norman of The Windowpane Press in Seattle and Jessica Spring of the Springtide Press in Tacoma. They are joined by 98 other respected Vandercook printers, who are featured in this newly released video in tribute to the centennial of the Vandercook proof press (1909-2009.) The trailer follows last year's release of The Vandercook100 book published by Heather Mitchell of Just Vandy. It showcases the work of 100 selected printers recognized for their fine press work and their devotion to the venerated Vandercook. This popular proof press has probably introduced more people to fine printing than the potato. ::Music by Matt Nathanson, Some Mad Hope, "All We Are" (Vanguard Records)
The Seattle Public Library recently celebrated the season opener of Summer reading and dominoes. And they also got one for the record book for successfully creating the world's longest book domino chain. You know what they say about the domino theory; reading one book will just lead on to another. Thanks Book Patrol!
Long-time Letterology fan Rob Bowker of Typewriter Heaven, home of the Type-o-Matic, sent me this lettres trouvées link today which gave me a good laugh. He stumbled on this cap H on what passes for a hill in his part of the Typosphere. It could be an H for Hazard, or for Hill as he suggests. Or maybe it's just a minimalist concrete poem. Bowker can frequently be found test-driving one of his many typewriters and tasting local beers (is this legal?) Occasionally he will post some great typewriter ephemera such as this recent gem he entitles Magic Fingers. It is a keyboard template from a Halda Portable Typewriter owner's manual.
Bowker recently shared some of his own keyboard handiwork at Typewriter Heaven, which he calls Spiralcast. It's a story about belt-driven turntables and typing, but I think it qualifies as a concrete poem. Since Bowker happens to be a member of The Society for the Ethical Treatment of Typewriters, I trust he wasn't drinking and driving when he put his Olivetti Lettera 32 through all of the tight curves. I can't even read it without getting dizzy.
If you are someone who has faced personal challenges and limitations in life, then artist Phil Hansen wants to hear your story. Phil has faced his own personal challenges as an artist when he began to experience numbness and tremors in his hands after years of repetitive motions. When he was told he had permanent nerve damage in his hands from years of making pointillist illustrations, he soon chose to quit art school. In a defining moment, a neurologist later encouraged him to "embrace the shake". Then it dawned on him that he could look at his limitation as the source of his creativity rather than the end of it. By embracing his limitation, he soon found liberation, and has since pursued a variety of accomplished artwork in the interim.
Soon after telling his personal story at a TED talk this last February, he had many people willing to share their own accounts of struggle and success. For the last month, Hansen has been sharing these narratives of personal struggle in a 9 x 13 foot artwork created entirely of text with his sharpie. He is also soliciting more stories by phone and on his website, and in a Kickstarter campaign to fund this artwork. With less than 3 days left to go, his Kickstarter campaign has been fully funded, but you may still contribute and show your support. And take in his TED talk and be inspired. As Hansen so elegantly reminds us, "limitation can also be liberation." It's just how you look at it.
First the White Album, and now Irma Boom brings us the white book,Chanel No. 5. "You don't see it, but it's there." Ok, this trumps a scratch-n-sniff anyday.
A ticket is generally one of the most ephemeral of all items of printed matter. Typically, they either get punched, stamped or torn in half and then discarded. However, this collection of mid-to-late-19th century tickets has survived longer than most, and they bear witness not only to all kinds of activities, travel and social events of the day, but to some fun job printing examples as well. Most are all intact, including a ticket to the 1868 Andrew Johnson Impeachment Hearings. You can find many of these tickets available to purchase here, though they won't buy you admission to anything. Not even a 10 cent ice cream cone.
