Front & Center with Calligraffiti

A meeting between Nalden and Calligraffiti artist Niels Shoe Meulman, at his home and studio in Amsterdam in 2010 provides us with a front row seat to watch him at work. Although this was filmed several years ago now, I never grow tired of watching it. Lettering by snowplow next? Yes pleeeez!
::Produced by Circus Family & Nalden 

A Book of Imaginary Beings

An unbound letterpress printed compendium which is truly designed for the imagination, in the spirit of Jorge Luis Borges's 1957 anthology of fantastical mythical creatures. It is from the imagination of Amir Brito Cador. 
::Via the Journal of Artists' Books, JAB 

Musical Notes on Type

These two random flea market finds this past weekend got me thinking about the nature of their appeal. They are sheet music ads from a catalog circa 1870 to 1880 most likely. Each measure about 5x8" and appear to be produced by the same hand. I think my attraction to them was seeing the combination and styles of fonts used, the layouts and their naive charm. By late 19th century standards, they were likely designed by someone with a fairly educated eye, and conformed to trending design standards using centered and justified layouts, frequent use of ornaments and decorated rules, combined with a large mix of handsomely designed display and text fonts. I sometimes wonder if typesetters got paid by the punctuation mark, as they had a tendency to litter their layouts with periods after single words and phrases as if they were a spice. These two layouts are no exception. 
     My forensic google findings turned up leads on the two mentioned companies; the Wm. A. Pond & Co. of New York and the Chicago Music Co. which were both dealers in printed sheet music. Pond also had a fine reputation as a manufacturer of pianos, organs and various musical instruments such as woodwinds and guitars. But it is the sheet music which most interests me. Songsheet publishers relied on highly skilled lettering artists and designers to produce their elaborate cover designs, many of them printed as multi-colored chromolithographs. The finest examples were published just after the Civil War and peaking about 1890. So this may explain the appeal of these two music catalog sheets. Though they aren't nearly as elaborate as so many of the songsheet cover designs, they still boast a charm. The job typesetter took great care to choose fonts and sizes which suitably express the concept of hierarchical standards in information design. Below are examples of other published songsheets with lettering on steroids from the Wm A. Pond company: The Drums & Trumpets is part of the Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection of the Indiana State Museum. The other two songsheets are from the Library of Congress collection.

Press For Sale, Some Assembly Required

April Fools. This is no heavy metal printing press. It is an actual 1896 paper facsimile of a Globe Quadruple printing press and was was part of a supplement to the Boston Globe Newspaper in August of that same year. The Exile Bibliophile features an identical copy of the same DIY press on his Flickrstream. With instructions, each part can be cut out and assembled into a scale replica of the Globe printing press. Parts and cheap labor included.
::another fine eBay find

Japanese Shipping Line Journals

Cover designs for the monthly travel magazine The Sea, published in Japan for the shipping line Osaka Shosen Kaisha (OSK), a rival of the NYK Lines. Most of these colorful cover designs are from the late 1930s and early 40s. The OSK was a very popular shipping line for many years, offering luxury round-the-world service for well-heeled passengers. After Pearl Harbor, much of the fleet was either requisitioned for the war effort or destroyed during WWII. In 1964 OSK merged with the Mitsui Steamship Co. to form the Mitsui OSK Lines which is still in operation today.
::Available from the Boston Book Company.   

Easter Treasures

Front and back (above) of 1950s Fortnum & Mason's Easter catalogs. All of the works seen here were from the brilliant mind of UK artist Edward Bawden (1903-1989).

1955 Fortnum & Mason chicken-shaped catalog.

A "Dumpty Duo" front and back from Entertaining A La Carte by Edward Bawden for Fortnum & Mason.

Linocut illustration for the Fortnum & Mason 1958 Easter catalog. As the card is pulled from the die-cut "chicken coop" sleeve, the chicken eggs are hatched.  

Another F&M eggceptional 1950s catalog.
:: Fabulous Flickr finds from TM114, with eggception to the "chicken coop" catalog above which is from Bedford Gallery via Kotomicreations.

19th Century Alphabet Portfolio

A portfolio of late Victorian alphabets and monograms containing a set of 30 lithograph cards published by Friedr. Bartholomaus of Frankfurt Germany. The front cover is a chromolithograph print and this sweet 5x7" portfolio still has the original red ribbons to tie it together. And it too, can be yours for a price.
::Available from Wayside Mews via Antiques Atlas.   

Hmmm...Eye Candy

Some very appetizing candy and chocolate wrappers from Estonia. Hmmm.
::Via eBay dealer rmolchanov. 

Free Wheeling Alphabet

The Roues Libres alphabet from the inventive mind of French illustrator Nicolas André. His cycle alphabet was produced as a three color silkscreened accordion book and animation. See more of André's imaginative books including this favorite pop-up in a paper sardine can.