Showing posts with label 50's. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 50's. Show all posts

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Welcome to the Jungle





(Above) Jungle Doctor's Case Book by Paul White (1967)

The clear and quirky design & illustration of this cover first attracted me. I expected the contents to be quaint tales of medical missions, which they are. The heavy handed preaching that sets in and clobbers the life out of the stories is tedious however. So, enjoy the cover.

(Above) Flame of the Amazon by Eric Leyland (1952)



 "What he calls fun other people call DANGER"
The inside flap of the dust jacket also proclaims:
 "The boy who doesn't know David FLAME is like the boy who doesn't know 'BIGGLES'"
...which is probably true.


(Above) Tarzan and The Jewels of Opar by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1918)

Surely, Tarzan's dust jacket artwork and design (above) is unlikely to have been concurrent with the printing of the book itself, in this case 1918. The typeface and amount of bare skin seems anachronistic, wouldn't you say?

The story itself is now culturally bizarre. Tarzan gratuitously kills 3 lions within the first half of the book and other animals are lucky to escape him. Our attitudes towards nature have evolved. The author's continual and breathless adulation of this man-lord-beast-savage - "a majestic man, a noble beast" - is also a strange testament to ideas of machismo.

But I like the covers. Enjoy!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Vintage Postcards

Vintage Postcard, Picadilly Circus, London (circa 1950's)

(Reverse of above)
Dear Mabel... in Northern Rhodesia.
Notice the social artifact in how Mabel Pringle is addressed as Mrs C. Pringle, likely the initial and surname of her husband.





Vintage Postcard, Montesilvano, Pescara (Italia)

I enjoy the punchy colour in these vintage postcards. More to come.


Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Lovers' Luau - Les Paul and Mary Ford (1959)


Despite a patch of damage, there's plenty I love about this record cover: its amber hue, lurid splashes of colour, great textiles & anthropological feel.

For the full luau, visit Esther at Stax o' Wax. I'm listening, swaying & smiling right now.