Lay on Ground Light Fuse and Retire Quickly

 

I will admit I am not the least bit fond of firework's noise, however I am easily amused with old firecracker labels. Especially like the sort of treasures you see above, with the mis-registered printing, odd little drawings of children and animals, circus clowns, goofy names and funky typography. It doesn't get any better than the PS, Po Sing Factory label at top. The PS should stand for Pretty Sweet! And don't forget—lay on ground, light fuse and retire most quickly. Happy 4th!
:: Top 7 labels belong to Exposur3 Flickrstream. The rest belong to Mr. Firecracker.

Sort of a Chalky Little Wine Label

Chalk-lettered wine label for the Nagging Doubt winery in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia. This blackboard wonder is from the hand of Brooklyn designer Dana Tanamachi who works at Louise Fili Ltd. by day and moonlights as a chalk lettering artist by night. The only way this could get any better would be to kick back with a glass of wine and enjoy watching her design it. Then see more of Dana's type-lapsed wonders here and here.

Nagging Doubt Viognier from Dana Tanamachi on Vimeo.

The Art of Travel

:: From the Letterology Archives.

The Book Trade Chronicles

These little stamp-sized labels which can often be found in the back of old books are fleeting treasures of biblioGraphic design. Anyone who appreciates the design of book covers or ex libris bookplates will surely find these small book trade labels equally noteworthy. Sometimes referred to as book shop or trade labels, they were most often attached to the back paste boards of books and have become a permanent record of their origin after leaving the dealer's store. This practice has more-or-less been abandoned since the 1970s according to Greg Kindall of Seven Roads, who has the largest online collection of book trade labels. Once upon a time, bookbinders used to paste their personalized label, or bookbinder's ticket onto endpapers as well—another practice which has virtually disappeared in the commercial book publishing industry—but has resumed in some fashion by small custom bookbinders. Taken on their own, each of these frequently handlettered trade labels are historic chronicles of design and emblematic of typographic styles around the world. Most of the book trade labels displayed above are from the online collection of RS Brandt with the exception of the very last featuring a lantern which is from my own archives. It belonged to Harry Hartman who was a blind book dealer in Seattle. Labels below are from the Seven Roads archive.



 

Which Hair Type?

Hair care products come and go. Here are a few that have already passed. I'm guessing the Madame Jones Hair Glory at the top is 1930-ish and the other two are likely from either end of the 1960s decade. My favorite is the calendar of monthly do's from Mr. Rex's Beauty Salon. The easel frame is printed three colors and each month tears off to reveal a calendar girl with a new hairdo. The pink hair net package has a nice mix of brush script fonts and Futura. Mr. Rex? Futura as well.
:: From the Letterology Archives.

TypeOcentric Ephemera

The designers of these labels and poster stamps probably each did 100s of them in the course of their careers, but it's sad that most have ended up in the dustbin of obscurity and will never receive due credit for their artwork. At least their designs have a legacy and it makes me happy to share them. I've credited the owners in each case. 

Japanese Matchbox Label

:: From Crackdog's photostream

Czech matchbox label for Hotel Jalta in Prague.

:: From Diskurs photostream

1931 German poster stamp, unknown designer. 

:: From Letterology archives 

1964 Hungarian Matchbox Label

:: From Shailesh Chavda photostream