The Curative Power of Storytelling

A wonderful story about books brought to us by author, illustrator and animator William Joyce and the team at Moonbot. The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is full of detail and theater with many book-related themes going on in some of the backgrounds of the story. Check out a previous short about the iPad version of this story I posted here earlier.

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore available in the iTunes App Store for $4.99. You can even get a Moonbot case for your iPad that looks like the cover of the book.

The Pocket Bookmobile

This adorable bookmobile-shaped brochure from 1952 was to promote service for the library on wheels in the state of Maryland. According to Larry Nix at the Library History Buff Blog, the first traveling bookmobile service in the US actually began in Hagerstown, Maryland in 1905. It was a wagon pulled by 2 horses with enough space for 200 books on the outside and additional space for more books on the inside of the wagon. The driver of the wagon did double duty as the janitor of the library. 
      Prior to the bookmobile, there were traveling libraries with small rotating collections of books which were stationed for months on end at convenient locations such as a post office, store or someone's home. This allowed for library service to be extended to rural areas across the US in the late 19th century. 
      Bringing books to the people has a long legacy around the world, yet it's unfortunate the bookmobile barely coasted into the 21st century before it became roadkill. Call me a sentimental old bibliofool, but I miss having a traveling library on wheels. 
Hey Amazon! Give us an eReader shaped like a bookmobile why don't you?

The Printer's Devil

With Halloween in the wings, I thought it was prime time to share a clip from an early Twilight Zone episode from 1963 about a printer's devil who offers to save the collapse of a town newspaper in exchange for the soul of Douglas Winter, the editor of The Courier. Burgess Meredith plays Mr. Smith, a devious old linotype operator who takes the job of a printer's devil far too seriously. As the prince of darkness, he generates scoops by creating carnage with his keyboard. Sorry to leave you with a cliffhanger, but this edited clip is all I could find of this episode. Still worth a watch however, just to see Meredith in the role as the satanic linotype operator with the crooked cigar—all in glorious black and white. Kind of reminds me of Dick Cheney, with exception to the full colorization. Here is host Rod Serling's soft-spoken introduction to the Printer's Devil episode from the Twilight Zone season 4 episode: 
      Take away a man's dream, fill him with whiskey and despair, send him to a lonely bridge, let him stand there all by himself looking down at the black water, and try to imagine the thoughts that are in his mind. You can't, I can't. But there's someone who can—and that someone is seated next to Douglas Winter right now. The car is headed back toward town, but its real destination is the Twilight Zone...Da da da dahhh, da da da dahhh...

Taterpress

Who doesn't like potato prints? Central Saint Martin's student Ed Cornish and friend did some print work with their hand-carved spud font. See more images of their process on Ed's Flickrstream.
:: Via the always interesting Printeresting! 

Street Art Tribute to Steve Jobs

As seen on the streets of Rotterdam in the Netherlands. From the Wooster Collective in NYC. Sweet!

Beyond Words

I realize this video project from Facebook's Creative Director Ji Lee is making the rounds everywhere, but yes, it is that good. You can see the stills of his visual puns at his website, Please enjoy. Or, get the print edition. This time the book is just as good as the film.
:: Thanks Nici!

Life Before You Tube

Caricatures of cats in compromising situations become all the rage in early 19th century England. The comic book soon goes viral... and advertising is born. ; )

:: From Henry Alken's oddly comic caricatures in Symptoms of Being Amused. Vol. 1, Thomas McLean, 1822. Via Bonhams. 

Comic Sans Cousin

Not certain who to credit with this colorful typeface, as I found it on Etsy a while ago. I just call it Cartoon Condensed Bold; Comic Sans elder cousin.

The Typewriter Alphabet

Great typewriter sleuthing by this team!
Thanks maschinengeschrieben!

Blackletter in Fall Colors

The newly published Fall issue of T Magazine, a supplement of the Sunday New York Times, commissioned the work of Los Angeles landscape designer Judy Kameon and photographer Erik Otsea for their monthly T design. I couldn't help but notice how handsome this iconic blackletter T looks in the beautiful Fall colors, and it reminded me of its' elder gothic cousin, the rustic old growth T you see just below. I've included a snapshot of other extended family members of this woodsy gothic alphabet as well. I'm no genealogist, but I'm quite certain this family tree has roots that go way, way back. ;^)

:: Rustic Old Growth Gothic Alphabet via the Letterology Archives.

Happy 29th Birthday Mr Smiley-moticon! *<|:-)

Through an exhaustive archeological dig of old back-up tapes sponsored by a crack Microsoft research team, it was determined that September 19th, 1982 was the exact date of the birth of the Smiley emoticon. (Not so celebrated, was the birth of his evil twin, the frowny face with the smile-turned-upside-down, who was born seconds later). The original message seen here was sent by Scott Fahlman 29 years ago today to a bulletin board community of Computer Scientists at Carnegie Mellon. At the time, it was intended to be a solution for graphically displaying the tone of a sarcastic comment to the reader. Critics complain Mr Smiley degrades our written communications, but Fahlman argues the Internet is a different medium than traditional publishing and we need to clearly define a joke or invite chaos and misunderstanding in this call-and-response atmosphere. Personally, I'm just so relieved I don't have to spell out "insert laugh here" anymore. :-) Read more on Smiley Lore here from Mr. Fahlman, the father of this happy little sideways ascii character. 

Text Appeal

Readers, writers, typographers, and printers take note. The 6th annual Text Ball—the lettered stepchild of Portland, Oregon's annual literary Wordstock Festival—will take place on October 1st at p:ear Gallery. The theme this year is In Poetic Fashion and it is a benefit for the non-profit Independent Publishing Resource Center in Portland which promotes literacy through DIY publishing. There will be live music by indie-folk heroine Laura Gibson and poetry readings, word games, giant crossword puzzles, dirty limerick challenges, a silent auction and more, including a parade of well-lettered fashions and prizes for the text-dressed. Come dressed as your favorite poem, book, letter, story, or word, enjoy the letterati and support a great cause. Advance tickets for $12 can be purchased here or $15 at the door.
      The photo above is last year's grand prize winner for Best Text, Erica Hijazi. She constructed a fashionable bow from a 1939 Williamette College newpaper she unearthed while picking up a VCR purchased on Craigslist. Soooo Portlandia! Her date wore a tie constructed from the same newspaper.

Mark Anen came dressed as a Government G-Man.

Aimee Pedretti's vision of Hell was Dante's Inferno.

Runner-up for Most Literary is writer and author Myrlin Hermes, featuring the entire text of Shakespeare's Sonnet 129: "The expense of spirit in a waste of shame is lust in action..."
::All photos from the last year's text-dressed are taken by Georgia Perry.

Copycats

Every print shop needs an adorably cute copy cat. Meet Toaster the house kitty, at the Independent Publishing Resource Center in Portland OR. IRPC is a great facility for the DIY independent publisher. They offer a variety of classes, and have workstations, a massive zine library, digital printers and copiers, mimeographs, letterpress, screenprinting and bookbinding equipment, a Yeti research lab, typewriters and cute kittens who know how to use them. You can support the IRPC and Toaster's literary career and give $25 to become a member today. IRPC is a valuable resource for the community. Oh, Portlandia, why can't we all become more like you?

Paper Fashions

Little Women Stilletos.

Postcard SLR camera. 

Detail of Postcard SLR.

Roliflex Box Camera.

Typewriter, (not sure what kind however). 

The work of paper imagineer Jennifer Collier from the UK, who fashions these paper wonders with a sewing machine, much like any other fabric. All of her works are one-offs, but you can find some of it for sale here. I wonder if this is the sewing machine she uses:

::Via Illusion

The Universal Penman

This fun lettering sampler from Argentina was recently sent to me by an alert reader from Uruguay. The title in English translates to The Method of Calligraphy in Schools. It was originally published in the Caras y Caretas magazine in Buenos Aires in 1917. The string of sentences following each illustration and calligraphic text reads:

1. "Primero se enseñaba la letra inglesa, por su ligereza y por estar dentro de nuestras aficciones hípicas." (Roughly translated in English as: First taught was the English lettering, for its lightness and being within our horse racing hobbies.)

2. "Luego adoptamos la redondilla francesa, por ser la madre de la libertad de escribir como uno quiera." (Roughly translated to: Then we adopted the French quatrain, as for being the mother of the freedom to write as you want.)

3. "Despues aprendimos la Iturzaeta española, por tradición y la solemne majestad de su marcha sobre la pauta." (Roughly translated to: Then we learned the Spanish Iturzaeta, by tradition and for the solemn majesty of its march over the pattern.)

4. "Tambien impusimos el estilo gótico decorativo, que es muy bueno para distracción de los niños en horas de recreo." (Roughly translated to: We also imposed the decorative Gothic style, which is very good for distraction of children in their leisure hours.) 

5. "Por último, enseñamos la vertical yankee, por ser lo más adelantado y por su parecido a las estacadas y alambrados de nuestros campos. (Roughly translated to: Finally, we taught the vertical Yankee for being upfront and for its resemblance to the stakes and fences of our fields.)

6. "Y de todas estas letras, combinadas en agradable confraternidad, crearemos nuestro elegante método de escritura nacional." (Roughly translated to: And all these letters, combined into friendly fellowship, we will create our national elegant method of writing.)

I love this perspective! It takes a global village and the art of lettering is a universal practice. Thank you for sharing Horacio!

This Ain't No Hi-Fi Type

"As the city with the world's largest needle, it's no wonder Seattle has such a strong love affair with vinyl!" So say the sellers of quality used vinyl; Jive Time Records in Seattle, who celebrate music and the designers who package it. If you still have a stereo, I suggest you put a long-playing record on it right now, kick back and visit Jive Time's Cover Gallery activity center where you can shuffle the Stereo Stack of many of the magnificent stereo type banners like those you see above. In the words of the banners themselves: "it's a kaleidoscope-wonderland of hi-fidelity and dual-dynamic vibrancy". Banner artists take note!
      But wait, there is so much more! Project Thirty-Three is Jive Time's shrine to the crazy geometric shapes on album covers and the brilliant designers that made so much of this music come to life. Below are some mostly typographic covers from this gallery: 

Pete King Percussion. Sorry, no design credit.

Admiral Stereo and the Amazing Phantom 3rd Channel. No design credit!

Your Keys to Success, Olivetti, 1968. Design hero not credited, but the resemblance to this 1964 Olivetti poster by Walter Ballmer is probably not coincidence.

Polkas Eddie Zima Style. Design hero not credited.

While you're browsing, don't miss the many gems at Jive Time's Symphonie Fantastique gallery. Here is a sneak preview below:

Haydn Symphony No. 94 in G Major. Designed by the modernist master Erik Nitsche.

Festino with a great design, but again, no credit.

Prokofieff Suites. No credit sadly, but looks very much like the work of Joseph Low.

Beethoven's Symphony No. 5. Designed by the distinguished Alex Steinweiss.

Next stop, highlights from Jive Time's DeFace Value vinyl section:

It's the popular paisley white album. As found by Jive Time's Records.

Not-so-plain Jane. Altered and submitted by John Carroll.  

The Partridge Family Notebook doodles. As found by Jive Time Records.

Neil should have had a leading part in Hair. Altered and submitted to Deface Value by Alex Coxen.

Last stop, the Record Needles, Jive Time Records homage to Century 21 and the beloved Space Needle: 

No design credit on either of these Needle LPs sadly.

If all this isn't enough, you can inspect the Technical Spectacle gallery of vintage stereo system test record covers; take a walk on the wild side at Abbey Road Rage; or trip on over to Groove is in the Art. Gotta love the vinyl. Thanks Jive Time!
::Via It's Nice That

Sink Your Teeth into This Suspense Novel

Another long lost book I unearthed from my attic recently.
Joyful Hours or Joyful Minutes? I guess this sanguine sweet storybook cover was just not reality-based enough for my taste, but a simple shark fin changed that easily. ; )

Cover Curiosities

I've been cleaning out my attic and bookshelves lately and rediscovered some old forgotten books. Some of these gems are silkscreened trade bindings, while most are printed by letterpress which would technically make them cloth stamped bindings. Often they are designed by anonymous artists. My favorite is the book above, which is in lousy shape, sadly. I recall buying it years ago just for the cover design. The title appears to be all hand-lettered, and the copyright page is missing, but the owner boldly signed his name and date of 1917 in blackletter penwork on the endsheets. This was just a few years prior to the the time designer W.A. Dwiggins was credited for coining the term, graphic designer in 1922, which has since displaced the less descriptive label of commercial artist. I'll do my best to post all of these books on Flickr before long, with more information on each. 
Note to self: clean more often.