Books: The Gift that Keeps on Giving

In 1865, Boston-based printer Louis Prang (1824-1909), introduced the Christmas Stocking Library, a boxed set of chapbooks full of holiday merriment for the kiddies. This was published nine years before he introduced the first commercial Christmas card to the American public in 1874. Prang, a German immigrant, learned the art of dyeing, printing, and engraving from his father who was a textile printer of calico fabrics. In 1848 Prang was forced to flee Germany because of his political opposition to the Prussian government. Two years later he arrived in Boston and supported himself by making wood engravings for various publications and eventually partnered with Julius Mayer to form Prang and Mayer, Lithographic Printers. They specialized in the printing of business cards, advertisements, and other job printing, and also gained some success with the printing of a series of colored album cards featuring scenic landscapes, animals and flowers which were sold for $3/dozen inside a patented envelope. Just like this boxed set of Christmas chapbooks, the illustrated album cards were printed in four colors, each drawn on stone and folded into accordion structures. The label appearing on the box of the Christmas Stocking Library was printed five solid colors.  

The title page and interior illustrations in each chapbook are early examples of Prang's chromolithography.

As a side story to this lovely little Christmas Stocking Library; it was sold last February at the PBA Galleries auction for $5500. This very rare boxed set belonged to book collector, Pamela Harer, who I last reported on July 3, 2014 when she attended the opening of her Early 20th Century Soviet Children's Books exhibition held at the University of Washington's Allen Library in Seattle. Unbeknownst to me at the time, Pamela was very ill and died the day before I wrote the post. She lived just long enough to receive a private family tour of her remarkable exhibit on July 1st, and quietly died at home on the following day. This exhibit was a dream Pamela had envisioned for many years. It was also her remaining wish that this rare collection of Soviet children's books was to permanently reside at the UW Library. Although much of her research was sadly eclipsed by her illness, Pamela Harer's collection of early 20th century Soviet children's literature remains intact and we can all benefit from her generous gift. At this time her collection has not been entirely digitized, however an earlier endowment of her rare 18th - 20th century children's literature can be seen here. Happily, the gift of books is everlasting. Happy holidays all!

Lincoln & Lettering

This collection of mid-19th century songsheets from The Lincoln Collection in Fort Wayne, IN., exists to preserve the history and legacy of Abraham Lincoln. In addition, these songsheets help to preserve a historic record of hand lettering, ornamentation, and lithography of this same era as well. As a tribute to Lincoln's birthday today, we can celebrate him and the many songsheet title pages which were published in his time leading up to the Civil War and following his assassination. They are a window into one of the most pivotal times in US history, as well as one of the most engaging and visionary periods of printing and design. With a few exceptions, most of these songsheet title pages were published between 1860 and 1865. 

   

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.

Flower Power

This Harper's Bazaar magazine from May 1938 is a bit of a standout. It was one of many Harpers' covers designed by A.M. Cassandre (1901-1968), who had gained considerable fame for his poster design and typography by this time. His surrealistic cover design is a vast contrast to the Victorian era title page and cover designs below, but I wanted to include it in this earthly garden of lettering delights.    

The two separate Alphabet of Flowers books featured here, are childrens' books with paper covers printed from wood engravings and published by Dean & Son in England during the late 19th century. The book below is likely the older of the two books and I would speculate they are handlettered and illustrated by the same person. Both are from the Historical Children's Literature Collection at UW Special Collections Library. 

The Les Fleurs Animées cover and title page win the prize for the most elaborately illustrated lettering for the title. Nature lettering was a very popular practice in Victorian times.
:: The title page is from Vintage Printable, and the cover design from Lourania. I'm happy to feature them together. 

Put A Bird On It

Today's feature is a flock of birds on various title pages. Just above is one of Edward Bawdens' title page designs for Ambrose Heath's 1935 Good Soups Cook Book. See more of Bawdens' beautifully illustrated covers, title pages and linocut decorations for the series of Heaths' cook books on Ian Beck's site. 
:: Found at Full Table

Birds of the United States, 1882, by Thomas Gentry. Includes 54 chromolithographs from drawings by Edwin Sheppard of American birds, nests and their eggs.
:: Via Antonio Raimo Galleries 

Title for Little Bird Red & Little Bird Blue, 1861, by James Gregory. Woodcuts by N. Orr and Co. NY. 
:: From the Letterology Archives

Title for A History of The Earth and Animated Nature, 1850, by Oliver Goldsmith. Sorry, but this image is from the land of lost links.

Title page for Birds, 2009, with words by Christine Fisher and illustrations by Jeffrey Fisher. 

Title page for Japanese Fairy Tales, 1904, retold by Teresa Pierce Williston.
:: From the Letterology Archives.

Above is the title page for the King Penguin book Garden Birds, 1945, by Phyllis Barclay-Smith. The vignette illustration on title page and the cover illustration below are by Sylvia Varley.
:: Via Purple Podded Peas, a nice blog about the garden, the landscape and inspiration.