Around the States with large letters

At last a book of Large Letter postcards and as far as I'm aware this is the only title that shows off these fascinating cards. There is another book with hundreds and hundreds reduced to postage stamp size but that is for collectors so it can't really be compared to this new book.

What is really good about this title is that the LL cards are reproduced same size as the originals so it's possible to appreciate the amazing variety of background designs and the crazy typography for the names of places and states. There are just over four hundred postcards included and they were all printed and published by Tichnor Brothers in Boston, all their LL cards are here. The company was the second largest printers of postcards in the US after Curt Teich of Chicago.

The forty-eight states are included though for some there is just one card, others like popular tourist states get several, Florida has thirty-seven or New Jersey with fifty-one. Considering that these LL cards have, more or less, a common look with illustrations inside the letters yet each one has a different background with colorful airbrush art in bright colors to catch the eye of a buyer. A nice touch is some detail at the start of each state: capitol; flower; year it joined the Union and on other pages bits of background information about individual cards.

Graphic designers, in particular, will enjoy this book and others will be reminded of receiving, through the mail, greetings from family and friends in the forties and fifties of the last century.