INDEX 2022 and Hey men! Make big bucks by selling rubbish to kids (5/5)

The two authors, in their introduction, say that in the 1940s fifteen million comic books were published monthly and by the 1950s this had increased to seventy-five million with an average of fifteen comic books read each month by every other American household (I wonder if that probably included plenty of adults).

This paperback was published in 1995 and features dozens of those down-market ads that filled a few pages of every comic book. Naturally, the first ad is the one for Charles Atlas (and still kicking sand in someone's face today). Having developed the perfect body but unlucky in love maybe 'How to write love letters' might work and only ninety-eight cents, plus it was sent in a plain wrapper (1945). Some of the ads are clearly aimed at adults: '12 children's dresses for $3.45' (1956) or '$100 monthly if sick or injured for $1 a month' (1946), Save your hair' (1954). Learn to draw, play the piano, harmonica or master the Gahoon, 'It's a real musical instrument' (1946).

All the ads have coupons to clip and all include some sort of reference in the address so companies could judge which comic books pulled the best response. Many of them are COD (Cash On Delivery) so mailmen back in the day must have carried a lot of cash. Chinese manufacturing wasn't developed decades ago so all this cheap junk was produced by light industry in the US.

These ads look as bad as the products they pushed but it's worth reading the amazing copy that must have inspired plenty of kids to clip the coupon and stuff it in an envelope with that dollar bill.

Pierre Verger captures the new world (5/5)

Pierre Verger (1902-1996) was a well-traveled photojournalist in the thirties and forties with assignments in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. The book has 150 plates from his two visits to the US and a long illustrated essay by Javier Rodriquez.

What is intriguing about Verger's work is his interest in African Americans. Many photos show them at work, going to church, children playing, street scenes, or just relaxing in groups or individually. Verger, born in France, probably wasn't too aware of segregation, especially in the southern states. The first forty-nine photos were taken in New York, the remainders were of the south, many in New Orleans, Arizona, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

There are two things that I found unusual about the book. Firstly, the photos that record the everyday life of the African Americans and secondly, the excellent twenty-three-page essay by Rodriques. This gives plenty of background to the photos Verger took on his American trips and his later career documenting the African slave trade and that continent's various religions. Since 1946 he lived in Salvador, Brazil and in 1988 created a foundation named after him.

Most of these photos have not been published before and it's a worthwhile record of the US in the Depression years. They have been printed with a two hundred screen on a good quality matt art paper.

 

The Eldridge way with space (5/5)

Nick Eldridge started his company, with Piers Smerin, in 1998 and the author has picked twelve houses (out of fifty residential commissions) to reveal the remarkable architectural design Eldridge applies to houses. The book's two sections, New and Renew, both have six houses each with new-builds giving the architect a broad canvas to create something exciting. Renew, has the obvious limitations of the existing structure, nearby houses and planning restrictions but still show that Eldridge can deliver some thoughtful solutions for a contemporary home.

The first house in the book is 'Greenways' in Kingston. A quite stunning building that is based on curves and the author's essay mentions Niemeyer and Lautner, the mid-century modernists who broke away from the Internation Style to consider more fluid forms. The house, completed in 2017, won the Manser Medal. Like other houses in the book, 'Greenways' uses extensive areas of glass as window walls. Another design feature in an Eldridge house is a spiral staircase. Though not a complete spiral version, the staircase in the Cor-Ten house in Putney  turns 190 degrees and the wall of the curvature has a series of built-in bookcases, a brilliant space-saving solution. This house is named after the treated steel that deliberately rusts over time to reveal a variety of earthy tones. The front of the house is either steel or glass.

The 'Renew' pages feature five houses in London and one in Newlyn, Cornwall (a converted barn that has become part of the Eldridge practice). An intriguing building solution was created for a house in Hamstead. Between the two houses was a single-story garage, which was demolished together with part of the client's house. Eldridge's design used all the space between the two houses to create four storeys of quite spacious rooms. To allow light into part of the interior he designed a structural glass staircase. 'The Lawns' in Highgate was built in the fifties and became the first commission, in 2000, for the new practice of Eldridge and Smerin. The existing house wasn't demolished but changed to suit the needs of the owner. An interesting part of it was the replacement of a pitched roof with a glass-sided box studio.

I thought the book was an excellent introduction to Nick Eldridge and his unique approach to modern homes. Each house has an extensive essay about the background and structure backed up with plenty of captioned photos though I thought it was unfortunate that all the house plans were a bit too small to appreciate the way Eldridge handled interior space.