In the LP groove

I've had this interesting book for a few years and look through it now and again. My view on the contents hasn't changed over the years, at least half of the covers, as designs, aren't really worth a second look, what's left are pretty good. What the book has going for it is the collection of these vintage graphics, when you turn the pages, there is a curiosity value.

The book's main editorial covers eight designers from the 1940s and 1950s. Between their pages are covers from the leading record companies like Capitol, Decca, Columbia, Atlantic, RCA Victor, Verve, Mercury etc. David Stone Martin, an illustrator and designer for Verve, has nineteen covers (the designer with the most in the book). Capitol Records has always produced eye-catching covers, nineteen are included. Incidentally, they were the only company that designed worthwhile back covers with good typography and graphics. 

The problem with so many of these covers, especially in the forties and early fifties, is that they were handled by the marketing departments and not designers. It's evident that a photo or illustration was put on the cover and then the type just dropped on. If in doubt angle the type, mix different type faces, bounce the type (as the book's cover) and marketing folk would insist, now and again, to put the track titles on the cover. On page 117 there is a Pete Rugolo jazz LP, from 1955 on the Emarcy label called 'Music for hi-fi bugs' and wouldn't you believe it, the white cover has several photos of beetles and bugs. It says designer unknown.

I think the book is worth getting for a bit of nostalgia and certainly cheap enough now.

Relive the Sixties

This is one of Robert Opie's wonderful scrapbooks.  The format is deceptively simple, each spread has a big photo devoted to one theme: food packets, teenage magazines, Barbie dolls, film posters, sweet wrappers etc. You can see dozens of packets your ma kept in the kitchen cupboard or maybe that car brochure dad had back then, maybe you used one of the twenty toothpastes (page nineteen) in your bathroom. The 1400 items pictured in this book are mostly what the rest of us would have thrown away, Opie wisely (for us) saved it all for his packaging and print museum in London. He produced nine of these scrapbooks, from Victorian times to the 1970's version and they all follow the same format. This is an excellent resource book for those interested in graphic design of the period or just a nostalgia for the past.

The war years, just picture them 5/5

I thought this was a worthwhile attempt at revealing the momentous events of second world war. Basically a visual presentation of those years using maps and bite-size text. As it's a Dorling-Kindersley book the layout, paper and printing are first class. Unlike a text book about the war which can have any number of words a map format has difficulties, what to include and what to leave out so that the reader can easily follow the flow of events.

Each spread in the book has a theme and a brief intro about the subject. The maps are beautifully created in various light colors so the black type and other graphics are readable (though oddly, none of the maps have a mileage scale, a fairly obvious essential for any map). Numbered text panels explain the detail in the maps and I thought the addition of dates in  these panels a clever idea.

Any credible book about the war years will cover the pre-war and post-war years. The book's first section 'The slide to war' covers 1918 to 1939 and 'Endgame and aftermath' looks at 1944 to 1955. These pages add some essential perspective to the actual war years. 

I thought the book was an ideal introduction to this world conflict. I'm surprised at how cheap the hardback copies are considering the number of pages and excellent graphic content. Worth saying that the very detailed visual aspects of the book will not be too readable on a digital devise.

US

World War II Map by Map (DK History Map by Map): DK, Smithsonian Institution: 9781465481795: Amazon.com: Books

UK

World War II Map by Map: Amazon.co.uk: DK, Snow, Peter, Overy, Richard: 9780241358719: Books