Saturday, 21 September 2024

Cards with the hallmark of quality























A gorgeous book of greeting cards, originally published in 1991 (so copies are now quite cheap on the net) that will delight fans of Americana and others interested in popular culture. The 750 color cards are arranged by year in obvious chapter headings, Teen Age, Happy Birthday, Wedlock, Bon Voyage etc. Ellen Stern writes an informative twelve-page introduction to the company.

The chapter on flowers shows Hallmark's best-selling card, a basket of pansies issued in 1939. I'm a fan of Christmas cards and I was pleased to see nine cards painted by Norman Rockwell. Haddon Sundblom, who painted the Coca-Cola Santa also has a showing.

Turning over the pages it soon becomes apparent that from the start Hallmark set themselves a very high standard of design, thanks to the founder Joyce Hall and if you want to follow the history of the company in cards this is the book for you or you can check out the company over the decades with a lovely centenary book: Hallmark: A Century of Caring (ISBN 978-0740792403) it also includes a DVD with a ninety-eight minute Hall of Fame movie from 2005.


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Monday, 16 September 2024

Miami's delightful Deco 5/5




















There are plenty of books about the wonderful Deco buildings in Miami and I thought this was one of the better ones. Schwartzman had a clever idea for his book, it features historic postcards of many of the buildings and he took contemporary photos of them. The exteriors take up most pages followed by photos taking a closer look at lighting, glass, neon, terrazzo, metal, murals and decoration.

Schwartzman is a designer so the book is a handsome production. It's worth checking out his book Deco landmarks of Los Angeles published in 2005 (ISBN 0811846016).

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Wait, there's more

Build your own Miami Deco. Alan Rose created twelve press-out Deco buildings in this book, published in 1997. Search around the net for a copy but ask the seller if it is complete and not minus a building or two. ISBN 0312146795







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Saturday, 7 September 2024

Georg Jensen holloware 5/5





















A rather obscure book about Jensen Holloware was published in 2003, and though copies are available on the net, I've found them quite expensive. I recently found a bargain-priced copy and discovered it was quite a remarkable title. A really important part of the book are twenty-one pages of listings about each item: type, design number, date introduced, designer, height, length, width, and weight. Collectors will appreciate the design number and release date.

It has good quality photos of just over 750 Jensen silver items from the origins of the company and I had no idea how wide-ranging some of these items are. As well as the expected bowls (dozens of these) tea and coffee sets, cups, trays and candlesticks, there is a baby's rattle from 1916, grape scissors, 1927, an ashtray, 1937, a trivet, two of these from 1910 and 1932. There are biographies and photos of twenty-five designers who contributed to the Jensen style. They all have dark blue left-hand pages throughout the book. 

Though the book's silver photos appear to be black and white they have all been printed with four colors with a 200 screen on semi-matt gloss paper and the photos look amazing. My only criticism is that the back-of-the-book caption pages should have had these printed on the relevant pages; it gets tiresome to keep flipping to the back to find out some detail about an item.

Georg Jensen Holloware must be the definitive title about the subject. An essential book for anyone who likes the timeless style of Jensen holloware silver.

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