Why the sea is salty, a Karelian folk tale
On a recent trip to Estonia I came across this Russian children’s book in a second hand shop. I instantly fell for the style, colours and character illustrations. Once home I discovered the book is…
Posts Categorised: Books
Peter Byrne ‘This Land’ book and exhibition
After spending a year travelling the US photographing cowboys at forty five ranches in twelve states, Peter Byrne has published the book ‘This Land – Cowboys & the Landscape of the American West’. Peter held…
Modernist Magazine: Issue 22 Games
I met Jack and Eddy from the Modernist Magazine at a print and publishing fair, we got chatting about concrete and design and ten minutes later I was on their contributors list. For the theme…
Zoz book by Norman Mommens
On a recent visit to Ken Spelman I found this book ‘Zoz – A Story of Glory’ written and illustrated by Norman Mommens. The book is an edition of 200, printed and bound by the…
Two books about boats
It’s World Book Day. I wanted to share two brilliant books about boats. One came from Mundal Norway, the other from a charity shop near our studio. Both written in 1975 and first published by AB…
David Gentleman’s illustrations for New Penguin Shakespeare books
For years I’ve bought Penguin paperback books for their cover design. In 2013 I came across a copy of the ‘The Rape Of Lucrece’ by William Shakespeare and instantly thought it was the most arresting…
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Illustrations from Paraplyermes Oprør by Kjeld Abell
Kjeld Abell (1901-1961) was a Danish dramatist, he studied political science but afterwards began a career as a stage designer in Paris. He was considered unconventional and advanced in his use of stage sets. He wrote…
Read more about Illustrations from Paraplyermes Oprør by Kjeld Abell
Bookplates
I picked up the book ‘Bookplates’ published in 1956 from a local bookshop. It’s full of miniature personalised works of art. A bookplate (or booklabel), also known as ex-librīs (Latin, “from the books of…”), is…
Vintage Steamer Boat Book Covers
Four stunning vintage steamer boat book covers. Many years ago when I worked at the National Railway Museum we had our tea breaks in the museum library. These were a favourite along with British Railway…
Penguin book design and Romek Marber
Like so many others I have always been visually drawn to the design of the Penguin Book covers, but I realised about five years ago that I had slipped into becoming a collector. To begin…