Te Tohunga - Wilhelm Dittmer 1907

Steven — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 13:29:51 +0000

Discovered this book by complete accident whilst looking for something completely different and was hugely impressed by the quality of the illustrations. There is little information available to us about the author and illustrator Wilhelm Dittmer except that, born in Germany, he lived between 1866 and 1909 and spent around 5 years living in New Zealand at the turn of the century.

It was during this time that he orally collected the series of Maori legends that he later compiled and published in 1907 as Te Tohunga following his return to Hamburg in 1904.

There appears to be little or no other work by him available which is a great shame as I think he has a fantastic style.

The book contains 37 full and half page illustrations plus many other head and tailpieces and numerous small illustrations within the text. You can download a 300 dpi pdf page scan here or see the Flickr set here.

A Child’s Book of Warriors 1907

Steven — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 22:01:13 +0000

Came across this book recently and was immediately attracted to it by is cover…..they just don’t do book covers like this anymore…stunning!

The content is selection of re-workings of stories from northern European mythology for children and appears to be a good read. What interested me however was that the book is illustrated by Herbert Cole whose work I am familiar with. He illustrated many magazines and books in the late 19th / early 20th centuries but very little is known about his life. His style is very similar to more well known artists of the era such as Walter Crane and Edmund Dulac although I think he is every bit as good.

Check out some of the amazing illustrations from this book. Theres a link to downlad a PDF of the book at the bottom… enjoy.

If you like the illustrations (lots more in the book) or want to read the stories, you can download a pdf of the entire book HERE.

German Book-Plates

Steven — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 21:13:48 +0000

Happy New Year to those of you who like to celebrate such things (not really into it myself - it was 2009……now its 2010…so what??!).

Anyway, onto more interesting matters. Regular readers might know that I am a fan of vintage book-plate art. I am also a lover of Jungendstil - the the German interpretation of the Art Nouveau school of design so I was very interested to discover the book from which the images for this post are taken. Das Moderne Deutsche Gebrauchs Exlibris was written by Richard Braungart and published in Munich in 1922. It features many examples of the work of outstanding ex-libris designers of the day. The Names of the artists are indicated. Enjoy:

The book features many, many more outstanding examples of bookplate art and I will be giving away a pdf of the book to my subscribers this week. If you would like to receive free vintage e-book like this in the future please enter you your details in the opt in box at the top of my homepage.

Vintage Postcards

Steven — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 22:06:20 +0000

First off, any apologies for the distinct lack of posts on here in an excessively long time. Real life getting in the way and such…Anyway, back to normality so will be posting a lot more in the coming months.
As you may know, I am a great believer in the potential of using public domain images for profit. I have been browsing the Visipix site recently to find some images for the purpose of making prints (great site by the way - almost 55,000 fine art images and photos on here, check it out at http://visipix.dynalias.com/index_hidden.htm). Anyway I came across some great vintage postcards I’d like to share with you. Unfortunately there is no information on Visipix regarding any of the postcard images on there so all I know about these is that they are German and they are pretty cool! If anyone knows anything about them / the name of the artist, please leave a comment:

Although these images would make good prints, as they were originally postcards, this got me to thinking that there would be no reason why you couldn’t reprint them at their original size and sell them in sets. Online or supermarket photolab printing is dirt cheap these days - 6×4 prints cost literally pennies and you could sell a set of (say) ten “repro vintage postcard prints” for $5 -$10 no problem. Just an idea…

There are over 600 postcard images on the Visipix site. Here’s some more I liked:

Merry Christmas etc etc to everyone (dont like christmas, in case you didn’t guess!) and I shall return with many posts in the new year!

New York City Guide 1939

Steven — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:12:59 +0000

Regular readers may know that I am a great enthusiast of the Big Apple. The images I have for you today are taken from the 1939 publication New York City Guide. The book was one of many published by the Federal Writers Project; a U.S. government initiative established by Predident Roosevelt in 1935 with the aim of funding written work and supporting writers during the Great Depression. The main idea of the project was employment with over 6000 writers, photographers, researchers, historians, cartographers, artists and so on found work in this difficult period. Around 400 volumes were produced the most well known of which were the American Guide Series which encompassed every U.S. state and also many major cities, including this New York guide. Some commentators have also suggested that the project had additional purpose with the government seeking to take greater control of the countrys cultural heritage and using the projects publications as a method of reawakening patriotism and national pride in a period of depression.

I have seen a number of Federal Writers Project publications and they really are magnificent pieces of work. I particularly like this New York guide not only as I am such a big fan of the city but also as I think the city lends itself particularly, to spectacular imagry and photography.

Enjoy!

Aside these magnificent photographs, the book also features a number of charming illustrations of the city by various artists. I particularly like these by Louis Lozowick - would make a great set of prints.

If you are a subscriber I will be sending you a link to download a pdf of the original 828 page book. If you would like to receive free gifts like this from me in the future please enter your name and e-mail address in the box at the top of this page to subscribe.

Arthur Rackham - Land of Enchantment

Steven — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 19:42:58 +0000

No introduction should be neccessary for regular readers of this blog to the work of Arthur Rackham - one Englands greatest illustrators. The images I have for you today are not as familiar to us as his more celebrated and well known coloured illustrations. They are taken from a 1907 publication Land of Enchantment - a collection of traditional folk tales - but were not produced specifically for this book. The drawings (and indeed the stories) originally appeared in a periodical named Little Folks between 1896 and 1902 Seemingly, the publishers thought them worthy of republication and Rackham was glad to oblige providing assistance with their selection.

Whilst I enjoy his more famous coloured works I am also a big fan of these pen and ink drawings. I think they have an almost “comic book” type of quality to them. Click on any image to best appreciate the full sized versions.

Land of Enchantment features 13 full page illustrations in all. View the full set at my Flickr photostream HERE. The book also features many smaller illustrations within the text and this week I’m giving my subscribers a free pdf of the book along with all 13 of the full page images extracted at 300dpi. If you would like to receive freebies like this from me in future,please enter your details in the opt-in box at the top of this page.

Astronomicum Caesareum

Steven — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 20:22:47 +0000

These fantastic hand coloured wood-cuts are taken from the 16th Century astronomy text Astronomicum Caesareum by Petrus Apian. Taking several years to produce at his private print shop in Ingolstadt the book is unusual in that it contains twenty one illustrations with moving parts (so called “volvelles“). These are primarily planetary equatoria (paper wheels designed for locating the position of planets in the zodiac). Even in the 16th century it was a great luxury item with a very limited print. Tycho Brahe is recoreded as having paid twenty florins for his copy which equates to approximately $3000 today!

Best appreciated at maxiumum size (click to go to the full size on Flickr)

A PDF of this book containing 37 full colour plates (along with many other rare astronomical texts from the 15th to the 18th century) can be obtained for free from the web page of the Digital Rare Book Collection at the Vienna University Observatory located at http://www.univie.ac.at/hwastro/.

You can also view the full set of illustrations from Astronomicum Caesareum in my Flickr set HERE.

Vintage Bookplates

Steven — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 18:17:25 +0000

Bookplates, also refered to as ex-libris [Latin for "from the books of..."], are small decorative labels which indicate the owner of a book. They generally appear inside the font cover and often feature a motto, crest, or motif representing the owner. Their usage can be traced back as far as the 14th century however their modern evolution stems from the use of simple inscriptions found inside books of the European Middle Ages which coincided with the advent of “librarianship”. Their use became gradually more widespread from the 17th to the 19th century whilst initial interest in them as collectibles and objects of study in themselves can be traced to the 1860’s. Many bookplates are now of greater interest than the books in which they are affixed and there are collectors of bookplates and societies dedicated to their study all over the world. The examples I have for you today are taken from a publication which is indicative of the level of interest in “ex libris” at the time (late 19th century). The publication in question dates from 1898 / 9 and is a special edition of the popular design periodical The Studio entitled Modern Bookplates and Their Designers. The designers are indicated.

Cyril Goldie

P J Billinghurst

J J Waugh

Henry Ospovat

A K Womrath (left), Henry Ospovat (right)

R Anning Bell (left) H Nelson (right)

All of these amazing images are in the public domain which got me to thinking they could be the basis for excellent designs for any purpose you wanted. I’m sure they could be adapted and would look great on a t-shirt, bag or other merch. If you have a Cafepress store and are looking for new designs, this type of thing would be perfect.

This is just one example of how you can easily use / adapt public domain materials for your own use / profit. To demonstrate how easy it is, I had a go at photoshopping an old bookplate to make a logo for my eBay business & blog (bear in mind, my photoshop skills are virtually non-existant!).

Heres the original:

And my photoshop effort!

I’m sure you get the idea! All that needs to be done is to edit out the name of the book owner and insert your own apt phrase or whatever.

Until next time

P.S. This week I’m giving away a free pdf of the 1898 edition of the Studio from which most of these bookplates are taken to my subscribers. If you would like to receive freebies such as this in the future enter your name and e-mail in the subscription sign up box at the top of this page.

Warwick Goble

Steven — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 09:33:37 +0000

Warwick Goble was a Victorian illustrator who enjoyed his greatest success during the early decades of the 20th century when there was a great demand for colour plate illustrations. One of his earliest commissions was for H G Wells War of the World’s in 1898. His specialisms however, were fairy tales and exotic stories of the East and he is best known for his magnificent watercolour illustrations for a variety of children’s books between 1909 and the early 1920’s. The images I have for you today are taken from the 1912 publication of Folk Tales of Bengal by Rev. Lal Behari Day.

Click any image to see the full size on Flickr.

She rushed out of the palace and came to the upper world

They then set out on their journey

In a trice she woke up, sat up in her bed, and eyeing the stranger, inquired who he was

She took up the jewel in her hand, left the palace, and successfully reached the upper world

The Girl of the Wall-Almirah

They approached a magnificent pile of buildings

I find it strange that Goble is not as well known as some of his contemporaries such as Arthur Rackham and Edmund Dulac given the stunning quality of his work. He continued working into the late 1920’s illustrating Treasure Island and Kidnapped for Macmillan. He died in 1943.

Folk Tales of Bengal contains 32 colour plates in all. You can view the full set on Flickr by clicking HERE.

J. J. Grandville

Steven — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:39:33 +0000

J. J. Grandville was the pseudonym of French caricaturist and illustrator Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard. His early carreer consisted of regular contributions of highly satirical political caricatures for a series of Parisian periodicals. He garnered a great deal of popularity for this work but following the reintroduction of censorship of caricatures in France in 1835, he pursued a notable career as a book illustrator. He illustrated a number of standard works gaining a reputation as the premier illustrator of works such as Gullivers Travels and Robinson Crusoe. His fantastical ilustrations featured a wonderful variety of inanimate objects brought to life, mixed up animal creatures (which he refered to as Metamorphoses) , crazy characters and an imaginative creativity that predated and influenced the school of Surrealism.

It is the far reaching influence of his work which is of most interest. He influenced not only the surrealists as mentioned above but also political cartoonists, comic book illustrators and fantasy artists. His work is known to have influenced not only the illustrator of the Alice in Wonderland tales John Tenniel but their author Lewis Carrol. Look closely at his work and you may also see something of his influence in the animated films of Walt Disney.

Alice in Wonderland anyone?

This picture brings to mind the Be Our Guest scene from Disneys Beauty & the Beast

Click on any of the images above to view them at full size. There are 175 of Grandville’s illustrations available online at the wonderful Visipix site HERE.