Showing posts with label The 1960s. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The 1960s. Show all posts

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Book Shelf: Ridiculous Vintage Philip K. Dick Paperback Covers


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Poor Phil! These are original mid-1960s Ace paperback editions of his now-acclaimed novels. Any of you who have read these will recognize that the lurid cover illustrations have nothing –nothing whatsoever– to do with the contents within. Artwork like this is often known to collectors as the "peeled eyeball" style. Ace knew the stuff was good, but they also had no trust in the general public and also knew they had to appeal to 14-year-old boys who really just wanted to read about zap guns, robots and bug-eyed monsters. Solar Lottery was originally serialized in 1955 and had to wait ten years for a "first edition" book release! These are trashed; if I wanted to read these novels again (and I will), I'd buy the tasteful reprints currently available in most bookshops, because if I were to open any of the ones shown here, they'd probably explode in a cloud of splinters, sawdust, and silverfish parts. Here are two more:




Monday, December 14, 2009

Art Collection: Tiny Walter Keane Reproduction



I have a lot to say about Walter Keane and Big-Eyed Art™, but not now. Happy Monday!

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Book Shelf: Decorate Your Life With Random Hunks Of Plastic



This slim craft guide was published in 1964 by Hazel Pearson Handicrafts, Rosemead, CA. I picked it up in the thrift store for its excellent cover graphics. You can click all of these for bigger, legible views. The page below shows you how you can use craft resin to glue hunks of shit to stuff, you know, for beauty:




This page encourages you to make lobsters and mandolins for your windows:


Thursday, December 10, 2009

Vintage Hanger Art!

I've got two lovely examples. The first is from my hometown, Tucson, probably from the early to mid 1970s:


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I love you, Judy, Don and Anne! I'm impressed they've lasted through so many moves.

This next one is generic; how could I put a date on this? This design was probably used for decades:



I have to admit the phrase "Meticulously Cleaned, Beautifully Finished" does pop into my head now and then.

Do any of you have any dated and/or amusing dry cleaner hanger art? Please send it in, and I'll post it here.