Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Beautiful Book #8

ABC Book by C.B. Falls. Doubleday, 1923.

I am a fan of woodcut illustrations and I am also a fan of innovative, non-touristy alphabet books. Be prepared to see plenty of them on this list. Today's book combines the best of both. C.B. Falls was a noted illustrator, book designer, and poster artist from the early-mid-20th century, but I don't think he ever produced anything as fine as this iconic, 4-coloured woodcut alphabet that has never once looked anything but cutting edge since it was first published 91 years ago.

The entire book is available from archive.org through a browse-able interface, and I suggest you all take the 30 seconds required to flip through it. https://archive.org/details/abcbook00fall

I've also posted a couple of pictures below to brighten your day.

For the historians and book culture lovers in the crowd, here is a link to a short blog post on Falls' participation in the WWII Books for Victory campaign. http://www.booksforvictory.com/2014/02/illustrator-c-b-falls-and-victory-book.html




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