Fresh Type

Great Works of Literature Gone Chick-Lit

If you’re a serious collector of literature, you’d probably think it horrifying to alter Hemingway’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls” so that the soldiers are fighting with pillows instead of guns (although adding zombies to Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” struck many as a fine idea). So you can imagine how serious female writers must feel when editors tell them, “You need to make this more chick-lit.”… (continue reading)

Plotting a World Record, One Marker at a Time

Artist and graphic designer Allister Lee works out of his Studio B.I.B. in Toronto, where he makes commercial art for shoe and clothing companies like Nike, Stussy, Miskha, and Adidas. Because he only uses black markers in his art and advertising graphics (B.I.B. means “Black Is Beautiful”), he also happens to be amassing the world’s largest collection of black markers. While he has a small number of colored markers—including some of those fruit-scented Sanford Mr. … (continue reading)

Kem Weber: The Mid-Century Modern Designer Who Paved the Way for IKEA

When most people think of Mid-Century Modern, they conjure images of kidney-shaped coffee tables, boomerang-patterned lampshades, and wall clocks that explode in starbursts and other radiating designs. But in the 1930s, long before Mid-Century Modern was the definition of cool in Madison Avenue corner offices and Palm Springs living rooms, an architect and designer named Kem Weber was helping define a sleek, unfussy look that would become all the rage in … (continue reading)

Globe Poster Wood-Type Archive Preserved

Good news for poster lovers: the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) is purchasing about 75 percent of the Globe Poster Company’s working collection of wood type, images, and illustrations.

Based in Baltimore, Globe was one of the pre-eminent letterpress printers in the United States. Though not as old as Hatch Show Print in Nashville, which has been around since 1879, Globe produced boxing-style letterpress posters for … (continue reading)

On the Trail of an Art Pottery Mystery

Today’s guest blogger is antiques collector and dealer Marianne Dow, who writes about the bottle collecting hobby for the Findlay Antique Bottle Club. You can find her on Show & Tell, too.

Back in 1996, I picked up this small pottery display plaque/sign advertising Rozart Pottery’s Twainware line. I love Mark Twain—and art pottery—and the fact that it was an advertising piece made it a “must-have.” … (continue reading)

The Underappreciated Magic of Puppets

Blogger Lynda Abbott of Appraise Your Junk collects dolls, toys, and vintage advertisements, among other things. She’s known as Vestaswind on Show & Tell.

When I was in second grade, I had a friend who had traveled the world with her military father. In her room were dolls from around the world and a puppet stage right out of “The Sound of Music” movie. Being a showoff even then, … (continue reading)

Rare Acid Test Posters Flying High

Of all the rock posters from the 1960s, few command as much attention as those created for the legendary acid tests in 1965 and 1966. Organized by author Ken Kesey and featuring music by the Grateful Dead, these events took place in the San Francisco Bay Area and Southern California, and were popularized by Tom Wolfe in his 1968 book “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.”

… (continue reading)

The Folklore and Fashion of Japanese Netsuke

For diminutive objects, Japanese netsuke are an enormous subject, as this interview with Christine Drosse so amply shows. Drosse is a Curatorial Administrator at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, whose Pavilion for Japanese Art is home of the museum’s collection of netsuke, 150 of which are on permanent view. A netsuke collector herself, Drosse also writes a column called “Netsuke Basics from A to Z,” which is published in the quarterly “International Netsuke Society … (continue reading)

Devils, Doves, and World War I: The Rock-n-Roll Posters of Gary Houston

Since the early 1990s, Portland artist and graphic designer Gary Houston has been hand-pulling screen-printed concert posters for everyone from David Byrne and Patti Smith to Willie Nelson and Wilco. In this interview, Houston explains the sources of his images, the techniques he uses to create them, and how the content of his posters often relates to the attitudes and approaches of the musicians and bands he depicts. For more information about Houston’s posters, visit voodoocatbox.com.

My … (continue reading)

Total Immersion Collecting: Baptism Photos

Today’s guest blogger is artist, author, and collector Jim Linderman, who treats his blog like an art form. You can find him on Show & Tell, too.

Collecting anything is fun—somehow any group of objects always equals more than the sum of its parts. Personally, I prefer groups of three. That’s enough to show differences and similarities at the same time. But there is another reason to collect, … (continue reading)

Favorite Fountain Pens: Lapis Blue Pelikan 101

Today’s guest blogger is pen collector Rick Propas, who runs The PENguin, a website devoted to Pelikans, Parkers, and other German and American pens.

Like most collectors, those of us who pursue pens have a Holy Grail that we burn for, even while recognizing that we may never find it.

For me that pen was the lapis blue Pelikan 101. The 101 model was made in five … (continue reading)

Dreaming of a Posh Christmas, in Postcards

Today’s guest blogger is Lizzie Bramlett, a.k.a. Fuzzy Lizzie, a self-made clothing historian who has a website, Fuzzy Lizzie, and a blog, The Vintage Traveler.

As a fan of vintage clothing and all things vintage related to Christmas, I naturally seek out vintage Christmas cards that have a fashionable edge. The clothing shown in these vintage card illustrations is often stylized and a bit romanticized, but looking … (continue reading)