Graphic Design

Hardcover. East Petersburg PA, Fox Chapel Publishing, 1st, 2011, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket. Cigar box labels in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were not only amusing and beautiful to admire, they were a testament to the printing process of chromolithography and an important precursor to today's methods of product advertising. Labeling America: Popular Culture on Cigar Box Labels showcases the unique collection of John Grossman which covers 90 years of cigar box labels and bands printed by four generations of George Schlegel Lithographers. What makes this archive unique is that the Schlegel Company kept meticulous sample albums and files showing an unbroken record of American graphic style evolution. The work of many other lithographers of that era either destroyed or irreversibly dispersed their work.Now housed at the Winterthur Museum in Delaware, the carefully cataloged Grossman collection gives a glimpse into life at the turn of the century, when over 5 billion cigars were being sold in the United States via boxes with colorful labels depicting everything from women, animals, and sports icons to actors, heroes, and political figures. This book takes these beautifully printed slices of American culture and combines them with the history of chromolithography into an interesting story of America's changing tastes. Clean, bright copy.

Hardcover. NY, W.W. Norton & Co., 1st, 1996, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 144 pages. Lester Beall, who died in 1969, was the first graphic designer to receive a one-man exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art (in 1937) and was awarded the 1993 Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Institute of Graphic Artists, a sign of his importance in American graphic design. In full color, this book documents the work of his pioneering 44-year career-advertising, corporate-identity programs, product styling, packaging, exhibits, murals, annual reports, posters, books, and magazines for a wide range of clients, including the U.S. government, the International Paper Company, Martin Marietta Corporation, and many others.

Softcover. San Francisco , Chronicle Books, 1st, 1992, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 120 pages. Softcover. A very clean, unmarked copy with only minor edgewear. A history of American typography and graphic design throughout the industrial age. 200 color illustrations throughout.

Hardcover. New York, Van Nostrand Reinhold , 1st, 1969, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 174 pages. INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR ON TITLE PAGE. Yellow cloth covers, dark yellow dust jacket, 207 b&w illustrated figures. Light edgewear and rubbing to dust jacket, light edgewear to covers, pages crisp and unmarked, tight binding.

Hardcover. Springfield MA, The Linweave Association, 1st, 1934, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, light peach boards with a maroon cloth spine. A promotional piece for a paper company. Literary contributions by Dunsany, Masefield, Morley, Aiken and others. Color illustrations by T.M. Cleland, C.B. Falls, William Aylward, Richard Floethe, others. Boards with light soil, interior clean, bright.

Softcover. Burlington, VT, Lund Humphries , 1st, 2008, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 240 pages. Softcover. A very clean, unmarked copy. Color illustrations throughout. London Transport Posters celebrates a century of outstanding graphic design commissioned by the Underground, London Transport, and its present-day successor, Transport for London. Drawing on newly researched sources in the archives of the London Transport Museum and Transport for London, the book discusses and illustrates the different styles and themes emerging from the posters over the last hundred years. It includes examples of over 250 posters from all periods and will be an invaluable reference book and visual resource for all those with an interest in 20th-century design.

Softcover. Berlin, Gestalten Verlag, 1st, 2006, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 208 pages. Like new in publishers shrink-wrap. This monograph features Jaybo's font designs, logos, record covers and examples of his work as the Art Director of the lifestyle magazine Style and the Family Tunes.

Softcover. Berlin, Gestalten Verlag, 1st, 2006, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 208 pages. Like new in publishers shrink-wrap. This monograph features Jaybo's font designs, logos, record covers and examples of his work as the Art Director of the lifestyle magazine Style and the Family Tunes.

Hardcover. Berkeley CA, University of California Press, 1st, 2008, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 287 pages. Pictorial boards, no dust jacket issued. This beautifully illustrated book-the definitive volume on American sculptor Mark di Suvero-features more than two hundred images of his most important works, interspersed with short texts by the artist and by other writers who have inspired his art-making practice, plus a contribution by Francois Barre. Humanist in approach and populist in sensibility, di Suvero's sculpture is accessible, inviting, and inclusive. Praised in particular for his monumental assemblages incorporating steel and wood, di Suvero emerged as a superstar in the 1960s. He was the first living artist to show his sculpture at the Tuileries Gardens, Paris, and the first honored with three major exhibitions at Storm King Art Center. His distinctive, bold pieces can be found in museums and public collections all over the world, and he continues to be the subject of numerous exhibitions both in the United States and in Europe. Mark di Suvero: Dreambook is a celebration of his artistic oeuvre and of his long, distinguished career. 

Hardcover. NY, McSweeney's, 1st, 2004, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 263 pages. Guest-editing Dave Eggers's literary journal, Jimmy Corrigan cartoonist Ware has assembled a beautifully designed anthology of contemporary art comics, with a few vintage treats thrown in, including an excerpt from "Obadiah Oldbuck"--an 1842 publication that's arguably the first American comic book--and a series of very rough sketches by Charles Schulz. A few pieces have recently been published elsewhere (including excerpts from Mark Beyer's loopy, design-heavy Amy and Jordan and Joe Sacco's comics essay on Sarajevo, The Fixer), but the book is a superb introduction to the best American cartoonists working today. Some of them, including Richard McGuire and Mark Newgarden, haven't published much since the heyday of RAW in the late 1980s and early '90s; others, like Lynda Barry and Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez, are prolific creators at the top of their form. As Ira Glass points out in his introduction, Ware seems to believe cartooning gets no respect at all, and his McSweeney's is a passionate defense of the medium. Ware has included work by artists with an impressively varied range of visual styles and narrative techniques. And Ware's own contribution is brilliant: the book's cover unfolds into a gigantic "comics supplement" of his bitter little cartoons, with extra, tiny comic books by Ron Rege Jr. and John Porcellino tucked into its folds.

Hardcover. Taschen, 1st, 2011, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 392 pages, 684 illustrations, 664 in color. Text in English, German and French. Large volume, pictorial covers, no dust jacket issued. Menu Design is an omnibus showcasing the best examples of this graphic art. With nearly 800 examples, illustrated in vibrant color, this deluxe volume not only showcases this extraordinary collection of paper ephemera but serves as a history of restaurants and dining out in America. An introduction on the history of menu design by graphic design writer Steven Heller and extended captions by culinary historian John Mariani accompany the menus throughout the book.

Hardcover. Woodstock NY, Overlook Press, 1st, 1973, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover in a lightly worn dust jacket with wear to extremities. 239 pages with 344 illustrations, 97 in color. This book explores the extraordinary achievement of America's pre-eminent graphic artist. Here Glaser undertakes not only a wide-ranging representation of his oeuvre but, in a personally revealing introduction, speaks of the influences on his work, the responsibilities of the artist, the hierarchies of the traditional art world, and the role of graphic design in the area of his creative growth. His work ranges from posters to book and record covers; from store and restaurant design to toy creations, magazine formats, and logotypes all of which define the look of the 1960s and 70s. Tape repair to reverse of dust jacket, no markings. DOMESTIC SHIPPING ONLY.

Hardcover. NY, Hacker Art Books, 1st US, 1981, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover, 269 pages, illustrated throughout with 119 plates in color. Light edgewear and rubbing to dust jacket. Clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. London, Gingko Press, 1st, 2010, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, pictorial boards, 256 pages. Modart editors showcase some of the actions and events from the first decade of the new millennium. It features now iconic images, passionate writing and a veritable fount of great new art from around the world.

Hardcover. New York, Wiley-Interscience, 1st, 1989, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 402 pages. Light shelf-wear to dust jacket with slightly sun-faded spine. Clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. Czech Republic, Kant, 1st, 2025, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, pictorial boards, 264 pages. Venturing across five decades of American culture, this landmark book explores how modern graphic design emerged in the United States and how it became an intrinsic feature of the country's identity. Author and design professor Christopher Long tells this story in a wholly new way, exposing many long-forgotten figures and movements and resurrecting the debates and conceptions that were integral to the new art. In a series of deeply involving portraits of American artists and innovators who helped shape the very look of the modern age, Modern Americanness offers a sweeping story of the country's visual culture and its distinctiveness across a variety of designed objects: magazine covers, food labels, event posters, chapbooks, advertisements, propaganda and much more. Still in publisher's shrinkwrap.

Hardcover. London, Black Dog Publishing, 1st, 2010, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 192 pages. Hardcover no dust jacket. Clean, unmarked copy with only minor wear to boards.

Hardcover. NY, William Helburn, 1st, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, blue cloth with silver stamping. Folio, 9 1/4 X 13 1/2". 80 plates printed on one side only, most in color. No date given but appears to be late 20s/1930. With architect Albert Kahn's ownership signature in pencil on front fly leaf. Covers with edgewear but interior is clean and bright. Bookplate on inside front cover. Scarce. DOMESTIC SHIPPING ONLY.

Hardcover. New Haven CT, Yale University Press, 1st, 2020, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, Original black lettered cloth quarter laid on pictorial boards, 184 pages. A fascinating exploration of how photography, graphic design, and popular magazines converged to transform American visual culture at mid-century. This dynamic study examines the intersection of modernist photography and American commercial graphic design between 1930 and 1960. Avant-garde strategies in photography and design reached the United States via European emigres, including Bauhaus artists forced out of Nazi Germany. The unmistakable aesthetic made popular by such magazines as Harper's Bazaar and Vogue--whose art directors, Alexey Brodovitch and Alexander Liberman, were both immigrants and accomplished photographers--emerged from a distinctly American combination of innovation, inclusiveness, and pragmatism. Beautifully illustrated with more than 150 revolutionary photographs, layouts, and cover designs, Modern Look considers the connections and mutual influences of such designers and photographers as Richard Avedon, Lillian Bassman, Herbert Bayer, Robert Frank, Lisette Model, Gordon Parks, Irving Penn, Cipe Pineles, and Paul Rand. Essays draw a lineage from European experimental design to innovative work in American magazine design at mid-century and offer insights into the role of gender in fashion photography and political activism in the mass media.

Hardcover. London & New York , The Studio Publications, 1st, 1941, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, red cloth stamped in black, 127 pages + ads, illustrated throughout in b&w. INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR on front fly leaf. Light rubbing, fraying to edges, binding slightly shaken. Internally very good.

Softcover. London, Batsford, 1st, 2012, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Softcover in pictorial dust jacket, 224 pages, color illustrations. A stunning survey of modern illustration that uses older styles of artistic expression to evoke a sense of another time and place. These vintage-style illustrations play with the past, subvert it, on occasion, but always feel fresh. Organized into 12 chapters by historical or cultural period, the book features hundreds of the best examples of modern retro illustration including styles as varied as Constructivist, Dada and Art Noveau. From work showing the ornamentation of Victorian fonts, the stylized angles of Art Deco, the lines of soviet poster art, the influence of Saul Bass and Blue Note record sleeves to the new slant on photorealism, and the renaissance of punk and comic art. Hundreds of artists from all over the world have contributed to a beautiful, witty and inspiring collection of vintage illustration. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Scribner's , 1st, 1912, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Poor, Hardcover, 44 pages. Verse w/ 2-color plates by Herford. Dj chipped, repaired, chunks gone.

Softcover. Chrysalis, 1st, 2002, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 256 pages. Color illustrations throughout.

Hardcover. Montreal, Drawn & Quarterly, 1st, 2012, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 176 pages. Adrian Tomine's illustrations and comics have been appearing for more than a decade in the pages (and on the cover) of The New Yorker. Instantly recognizable for their deceptively simple and evocative style, these images have garnered the attention of The New Yorker's readership and the approbation of such venerable institutions as the Art Directors Club and American Illustration.New York Drawings is a loving homage to the city that Tomine, a West Coast transplant, has called home for the past seven years. This lavish, beautifully designed volume collects every cover, comic, and illustration that he has produced for The New Yorker to date, along with an assortment of other rare and uncollected illustrations and sketches inspired by the city. Complete with notes and annotations by the author, New York Drawings will also feature a new introductory comic focusing on Tomine's experiences as a New York illustrator.