Bookmarks: The Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen

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TASCHEN's Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales book with a teddy bear and lit candle | H is for Home

This edition of The Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen edited by Noel Daniel is a sumptuous collection of the author’s work.

TASCHEN's Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales book cover

The book opens with a detailed biography which is truly fascinating.

The Heart and Soul of the Modern Fairy Tale

In describes how Hans rose from humble origins to become one of the most famous authors of the time – much celebrated by society – even fêted by royalty of the day.

The Little Mermaid illustration from TASCHEN's Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales

His father was a shoemaker but had taught himself to read and unusually for the time actually owned a cupboardful of books. He could actually provide his son with “story time” – probably a rare treat for children of the time.

The Swineherd illustration from TASCHEN's Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales

His mother was illiterate, but strongly influenced by the verbal story telling tradition of the region. She was actually deeply superstitious and firmly entrenched in the world of Scandinavian folklore where creatures such as goblins, trolls, witches & spirits roamed.

Thumbelina illustration from TASCHEN's Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales

You can see how the combination of these two important role models would lead Hans on his path to literary fame.

The Princess and the Pea illustration from TASCHEN's Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales

Hans himself became a voracious reader and spent much time alone immersed in books. He also had a puppet theatre – no doubt a magical world where he developed story lines & characters, made costumes, adapted language & voices.

The Nightingale illustration from TASCHEN's Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales

Another important influence was actually his local asylum! His grandmother tended the garden there and Hans often accompanied her. He would sneak off to the spinning room – the social heart of the place, where old women of the town would tell tales to amuse themselves whilst spinning. It was full of gossip & exciting chatter for a small boy – a place where he could get wrapped up in the oral tradition of peasant folktales. In this world even inanimate objects had their own minds & special powers. An ability to anthropomorphize objects became a hallmark of his work.

The Ugly Duckling illustration from TASCHEN's Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales

He was actually very ambitious and craved recognition. We like this quote of his: “Being born in a duck yard does not matter, if only you are hatched from a swan’s egg”. A true statement of intent.

The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep illustration from TASCHEN's Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales

His stories have become classics, much loved by successive generations – The Ugly Duckling, The Princess & The Pea, The Tinderbox, The Snow Queen, The Darning Needle, The Little Match Girl – to name but a few.

The Darning Needle illustration from TASCHEN's Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales

Each tale has its own dedicated chapter. The title page has a few introductory words encompassing a short overview, origins, influences and other little snippets related to that particular story. Then follows the tale itself with accompanying illustrations.

The Little Match Girl illustration from TASCHEN's Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales

This collection of tales is again illustrated by a wonderful array of artists. The artwork is stunning throughout and everyone will have their own favourites. It might even change with each reading!

The Little Match Girl illustration from TASCHEN's Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales

Josef Palecek (The little mermaid), Einar Nerman ( The Swineherd), Katharine Beverley & Elizabeth Ellender (The Snow Queen) are some that particularly caught our eye.

The Snow Queen illustration from TASCHEN's Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales

The Snow Queen illustration from TASCHEN's Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales

The Snow Queen illustration from TASCHEN's Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales

In fact we loved the Snow Queen so much we’ve included 3 illustrations. They were done in the 1920s. The stark black & white with flashes of red is just stunning.

The Tinderbox illustration from TASCHEN's Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales

The book closes with artists’ biographies; again well researched & very interesting.

Artist biographies in TASCHEN's Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales

We reviewed companion publication, The Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm last year – it complements this Andersen collection perfectly!

TASCHEN's Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales and Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales books

A wonderful book for adults & children alike – you never know where “story time” might lead!!

The Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen is available from its publisher TASCHEN, Amazon and Hive.

[Many thanks to TASCHEN for this review copy]

Bookmarks: Advertising from the Mad Men Era

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"Advertising from the Mad Man Era" with martini and cigarette in a mid-century modern glass ashtray

In this week’s Bookmarks post, we’ve been taking a look at Mid-century Ads: Advertising from the Mad Men Era by Steven Heller & Jim Heimann … and it certainly has been a long look – this book’s a leviathan!

the two volumes of "Advertising from the Mad Man Era"

It’s a twin volume, magnum opus of mid 20th century American ads covering many of the well known, not so well known, long extinct and still going strong corporations and brands. It takes us on a journey from quite literal ads heavy on copy & pictorialism to the modernist approaches incorporating abstraction, satire and visual simplicity.

book spines of "Advertising from the Mad Man Era"

The volumes are divided into decades – the 1950s and the 1960s.

inside front cover of "Advertising from the Mad Man Era"

The inside covers have an illustrated time line of advertising landmarks, followed by an introductory overview of the decade – then page after page after page of fabulous examples of advertising from the era.

contents page of "Advertising from the Mad Man Era"

Advertising in the mid-century modern era was all about feeding the populace ideas of success and affluence…

vintage advert with a poem entitled "Crossing"

…how to achieve it, how to achieve the outward appearance of having it and, most of all, how to go about spending the fruits of it!

1950s airline advert for 880

The United States’ national GDP rose from £100 billion in 1940 to a staggering £500 billion in 1960.

1950s advert for Braniff Airways to Rio

The advertising industry grew rapidly in direct correlation to this ever-increasing disposable income.

1950s airline advert for TWA

As well as mass expansion in air travel, the 1950s were also a period of big, fast cars – affordable to more people than ever before.

1950s advert for Chevrolet

Cinema was at its height, new electrical goods were being invented or improved, convenience food products being developed and new fashions appearing.

1950s advert for Olivetti Lettera typewriters

With the ongoing prosperity and conspicuous consumption, interior decoration was a popular pastime and useful way of expressing one’s taste, showing off and “keeping up with the Jones'”. Weren’t we all transfixed by the interior design of the sets of the Stirling Cooper office, Don & Megan’s Manhattan love nest?

1950s advert for Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola was a staple of the US troops and its popularity soared post-war. Lots more women were going out to work – and every secretary needed her Olivetti typewriter! The development & growth of such products into huge brands led to the possibility of a distinct form of promotion – the snappy picture & tag-line creations often referred to “Big Idea” advertising – the “Marlboro Man” series being a classic example.

1950s advert for the film Barbarella

The Mad Men era was an innocent, in some ways more uncomplicated time – pre-Post-Feminism and political correctness.

1950s advert for Marlboro cigarettes

Most 21st century Americans would wince at using babies to flog cigarettes!

1950s advert for Gulf Oil

And no oil company today would have the nerve to use a whale to advertise oil!

1950s advert for Budweiser beer

The industry inevitably absorbed the social changes of the wider world – it began to recognise the strength of the “Black dollar”…

1950s advert for Cameo Stockings

…and with the expanding female workforce, the female dollar too.

1950s advert for Catalina Swimsuits

Other outside influences seemed to pass the advertising world by – there’s not much sign civil rights movement, student protests or the Vietnam War!

1960/70s advert with Twiggy modelling a maxi dress

The advertising hotbeds of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles &  San Francisco held onto a more idealistic view of the world, but their output still reflects many aspects of mid 20th century society.

1950s advert for fashion fabrics

There’s a really interesting 3-minute slideshow on the BBC website where Tashen America‘s executive editor, Jim Heimann describes the images and the role they played in shaping modern culture.

1950s advert for Colombia hi fi

There’s lots of great artwork, graphics, typography & photography to feast your eyes upon in the two volumes – over 600 pages in total!

1950s advert for blood

So treat yourself to a copy – or even better, put it on your birthday or Christmas pressie list. Then settle yourself into a comfy chair and wallow in all the mid century wonderfulness!!!

Mid-century Ads: Advertising from the Mad Men Era is available from Amazon and Hive

[Many thanks to Taschen for this review copy]

Bookmarks: Jazz Covers

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"Jazz Covers" book surrounded by vintage jazz LPs

Today’s bookmarks post features Jazz Covers by Joaquim Paulo & Julius Wiedemann (Ed.) – and published by Taschen.

Chick Corea LP cover

Justin’s a big jazz fan and has an ever-expanding record collection – particularly 50s & 60s vinyl.

Chico Hamilton Quintet LP cover

This book review’s been a real treat for him.

Dizzy Gillespie LP covers

We’ve been thinking for some time that we need to do a blog post featuring some of the fantastic album covers from this era…

"Blue Train" John Coltrane LP cover

…then lo & behold this wonderful book appeared!

Sauter Finegan "Inside Sauter Finegan" and "The Sons of Sauter Finegan" LP covers

It’s certainly a great looking package. There’s a striking outer box sleeve and the book spines contained within resemble LPs stacked on a shelf. It’s a lovely little touch – typical of Taschen”s quality and attention to detail.

"Jazz Covers" volumes out of their sleeve

Jazz Covers is divided into two volumes – first artists A-K and then L-Z.

"Olé" John Coltrane LP cover

Great names such as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Charlie Mingus and Thelonious Monk (perhaps we shouldn’t start listing names because there’s always one more that has to be mentioned).

detail from Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie "Diz Bird" LP cover

Each volume starts with interviews from legendary jazz figures – Bob Ciano (former art director at CTI), Fred Cohen (owner of the Jazz Record Centre in New York), Michael Cuscuna (producer at Blue Note Records), Rudy Van Gelder (sound engineer), Ashley Kahn (author & jazz critic) and Creed Taylor (founder of Impulse! Records).

Duke Ellington LP cover

They truly are legends within the industry and their thoughts are both fascinating & insightful – shedding light on the design process and the music itself.

Dick Katz "Kool for Katz" LP cover

Following these short interviews are page after page of the most wonderful album covers.

"Jazz Gunn" Shelly Manne and his Men LP cover

We took photographs of some of our favourites, but the quality’s so amazing that if we’d returned the next day we’d probably have chosen a completely different selection!

Jimmy Smith "Home Cookin'" LP cover

Accompanying the photographs are superb side notes – there are details about each record – artist, date, label etc.  Also additional information about the musicians who played on them, producers, design influences, record industry snippets and wider social history.

"Connection" jazz LP cover

We really like the use of these extensive side notes which breaks information up into manageable, reader friendly chunks – absolutely perfect for a big ‘coffee table’ book.

Don Randi Trio "Where do we go From Here?" LP cover

Volume II ends with ‘top ten lists’ where some of the worlds most influential DJs and biggest collectors spill the beans on the albums that they just couldn’t live without.

Miles Davis "Sorcerer" and "We Want Miles" LP covers

Having read their lists, there are serious concerns for our bank balance!

Sarah Vaughan "The Explosive Side of Sarah Vaughan" LP cover

As you might have guessed, we couldn’t recommend this book highly enough – it’s fabulous!

"Focus" jazz LP cover

Jazz enthusiasts will obviously get the most from it, but it will also appeal to lovers of design, art, typography & photography in general. Get it on your pressie list!!

Modern Jazz Quartet "The Sheriff" LP cover

As well as the Taschen website, this book is also available on Amazon.

[Many thanks to Taschen for this review copy]