1920's German Film book

I came across this wonderful original film tome from the 1920's on a recent trip to Berlin

 I found it nestling at a Kreuzberg fleamarket and was drawn in by it's cover, finely crafted using delicately cut out paper

  

With hand drawn ink patterns and letters too

There was no date but some useful fellow had written this inside - 18.2.23 

Film Fimmel roughly translates as 'Film Infatuation,' so I was intrigued as to what some of the chapters were about.  Because my German only stretches to ordering kaffee und kuchen, I had to take to Google translate with some of these, with limited results - this section below reads as 'Mysterious Characters,' which still doesn't tell me much, although this flat capped ruffian is already a winner

 

Since it was printed in the silent film era, I'm guessing the rest are probably directions of how best to execute certain types of scene.  I could only translate snippets of the rest, but I think it's actually quite fun to get lost trying to decipher the weird and amusing goings on.

Since some of the pages were slightly coming away which gets those book collector creatues all ruffled I got it for just 5 euros which I felt triumphant about since it's obviously a unique item with an unmistakable connection to the visual hallmarks of what was a hugely influential era.

The cover made me think straight away of the jagged edges, sharp angles seen in lots of German Expressionist films of the time, but especially The Cabinet of Dr Caligari - I'd recently spent an afternoon watching it with some excellent visual fiends Jo who also blogs about vintage treasures she finds in grubby lorries, and Jaana, Estonian refugee and clever book designer, and we were infatuated with the striking sets and spiky shapes and the superb sense of menace and expertly crafted creepiness throughout.

Made in 1920, it would have been around at the same time as the book's publication.

 

I was in Berlin to create an installation with artist Rachael Macarthur.  Thanks to Das Gift for hosting us, a super bar and gallery space in Neukolln with a Scottish slant.  Here are a few pics of what we created:

1940's Funghi Book covers

I came across this cheeky duo at the market I run recently and was so charmed by the bold, pop graphics and supreme colour scheme I had to manhandle a customer who'd already bought them and ask if I could grab a few pictures (albeit dreary iPhone ones that don't do them justice) 

They were both printed in 1945, one of my favourite eras for lively and exciting surface design, but due to the psychedelic subject matter they somehow wouldn't look out of place amongst the tripped out fabrics of the late 60's / early 70's.

 The colours on the cover above made me think of a palette that swelled in popularity across graphics, textiles and ceramics just a few years on in the 1950's.  This handsome mid century ceramics set by German company Schlossberg used an almost identical colour scheme. 

Source: Obsessionistas

I would love an entire kaftan printed with these marvellous mushrooms, even if this would put me at risk of purchasing a bongo drum at a later date.

Portugese book covers

I spent a week skipping around Porto in Portugal a while back and was cheered to find some playful book graphics lurking at flea markets and in musty back street shops.

Some colourful 1960's and 70's psychedelic numbers here:

 I was a little bewitched by these mysterious (and racy?) looking tomes, probably from the 1950's 

 

And approved of the all round abundance of turquoise colour schemes, hurrah!

Most of Porto's typography, signage and interiors are all still firmly lodged in the 1960's and 70's making it a pretty excellent retro excursion.  I also loved the splendid Art Deco sights dotted around the city that still look really quite glorious.

I was pretty charmed by some of the local characters who still seem to reside in the past too

We also went to a superb Art Deco villa on the outskirts of the city called Serralves, started in 1925 by Portugese architect José Marques da Silva and finally finished in 1944 for the Count of Vizela to reside in.  It has incredible examples of opulent 30's features and fittings as well as vast and ridiculously idyllic grounds replete with expertly coiffed lawns, wooded paths and a scented garden - this Count was a lucky chap.

We also tried this dubious local culinary beast - Franceshinas consist of dangerous levels of bread, ham, sausage, chipolata, steak and melted cheese complemented with a tomato and beer sauce and render you immobile for around 48 hours.

 Pretty vistas and rustic rambling galore

Hungarian Book Covers

Just got back from adventuring in Transylvania and Hungary.  Found all of these titles by chance in a backstreet bookshop in Budapest - my favourites are the first few surreal and sci fi beauties.

Some fairly unhinged imagery similar to the covers I featured last year from Lviv in the Ukraine.

The whole hoard has some interesting graphic and illustrative styles, with the titles seemed to date from around the 1950's to 1970's.  I think the best one is the naked alien people with the block of colour over their eyes, yes! I managed to smuggle it home so they now greet me daily as I wake up;  the jury's still out on what the long term effects of this are.

 

Some nice 1950's covers too

 

And some great very minimal reduced shapes and graphics

Bold greens and reds made these simple covers stand out too

Anyway, Transylvania was a winner! Icy tundras, hearty stodge, alcoholic blueberry tea and rambling taxi rides to rural villages where they still use horses and carts and farming has remained pretty much the same as 100 years ago. 

We were also lucky enough to be invited into a local woman Susanna's home, and got to marvel at her extensive collection of enamelware, vintage units, tea sets and alarming amounts of kitsch.

We stayed in a welcoming town called Cluj Napoca - home of the Cheeky Girls, who we incidentally SAW which made us chortle for around a week.  Romanians are super affable types and the language is actually, thankfully, more like Spanish or Italian as opposed to some of the Eastern countries who think nothing of putting five consonants in a row like this is normal sane practice.

Well worth a visit and apparently neighbouring Moldova is also excellent in summer.  Just don't order this utter beast if you can help it (there was a massive slab of pork underneath all that too).