Fruit Crate Art

I bet the artists and printers who created these labels had no idea that not so many years later their endeavours would be sought after, framed and hung in the parlor.Joe Davidson writes a short history of the medium and gives some collecting tips but this book is basically pages of coloful labels many of them about the same size as the originals.Considering these labels only went on the ends of fruit and vegtable boxes the range of illustrations is fascinating. Golden Bosc pears thought a thirties streamline train would really push their product, Best Strike apples used a baseball player, Strength oranges an elephant and there are plenty of vistas of growing crops stretching into the distance with snow-capped mountains as a backdrop. As is usual with this kind of book the designer has overlapped the images but I'm pleased to have it in my Americana library, crate art collectors and grpahic designers will enjoy it also.