Christmas: Vintage Holiday Graphics

i came across this book at the museum store in one of the vegas hotel shops last year. they were 10.00 but i was so intrigued i bought 2 as gifts for others. this year when i saw them i picked up 4 and also gave then as presents. christmas ads run from the teens with sepia santa pix to the 60-70's when aluminum trees were in style. best ads are the vintage 40's.

Nice Clipart...some good old classic generic clipart. I scan it in...wish it was already scanned in. Great price... You should be happy.

While I enjoyed looking at the array of graphics, and I did wallow in warm fuzzies of Christmas past, I was disappointed that most of the graphics were grainy, some cut off, and several pages of my book looked like they had been ripped by a binding machine. Still, I put it out, and people really enjoyed looking through it and smiling that smile of rememberance which Christmas can bring.

I LOVE this book. Looking back at the advertisements of old and their sweet innocence that overflows with joyful, happy faces, beautiful snowy landscapes, warm fireplaces, and delicious food is really unnecessary. We have things SO much better these days. Our country is not divided, our culture is not at all coarse or crude, violent crime is almost unheard of, kids respect themselves and each other, and our mental health is so much better than in those old, foolishly sappy days. I need to stop thinking of the nostalgic times that this book recounts, and concentrate on the reality of today which is so very much better than in those days. I mean that....Honestly....I do...It REALLY is better today...No kidding....For real...Just look around-you'll see.

The latest Taschen Icon graphics book finally catches up with the American festive season and presents a delightful collection of historical printed matter. I liked the comprehensive selection of items, cards, wrapping paper, parcel tags, consumer ads, magazine covers, photos of house decorations, sheet music covers and all in color. Historically they come from Victorian times to about the mid-sixties. Kris Kringle obviously gets a good showing and I was surprised to see that he was depicted as a plump guy many years before illustrator Haddon Sundblom fixed his size for ever in 1932 for the first of his annual Coca-Cola paintings. Incidentally, as the drinks company has used Christmas as a strong selling point hundreds of items they have created can be seen in 'Coca-Cola Collectible Santas' (ISBN 1887432930). ***FOR A LOOK INSIDE click 'customer images' under the cover.