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EARLY AUTOMOBILES

Name: EARLY AUTOMOBILES
Author: Jim Harter
ISBN: 978-1-60940-489-5

A HISTORY IN ADVERTISING LINE ART, 1890-1930

by Jim Harter ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2015

A welcome addition to the library of books for car buffs—but also to that for art students looking for models of industrial...

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The history of the first generations of automobiles comes to life in popular advertising images, all clean lines and purring motors to set a collector’s heart to pounding.

Texas artist Harter (Early Farm Tractors: A History in Advertising Line Art, 2013, etc.), whose interests range from country rock music to early railroads, is clearly a close student of whatever takes his fancy. The text that opens this collection of images, just a few dozen pages in length, is wide-ranging and very nearly comprehensive, taking into account not just the technological advances from the first horseless carriages to the late 1920s, but also the players and the politics within the industry. As he notes, in 1903, an Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers was formed to secure a patent on the electric vehicle and to regulate the making of gasoline cars, an effort that found both Henry Ford and Ransom Olds edged out of the market. That resulted in both a long lawsuit and the decline of the electric vehicle, which took nearly a century to be revived. In much the same way, writes Harter, Chevrolet was almost axed early in its history, saved only when GM president Alfred P. Sloan “argued for saving it, as it was essential that GM offer a mass market car.” Production thus quadrupled within a few years in the mid-1920s. The bulk of the volume, though, is given over to advertising line art that Harter has chased down from various contemporary sources. This collection, comprising hundreds of mostly photoengraved images, has much value as clip art. There is a certain sameness to the drawings owing to the physical restrictions of the form, but each shows a great deal of detail and much of the dynamism of those early vehicles.

A welcome addition to the library of books for car buffs—but also to that for art students looking for models of industrial design–centered imagery.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-60940-489-5

Page Count: 234

Publisher: Wings Press

Review Posted Online: Jan. 4, 2016

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.