8.13.2008
Highlights from the Collection (part 8)
Since I haven't gone anywhere this summer, chained as I am to my computer, I thought I'd feature this little tourist booklet of photographs I picked up recently. A souvenir from someone's vacation, sometime in the 1940s, it shows the Cote d'Azur surely not as they experienced it, but as they wanted to remember it being.
Smaller than a business card, I think it was the size, at a diminutive 2 x 3", that clinched the sale of these "photos-bijoux." Attractively hand tinted, the b/w images are actually quite sharp (see detail, above).
Details of note:
• eccentric Deco-ish lettering
• scalloped edging (a phenomenon which I've queried before, if anyone has any info to share)
• gold edge-finishing, an unexpectedly luxe touch
• a delicate glasseine fly sheet, difficult to see in the third row, left
Now if we could only go enjoy a Gauloise and glass of Kina Lillet over ice.
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3 comments:
As I was reading, I was thinking of a deckle edge. I forgot about scalloped edges on photographs. But I remember scalloped photos as having a uniform pattern to their edges (like a pattern made with special scissors). Maybe European photos were done differently?
Remarkable to see how much care went into making the pages of that booklet. It's like a Joseph Cornell production.
Hello Angela, I`ve been meaning to post some things since your last photos from London and the mention of St.Pancras station, etc. Good to see you know of Simon Bradley`s book on St.Pancras station; I don`t know what it is like but it looks good.
I bought 'Building St Paul's', by James W.P. Campbell (from the very good publisher Thames and Hudson), a few weeks ago and it has had better reviews than the other recent St.Paul`s book, 'The Phoenix...'. Highly recommended.
A London book you may like: 'London Compendium' by Ed Glinert; from 2004, but slightly out of date already. You can imagine the amount of change London`s street go through in a short period of time. Highly recommended for London history buffs.
'Britain`s Lost Cities', by Gavin Stamp is excellent. A lot of good photographs but not cheap (£25). Not only did the Luftwaffe do a good job of destroying some old buildings but post war local planners had a good go at getting rid of some wonderful buildings.
Good link here, discussing the book. Good photos of The Royal Arch in Dundee...
http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2008/01/05/ephemeral-architecture/
Then there is 'Bloody Old Britain', by Kitty Hauser; a biography of OGS Crawford, who pioneered aerial photography to assist archaeologists. Good photographs in this as well. Review from Current Archaeology...
http://www.archaeology.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1600&Itemid=84
Just one more before I go link crazy!...
http://www.muslimheritage.com/
Cheers, Matt (the New York loving Brit).
http://www.muslimheritage.com/
The Cote D'Azur piece looks a little more regular than deckeled.
Interesting process at: http://www.inkjetart.com/cart/handling-storage-deckled-edge-tools-c-823_835_836.html
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