Whilst at home over xmas, I was browsing through the bookshelves for things of interest. My mum is a choreographer and has quite a few dance related books. This one caught my eye, mainly because of the beautiful photographs, but the typesetting is pretty nice too. It probably had a nice dust jacket originally but no sign of that now unfortunately. I can’t find a publication date in the book either, but it’s plainly somewhere in the 1920’s.
There’s some interesting stuff in the book about Margaret’s ideas on dance and health. She also talks about illuminated outdoor performances at night, which must have really been something to behold if these photographs are anything to go by.
She mentions in the preface that the photographer Fred Daniels was primarily a painter. I think that really comes across in his photographs.
Some further info on Margaret Morris.
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When my grandmother moved house, I found some great pieces of graphic ephemera tucked away. By far my favourite is this matchbook, printed in high-vis orange and blue on the outside (I’m a sucker for complimentary colours). Inside a tangy combination of deep indigo and a cool magenta for the sulphur tips.
Having the destinations the company serviced individually printed on to the matchsticks – wow.
A couple of years ago I went to Prague for a few days. On the way up to the castle I stumbled across a cool little shop that was packed full of old posters, postcards, magazines, matchboxes and suchlike. These labels from alcohol bottles caught my eye.
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In amongst the previously mentioned postcards was a great set of martial art poses. Here are some of the best ones.
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We bought a load of old postcards recently. They vary from tediously bland to outright weird. Some of the landscape scenes have great colours in them. I find them quite curious, its a bit like peering in to another world. A world of heightened colours and bleak but strangely beautiful vistas.
A Book of Scripts by Alfred Farbank, cover by Jan Tschichold for King Penguin, 1949. The cover was adapted by Tschichold from a design by Juan de Vciar, 1547.
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