The Takeo Takei Lab of Ornithology

Takeo Takei, 1974




Takeo Takei, 1967




Takeo Takei, 1968




Takeo Takei, 1969




Takeo Takei, 1970




Takeo Takei, 1973

Works by one of my favorite artists, Takeo Takei (1894-1982). These prints come from one of the jewels of my collection -- a handmade artist book that a friend found for me on a recent trip to Japan. It would be nice to own the original prints, but that is never going to happen.

If you want to buy all 139 handmade books by Takeo Takei and have $45,000 to spare, go here.

Click images to view enlarged.

This artist featured in previous posts:

--Takeo Takei - Children's Day in Japan, 1936
--Forty-five thousand dollar leftovers
--Oedipus at Hiroshima
--Early 20th century Japanese magazine covers
--Early 20th century Japanese book covers

Japanese design in previous posts:

--Give Us Back Man - Japanese Graphic Design
--Japan's First Illustrated Book
--Mad Men and Friends
--Yukihiko Tajima's Gion Matsuri
--Eraserhead vs. Protractorhead
--The Wonders of Life on Earth - Yokoo details

Les Fleurs du Skull

Carlo Farneti's illustrations for a 1935 edition of Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du Mal

From the collection of Richard Sica















































Love and the Skull!

I can't find much information about Carneti. Art & Popular Culture gives this bio:

Carlo Farneti (1892-1961) was an Italian artist born in Naples who moved to Paris in 1926. He illustrated works by Zola, Poe, and Baudelaire.

Richard Sica tells me Farneti was a prolific illustrator who worked in Paris, and that he did a wonderful series of etchings for a two-volume Poe.

From the Wombwood Circulating Library

Listen to the Birds by Nikolay Reverb, book cover




Today Bread Tomorrow Secrets by J. G. Mallard, book cover

"The Blank Workshop currently houses an exhibition of authentic books on bird language."

Thanks to Arnold for turning me on to this exhibit, and to Mr. Oldknow and Mr. Hodgman for allowing me to share the covers here.

We have captured a most rare specimen of an extinct insect which was extremely popular at the beginning of the century

(detail of 2-page spread)

This second installment of my Soviet-era children's book series features George Kovenchuk's 1974 illustrations for Klop (The Bedbug) by Mayakovsky.

You can read a thorough summary of the famous 1929 play -- not originally intended for children! -- at SovLit. (And here are some fascinating images from the first staging.) The title of this post quotes from Max Hayward's translation of the play (see The Bedbug and Selected Poetry).

I used a virtual Cyrillic keyboard to figure out the illustrator's name. Because this important bit of information was hidden in the book, I had to type about fifty words before finding it -- and so I basically learned the Cyrillic alphabet in the process. Good times.

Previously: Mummy was a robot, daddy was a small nonstick kitchen utensil

(detail of 2-page spread)

Women, Snakes and Stalkers - South Asian book covers

via Women, Snakes, and Stalkers

These South Asian book covers come from Quinn Dombrowski's blog Women, Snakes and Stalkers. Quinn has been photographing covers from the PK (Indo-Iranian languages and literatures) section of the University of Chicago's Regenstein library. She's already photographed 1200!

Thanks to PK of BibliOdyssey for turning me on to these covers -- this is what you are missing if you are not following him on twitter.

This is a dual post with Joel of Ephemera-Assemblyman. See his post here.

Update 2/1/10: Paul Hunt identified the books in my post as Bengali, except for one in Gujarati script and one in Devanagari script (noted below those covers). Thanks Paul!

via Women, Snakes, and Stalkers



via Women, Snakes, and Stalkers



via Women, Snakes, and Stalkers



via Women, Snakes, and Stalkers



via Women, Snakes, and Stalkers



via Women, Snakes, and Stalkers



via Women, Snakes, and Stalkers



via Women, Snakes, and Stalkers
(Devanagari)



via Women, Snakes, and Stalkers



via Women, Snakes, and Stalkers



via Women, Snakes, and Stalkers



via Women, Snakes, and Stalkers



via Women, Snakes, and Stalkers



via Women, Snakes, and Stalkers



via Women, Snakes, and Stalkers



via Women, Snakes, and Stalkers
(Gujarati)



via Women, Snakes, and Stalkers



via Women, Snakes, and Stalkers



via Women, Snakes, and Stalkers



via Women, Snakes, and Stalkers



via Women, Snakes, and Stalkers



via Women, Snakes, and Stalkers



via Women, Snakes, and Stalkers


More at Ephemera Assemblyman.


Previously: Vintage Book Design in India 1964 to 1984

Czechoslovakian Expose

The first three parts of this book cover series were titled "Slovakian Expose," but this was mainly because I found these images at online Slovak bookstores. (See the last part.) The previous posts were in fact a mix of Czech and Slovak covers. My ignorance has lead me to simply title this post "Czechoslovakian Expose." All the covers come from the 60s through the 80s. I hope to add dates at some point.

Click for slightly larger versions.

Previously:

LIVRENBLOG 2

La Femme-Torpille par Léandre, L'Assiette au Beurre, Les Monstres de la Société, N° 79, 4 octobre 1902
See the original post on Livrenblog

I first featured Livrenblog back in January 2009. Since that time I've been ogling many more treasures from this wonderful French blog. Here is a taste of what you will find in their archives.

Copying what I wrote back then:

Livrenblog focuses on French artists and writers from 1890 to 1913. Aging Naturalists, drugged Symbolists, snotty Decadents, titanic Moralists, and other mustachioed Freaks viciously duke it out on the streets of Paris via a lively, ephemeral independent press.

Many writers I cover here come up again and again: Alfred Jarry, Marcel Schwob, Jules Renard, and recent pin-up Leon Bloy. Even if you don't know French, visit for more images like the ones in this post.

You won't see these forgotten treasures anywhere else.

Click images for larger views.

Catulle Mendès par Camara
See the original post on Livrenblog



Boito by Umberto Brunelleschi
See the original post on Livrenblog



Mascagni by Umberto Brunelleschi
See the original post on Livrenblog



Merodack Jeanneau, Ornamentation
See the original post on Livrenblog



Le Cheval, Pirouette-Coquelin Cadet, illus. by Sapeck, 1883
See the original post on Livrenblog



Le Cheval, Pirouette-Coquelin Cadet, illus. by Sapeck, 1883
See the original post on Livrenblog



Jossot, Rire 65
See the original post on Livrenblog



Jossot, L'Esthete et la Tete, 1898
See the original post on Livrenblog



Jossot, Procession, 1902
See the original post on Livrenblog



Dessin de Döes publié dans Le Rire N° 129, 24 avril 1897
View large!
See the original post on Livrenblog



La Veille, 1896, Félix Vallotton illustre La Maîtresse de Jules Renard
See the original post on Livrenblog



Souza Cardoso, Mauresques
See the original post on Livrenblog



L'Incohérence, Ferdinandus, 1887
See the original post on Livrenblog



L'Incohérence, Badufle Ponctuation, 1887
See the original post on Livrenblog



L'Incohérence, Habert Cavalcade, 1887
See the original post on Livrenblog



Illustrations de Léonard Sarluis pour Voyage au pays de la quatrième dimension, de Gaston de Pawlowski, Eugène Fasquelle, 1923
See the original post on Livrenblog



Illustrations de Léonard Sarluis pour Voyage au pays de la quatrième dimension, de Gaston de Pawlowski, Eugène Fasquelle, 1923
See the original post on Livrenblog



Manet by Félicien Champsaur
See the original post on Livrenblog



Images from the staging of Roussel's Locus Solus (!)
See the original post on Livrenblog



La Jeunesse Assiette Croutes 1902, Umberto Brunelleschi (1879-1949)
See the original post on Livrenblog