Mailmobile, Ring Book, Colour-file

Welcome to the fifteenth Love Thy Library post! As always, it’s a pleasure to share my fortnightly selection and finds.

This fortnight, I hit a roadblock that set me back from my regular posting as the image downloader I use on Archive stopped working :’-(… (hopefully temporarily!). So, I switched up my approach and decided to digitally sift through an Archive contributor’s junk mail from the 1960s and 70s.

As you scroll and see the selection, you’ll notice an administrative theme—one of my favourites! I’m unsure how to write about my love for it, but I love administrative tools because they make me feel like I know what I’m doing. Like, here’s a highlighter—now I’m a person with a plan. I like how everything has a little system and how colour coding can accidentally turn into abstract art (as you’ll see below). Stationery and administrative tools are basically emotional support objects :’-).

Anywho, thanks for your patience, and enjoy this week’s round-up! I’ve got a few new books recently, and I’m excited to show you them next week! So, until then <3!

Title: Mailmobile
Author: Lear Siegler, Inc
Year: 1976
Publisher: Lear Siegler, Inc
Loaned from: Internet Archive

The elements of this catalogue that excite me include the overall concept of the machine—I’d love to see one in action, an office full of USM Haller cabinets, the warm tones of the photographs, the desk on the last spread—I’m curious what it feels like to be on either side of it, and the full office fit-out, plants and all.

Title: Ring Books of Tomorrow
Author: Recordplate Company
Year: 1965
Publisher: Recordplate Company
Loaned from: Internet Archive

The elements of this catalogue that excite me include the photos of hands turning pages, the combination of typefaces, the Visi-ref logo, the illustrations of different binders and books (I love the intricate details of each lined notebook), and ultimately, the desire I feel to own each product featured.

Title: Ames Color-file
Author: Ames Color-file Corp.
Year: 1965
Publisher: Ames Color-file Corp.
Loaned from: Internet Archive

The elements of this catalogue that excite me include the colours—every one, together and individually, the numbered grid, how the folders create accidental patterns when filed side by side—like abstract art (I kind of want to paint it!), the filing system’s colour-number logic, the instructional photograph and the different sized-page insert.

If you choose to share the content from this newsletter, by all means! But please give credit where credit is due :-).

See you next week!

Love Lucy from Ok Books