Tom Cats, Water Gardens, Ribbons

Welcome to the thirteenth Love Thy Library newsletter! This week’s selection is a mix of books from the Internet Archive, as I’m still in Australia. Expect some scans from my shelf in two weeks!

In other book-and-library-related news, I was interviewed by Viktoriia Vasileva about my love for books, how they inspire my art and design practice and the magic of libraries! You can read the full interview via her Substack, here. Here is a little teaser:

“Lately, I’ve been especially inspired by old software manuals — not just for their nostalgic content but also for their almost non-design quality,” she continued. “Many of these manuals were put together by community groups or enthusiasts creating club newsletters, resulting in layouts that are purely functional, unintentionally experimental, and unconcerned with trends. There’s a charm in that unpolished, DIY aesthetic, and I love how they capture a specific era of technology and the resourcefulness of the people who made them.”

Well, I hope you enjoy this week’s selection and as always, please chime in with your thoughts, comments and stories—the comment section truly brings me so much joy! Next week I’ll share some of my favourites :’-). Until next time, xo!

Title: Max and the Tom Cats (More Books by Bob)
Author: Bobby Lynn Maslen
Year: 1987
Publisher: Bob Book Publications
Loaned from: Internet Archive

The elements of this book that excite me include the pink sticker and green cover colour combo, ‘Books by Bob’—rolls off the tongue, the blue and green cover colour combo, the illustrations throughout—but especially the sun and moon, which at times look quite sinister, the six tom cats lined up in bed together and the ‘the end’ tall hat guy :’).

Title: Smiley's Water Gardens
Author: Erle Smiley
Year: 1936
Publisher: U.S. Department of Agriculture
Loaned from: Internet Archive

The elements of this book that excite me include the ‘Library Reserved’ stamp with stars on either side of the date, the saturated coloured images, the title of the collections—'Neptune’s Favorites’ and ‘Duo Perfection’, the little scalloped borders, the photograph with rounded-corners, the fish illustrations and the irises! Such detailed and exquisite flowers.

Title: [Silk Ribbons and Trims]
Author: E. Lemancel
Year: 1886
Publisher: Paris (origin)
Loaned from: Internet Archive

The elements of this book that excite me include the cover, compositions made by the ribbon placement on each page and spread—abstract art! The sheen of the silk, the folded corners, the gradients—top left reminds me of a gradient that could be made in Microsoft Word, the polka-dot spread (!!!)—perhaps my favourite and the four large daisy embroidered ribbons placed in a 2x2 grid.

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

See you in a fortnight!

Love Lucy from Ok Books