Lighting strikes twice. With little free time the past weekend for our usual jaunts to flea markets or garage sales, we still managed a quick stop at one of our favorite little antique stores. I’m not naming names, this place already has lots of traffic, and good turnover on stock. Always filled with the unusual, we find antique hardware, books, architectural gems, and advertising pieces.
This trip I grabbed a Perlick brass beer tap faucet, some door and furniture hardware, an advertising bottle opener shaped like a lady’s leg, and some decorative caps from hot water radiators originally from an old school house, and this fascinating book titled “The American Magazine” by Amy Janello and Brennon Jones published in 1991 by John Abrams Inc. of New York, and still available from Amazon.com
To refresh my readers, my fascination with old magazines started when we purchased a 1930s cottage style home about ten years ago. It was in dire need of redecorating. While browsing in an antique shop, I found several magazines from the period 1927 to 1939 and bought them to examine the backgrounds on ads, illustrations in articles and feature stories to determine the fashion and coloration of furnishings from the same period our house was built. But it was the ads and art work that proved to be the hook that led to my continuing to explore for more. Until the end of the 1930s, graphic artists and illustrators provided incredible cover art, with delightful subjects and vibrant colors.
The book, “The American Magazine”, provides an insight into the greatest of these illustrations, and photographs that have shaped our impressions of the world, and moved us toward political and social change. Over 575 illustrations and a time line that covers 250 years of magazine publishing from 1741 includes the date of first publishing. Well written and filled with tidbits of knowledge, it is a great addition to your coffee table collection. This book’s magnificent cross indexing allows for a quick reference to selected subjects. Photos and illustrations are as stunning as the originals and the narrative provides smooth reading with loads of information(1893 the first full color ad)( 1890 the first Ladies Home Journal). It is not a price guide.
The subjects covered in American magazines range from the hilarious “Mad” to the controversial “Ken” of the late 1930s with many addressing social, and political agendas. Your own interest in old issues may be as practical as mine when I started to collect or it might dovetail another collection such as a Coke collector framing the famous Christmas Santa ads, or looking back at the wonders of inventions in “Popular Science.” Possibly your interest in history leads to the articles defining the pressing social and political problems in “Ken” or “Delineator”. Do you collect vintage clothing, with the fashions of the Twenties Flapper styles as your specialty? Others may enjoy reading the works of famous writers such as Hemingway, Whitman, or collect the illustrations of Winslow Homer, Fredrick Remington, Joseph Pennell, or Norman Rockwell.
And now the second lighting bolt out of the blue…. when we were about to leave the shop owner mentioned some old magazines and was I interested? Three more “Ken” for my growing collection.
One never knows when luck will be on your side, or is it diligence and determination and not luck, that drives the collector to continue the search for the “holy grail” of his or her obsession?
