bad banana blog

Vulgar Picture

Take a few minutes to look through Vulgar Picture, an exhaustive, high resolution collection of album covers and sleeve art from the entire discography of The Smiths.

Via We Heart Stuff.

Vintage Halloween

Check out this wonderful collection of vintage German Halloween decorations. Look at that intricately detailed die-cut work. (And, wow, be prepared for some culturally offensive imagery.) Speaking of ephemera, take a minute to read Marty Weil's interview with me on his ephemera blog. If you like old paper, his blog is defintely worth a read.

L'Art Arabe

In 1798, Napoleon assigned a group of artists to accompany him on his campaign against Egypt. Their job was to illustrate the art treasures of rare architectural treasures, paintings, carpets, and illustrated texts. After Napoleon failed in Egypt, the artists dispersed throughout Arab lands. It took French art historian Prisse d'Avennes more than twenty years to find those artists and compile their work. He later published the plates in 1869. Gorgeous. View more here.

Via BibliOdyssey.

Introducing the Sprightly Spearmen

Front cover, inside front cover, inside back cover, and back cover for a 1915 children's storybook featuring Wrigley's Doublemint chewing gum.

Via BibliOdyssey.

Filmposters

 

Check out this great collection of German movie posters. The gallery runs right up to the present day, although I obviously find the older ones far more interesting. Over one thousand German language posters, including teasers, dating back to 1918. Enjoy.

Via Martin Klasch.

Smile

You know what makes me smile? The fact this guy has a package of himself in his pocket. A great example of the so-called Droste Effect; a package within a package within a package. More examples here.

Via Box Vox.

Georgia Peach Labels

The University of Georgia College of Agriculture has put together a wonderful online collection of vintage peach crate labels. Check it out right here.

Via Bobby Sattler.

Vintage Identification Badges

I love this Flickr set of old identification badges. Especially this one.

Via Old Glutton.

Vintage Mardi Gras Logos

I realize I may be in the minority here, but I've always found some aspects of Mardi Gras to be a bit creepy. These old logos, from the Flickr account of lumis, don't do anything to dissuade me. The top one is for The Order of the Myths, the oldest Mardi Gras association to still parade in Mobile, Alabama. The bottom one is for The Infant Mystics.

The Pelican Project

Things Magazine has a really nice collection of vintage Pelican books, broken out by decade and year, starting in the 1930s and going through the 1980s. Lots of good visual inspiration to be found here.

Via BobbySattler.