d.Sharp Journal

Bizarre Books

This looks like a fun read - Bizarre Books: A Compendium of Classic Oddities is an exhaustive list of quirky and unforgettable book titles, including a number excerpts and covers. You may not be able to judge a book by its cover , but the title alone may be entertaining enough. Bizarre Books lists such titles as Correctly English in 100 Days {Shanghai Correctly English Society, 1934} and The Zen of Bowel Movements - A Spiritual Approach to Constipation {Rock House Publishing, 1995} - it also has a chapter dedicated to author names and book titles that are curiously and humorously matched, like Motorcycling for Beginners by Geoff Carless,  Oh! Sex Education! by Mary Breasted and a fruit growing manual by Raymond Bush. Click on the book below to see more.

Behold - Vitalogy

Medical books are a self-diagnosed weakness of mine. This is one of my favorites. It may look familiar, I picked up this 1910 edition at a doctor's estate sale a few years after this came out, whose packaging and booklet was reproduced from a 1920's edition.

Many vintage medical encyclopedias have fold out 'manikins' {as Vitalogy describes them} - these four layers display the brain and neck muscles, the center of the head, the arteries and veins and the principles of Phrenology.

Another manikin, this one a favorite, it keeps opening like a book.

Vitalogy also makes for interesting reading, take this for example:

"Young man, if you want your wife to be as attractive in your sight and as loving toward you after marriage as  before, see to it that you occupy SEPARATE APARTMENTS most of the time."

An illustration demonstrates the physical response from a snake bite. Another warns us of  ' The Greatest Destroyer Of Health, Life And Beauty In The Civilized World ..... The Waist Belt'.

{Oh, how I wish that was the worst of our problems.}

Out of Order

I have seen pictures of this installation, Out of Order, by Laurenz Brunner and Marianne Viero in a number of places including the lovely collection of posts at Found Object, and each time I see it the colors do a number on me. So gorgeous and, I thought, a nice way to wish everyone an equally colorful weekend.

Out of Order #1 is a collection of wall mounted library books with sun-faded back covers that rival a rainbow. Detail below.

 

Book'em.

These bookcases are a pleasure to look at.

Draper's Cabinet, from Sundance.

Opus shelving unit from Sean Yoo, available here.

Vintage shelf by Jaren Goh, info at JG Design. Found via Yatzer.

Pulp Fiction

  Thomas Allen selects the pulpiest of pulp paperbacks and then lovingly slices out a figure from the cover, gently folds it into position, and constructs a witty scene around it.

This looks like a really fun book, available here.

 

Ouch, that bitch slap has gotta hurt.

Pardon my French.

I don't read many novels, more often than not you will find me reading non-fiction. Some novels require a gradual easing into that I just don't have the memory for. Do you know what I mean? With a slow start sometimes it feels like work to keep track of who is who until you are actually interested in the story. Other books grab you right away and you immediately want to spend more time with the characters. I read this book a couple of years ago and it is one my favorite novels, also probably the best opening paragraph ever.

Nine year old Oskar is unforgettable from the first:

I have a nine year old boy and the interest in farting is spot on.

Don't fuck with love

Wonderful pop-up book in this video - you can guess from the title of the song that the lyrics are probably not safe for work.

 

Things I like to find in vintage books.

Handwritten inscriptions or drawings.

Animals in formal clothing.

Dogs.

Illustrations of people exercising, especially partial to boxing.

Games I have never heard of.

I love finding printing mistakes.

Runaway items, surprisingly, I have found quite a few.

 

The Tree of Life

Peter Sis is one of my favorite illustrators, we have a few of his children's books and they are really just so much fun to look at. The Tree of Life is about the life of Charles Darwin.

The endpapers, I am a sucker for those.

The book is written in a way that children can relate to:

"Charles sees things his own way".

Thankfully, Peter Sis does as well and we are treated to these splendid visions.

 

The rest of the posts this week will be about books.

Love this print ad for Anagram Books.