Almost exactly 8 years ago the first Flatstock poster show was held in San Francisco. I remember anxiously awaiting my entrance into the show, and subsequently being in awe over the work displayed. I admired all of the work shown, and eventually bought a print from Seripop.

All of the posters exhibited promoted rock shows happening in venues throughout the country and the world. Many exciting books have followed that first Flatstock, covering the exploding rock poster scene. Rock Paper Show is quite a different take on the gig-poster, however — highlighting the posters that were designed to promote the Flatstock event itself. The book contains great work from some of the top-notch poster designers around, including Jeff Kleinsmith, The Bird Machine, Aesthetic Apparatus, The Heads of State, The Small Stakes, f2 Design, and so many more.

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Tomingekijo Music Circle concert pamphlets from 1963

In a prolific career that spanned over 5 decades, Japanese designer Ayao Yamana left behind a rich body of work that few could duplicate. He is mainly known for his elegant and delicate illustrations of women which graced the packaging and printed advertisements for Shiseido cosmetics. These concert pamphlet covers for the Tomingekijo Music Circle represent a side of Yamana that is less familiar, but equally as impressive.

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Our good friends at Chronicle Books recently released Creative, Inc.: The Ultimate Guide to Running a Successful Freelance Business. Co-written by Joy Cho and Meg Mateo Ilasco, this helpful guide is packed with expert advice on finding agents, negotiating fees, licensing work and dealing with taxes. Also included are useful resources and interviews with experienced designers and illustrators.

I’m excited to welcome both Meg and Joy to Grain Edit today for a special Q&A session. Ok, here we go!

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Peter Stuyvesant matchbook from Finland.

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Fresh discovery from a recent road trip. Beautiful prints/postcards from the World Festival of Youth and Students for Solidarity, Peace and Friendship 1968 held in Bulgaria. On the back there is a small paragraph that pleads for world peace for future generations.

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Obscure children’s game juego del buen comportamiento

New items such as vintage kid’s books & games from Spain and educational charts/prints from the U.S have been added to the shop.

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In 1964 United States Steel called upon the nation’s electric utility companies to reconsider the current look of our power stations and transmission towers to be both functional and beautiful. Two years later, Henry Dreyfuss and Associates were commissioned to investigate possible design alternatives, and I believe they were documented in a book entitled “Power Styling” which was produced by United States Steel in the mid-to-late 1960s. I discovered a copy not long ago, and the inside illustrations are absolutely amazing. Unfortunately, there is very little information listed, so I can’t say for sure if the concepts belong to Henry Dreyfuss and his team. I contacted the office of Syd Mead, who did several illustration projects for US Steel, to confirm the artwork, and sadly he was unfamiliar with this piece. If anyone has information on the Power Stylings project or the mysterious illustrator, please drop a note in the comments.

More images after the jump. Don’t miss this one!

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Yugoslavia (Jugoslavija) stamp -1961

A little stamp love to start off the week.

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Los doce trabajos de Hercules – Illustrated by Miguel Calatayud c1973

Miguel Calatayud is a Spanish illustrator and is best known for his work in the world of comics.  I dug up a couple of his books, both of which were published in the 70s by Editorial Doncel as part of their Trinca collection. If your a fan of the early work by Push Pin Studios and the bold styling of Peter Max, I think you will really dig Miguel.

I have a couple extra copies of each book. If you like what you see you can pick up a copy of either Los doce trabajos de Hercules or Peter Petrake in the grain edit shop.

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Schriftenkatalog der n.v. Lettergieterij Amsterdam voorheen N. Tetterode

I rarely find cool type catalogs, but this one is a real goldmine. The catalog seen above was produced by the Amsterdam Foundry (formerly N. Tetterode) and appears to date back to the mid-1960s. It’s filled with beautiful specimens including Nobel, Mercator and Aigrette all lovingly laid out in a simple yet elegant manner. If this sparks your interest, I suggest taking a quick glance at the Vette Annonce type specimen sheet we posted back in 2008 as well.

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