Wit & Wisecracks (Mark Twain)

Various wit and wisecracks taken from the brilliant mind and works of Mark Twain, and reprinted in a neat little black and yellow hardcover collection by Harper & Brothers in 1961 for Peter Pauper Press. You've got a real handful of hysterical gems here, and it's all spruced up nicely with some wonderfully funny illustrations by Henry R. Martin, whose "Comic Epitaphs" (HERE) collection is another "must-own" book of graveyard tombstone humor! :)

Fables & Fabulous Yarns

Before we get back into the McCall's '61 catalog (next week) let's keep things on the super stylin' tip and jump forward to 1970 to see what the kids are/were wearing! Thanks to Columbia-Minerva knit fashions for boys and girls, Fables & Fabulous Yarns is everything you'd expect from a title as such, featuring wildly colorful, psychedelic backgrounds, cute (and not-so-cute) models, cute (and-not-so cute) clothing, insanely large stuffed animals, and even an occasionally inappropriate rhyme or two to ensure that everything feel extra swanky 70's. So let's hear it, which itchy styles are in need of a crocheted comeback?

You know you've just cross-stitched over into The Surreal Zone today here at AEET! 

McCall's Home Catalog '61 (PART ONE)

McCall's Home Catalog from 1961 is over 100 pages of amazing illustrations. I'm not really sure what else to say about it except this: if you enjoy incredibly lovely, colorful drawings of unbearably attractive women, then this is the magazine for you. These 12 pages are just a very small sampling, and I tried to focus the scans on summery styles (of course posting this in September is the best time to do it-- arghhh!) Anyway, I'll have more from this collection throughout the month, keep checking back for more-- especially you artists out there looking for cute girl reference for your own art! I'm still shaking my fist at the "artist" who thought inking on the cover was a good idea!! Arghhh 2! >:(