1954: Coats & Clark's Afghans and matching pillows

The above picture is actually the back cover of the 1954 Coats & Clark's Afghans and matching pillows, which gave a better shot of the mid century cane furniture used as staging for the afghan pattern (which, believe it or not, is called Pineapple.)

While the afghan designs in this how-to pattern book are fun, I've posted the color plates from the booklet here for the incidental mid century furnishings, graphics and models featured in the pages. I'll begin with the two-page below from the middle of the book, which I split into two photos.

   

Smoking a pipe, reading a book, and lounging in your smoking jacket under the Checkmate afghan pattern. That's the life.

Here are some more pics, including the below Lollipop pattern,

Candy Cane pattern

Maltese Cross pattern (check out the couch and lamp)

Patchwork pattern

Jacob's Ladder pattern, with the coolest mid century modern divan/reclining bed, 

and a pattern called Lagoon, with that ever popular aqua and pink mid century color combo seen in the pottery on the table.

If you want to see the front cover and a few more patterns, additional pictures are on my shop, where the original book, along with some other 1950s afghan designs, is for sale.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/109577528/1954-coats-clarks-afghans-and-matching.

I love the above table lamp, and it looks even better in blue ink mid century graphics.

1952: Fashions in Wool, Volume 74

I found this how-to book from 1952, Volume 74 of Fashions in Wool by Hilde Fuchs, among items acquired for my vintage shop. The pages are falling out, and there are tears, wrinkles, water spots -- the book is basically unsellable.

But Hilde's fashions, and the style of the models -- they needed to be salvaged.

So here they are, or at least some of them:

The book provides instructions for hand knitting these and others items, sizes 38-46 (or at least what size 38-46 meant in 1952).

I scanned and uploaded the book as a .pdf on Scribd, so you can now download the book for free. Go to:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/105498356/Fashionsinwool-vol74-1954

If you do find yourself knitting a ladies Hug Me Tight from the download, though, kindly remember me at Nickadizzy!

Also, if you would like the original in its decrepit, falling-apart form, email me at
Nickadizzy (at) gmail. (dot) com -- it's yours for free -- just pay for the shipping and a dime for my envelope. 

Better Homes and Gardens Decorating Book, 1975 - part 1

Some books, how-tos on knitting or gardening, hold their relevancy well over the years. This Better Homes and Garden ring-binder decorating book from 1975, however, probably isn't being used as a current text in interior decorating schools.

I'm not mocking -- I personally love the 70s look presented throughout the pages, but think how quickly these decorating ideas went out of vogue. Five years after this book was published, you would have been hard pressed to find a dining room like this:

Or a bedroom like this:









I truly love these colors and curves, though, and would happily eat my Special K at this table:

prepared in this kitchen:

I've focused on the hyper-mod, but I'll revisit this book at a future date and explore other decorating suggestions from 1975 integrating Early America and Victorian furnishings into a 1970s aesthetic.

Druggists Circular, October 1880

My father found an issue of pharmaceutical trade journal The Druggists Circular, from October, 1880, a wealth of ads and information on antique pharmaceuticals and supplies such as bottles and medicine dispensing products.

I've uploaded a .pdf on Scribd, a document archive site, and while I didn't scan everything, I got most of it.

Some of the ads from 1880 include:

Crosby's Vaporising Inhaler, Hall's Health Syringe, Galvano Faradic Mfg, Swaim's Panacea, Robertson's wart cure,Geo H. Kitchen Illuminated Mortar, Henry Troemner scales, A.G. Smalley shelf bottles, Delano's Atomizer, France's Improved Nursers, Improved Fountain Syringe,Packer's Tar Soap, Young, Ladd & Cofin, Whital, Tatum & Co., Page's Vaporizer, Miles Brothers brushes, Delluc's Tooth Wash, Freckle Lotion, Cubeb Cigarettes, Wild Cherry Pectoral Wine, Pleasant Worm Syrup, Chinkalyptus, Limousin's Cacheteurs, Fougera's cod liver oil, Dr. Jerome Kidder Electro Medical Apparatus, and other items, including a news item on the Persian opium trade and supply in 1880 (see below).

To view or download a .pdf of this paper, go to:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/104785497/DruggistCircular10-1880