I was at Savers the other day (which is a secondhand department store), and was happy to find a cache of semi-vintage children’s books.
I don’t know about you, but I am always attracted to books from the 60s and 70s. I guess that is due in no small part to having grown up then. Be that as it may, there is something oddly comforting about the cheap printing, limited palettes, and distinctly “quieter” storylines from this era. And at 69¢ each, my children’s library is filled with such things. A lot of them tend to be library discards…how sad!
It must have been hard to illustrate back then, knowing you sometimes had to work with only one or two colors. Not to mention having to do the separations by hand- no computers to make that task easy. Huzzah for modernity, at least some of it!
I love the books of the 60s, 70s and often go to used book sales just to score some. Love this little collection! Nice finds!
Maybe it’s because limitations cause an increase in creativity, but I know that some of those 3 color books are totally awesome. I think that Barbara Cooney book, Chanticleer and the Fox is a great example.
It’s the same principle as silhouette art I guess. So often it seems to me that silhouettes have more content than full color images.
The old picturebookartists group was so much fun… sorry it fell apart.