Time for another adventure in the history of visualization, and today’s opening picks come from a mid-20th century collaboration between artists, poets and printers who gave rise to a unique book of surrealistic creatures accompanied by complementary typographic art poems, courtesy of the excellent BibliOdissey.
According to the explanation in that post, “the original gouache designs of fabulous beasts were produced by Jean Lurçat, which inspired poems by Patrice de la Tour du Pin. The sketches were rendered as lithographs by Vairel Edmond and the poems were turned into calligrams – a poem, phrase, or word in which the typeface, calligraphy or handwriting is arranged in a way that creates a visual image – by Jules-Dominique Morniroli“. The book “Le Bestiaire Fabuleux” was printed/published in a limited edition by Maurice Darantiere at P. Gaudin in 1948.
We have, naturally, many other interesting examples of visualizations, diagrams, maps and charts to go with these beautiful illustrations. For example, a fantastic map made to accompany the 1903 Annual Report of the United States Commission-General of Immigration. As John Ptak notes in his article, this map is an interesting early attempt to embed complex statistical information into map form.
And earlier today, our friend Susana Pereira showed how Portuguese teachers were using tiles to teach mathematics, back in the 17th century.
So, a lot of vintage goodness for a busy Monday. Hope you enjoy it – and have a great week!
Le Bestiaire Fabuleux (1948) | Maurice Darantiere
(Via)
Human proportions and their relationship to swordsmanship (1630) | Girard Thibault
(Via)
Human proportions established through mythological figures (1630) | Girard Thibault
(Via)
Petroleum Resources in the Near East and Far East (1942) | U.S. Office of Strategic Services
(Via)
Hohen charte Berge in Teutschland und der Schweiz (1821) | Carl Ferdinand Weiland
(Via)
Map of the Island of Puerto Rico (1955) | Alvarado Dominguez
(Via)
Race and Occupation of immigrants by destination (1903) | Frank P. Sargent
(Via)
Germany, electrical, precision and optical industries (1944) | U.S. Office of Strategic Services
(Via)
The joint problem (1940) | Fortune Magazine
(Via)
Description of the Holy Land (1585) | Heinrich Bünting
(Via)
Vergleichendes Tableau der Lange der Strome und der Grosse der Seen der Erde (1855) | Constant Desjardins
(Via)
Nova Illustrissimi Principatus Pomeranie Descriptio (1618) | Erhard Lubin
(Via)
Hydrostatics (1850) | John Philipps Emslie
(Via)
Theoria Lunae, Eius Motum Per Eccemtricum Et Epicyclum Demonstrans (1660) | Andreas Cellarius
(Via)
Map of Coruña and Santander (1589)
(Via)
Sulfur (1951) | Fortune Magazine
(Via)
Trends in Food prices in New York City (1948) | The New York Times
(Via)
Idealer Durchschnitt der Erdrinde (1851) | Traugott Bromme
(Via)
That’s it for today’s round up! We’ll be back next week with another selection, but until then, enjoy our Pinterest board, just with old maps and infographics.
Written by Tiago Veloso
Tiago Veloso is the founder and editor of Visualoop and Visualoop Brasil . He is Portuguese, currently based in Bonito, Brazil.