Mid-Century Ads: The Fifties / the Sixties

Each of the two large books (that come in a sturdy slipcase) begins with an endpapers timeline, then a short introductory essay, in English, then German, then French. The obvious purpose of the books though, and therefore the focus, are the adverts themselves. There are over 700 pages here, between the two volumes, of adverts for everything from refrigerators, to Martini, to movies. Some are for now-vanished companies, such as Pan Am, or Braniff airlines. The variety is delightful: From a very refreshing ad for Kool Aid (1962), which actually made me want to go and mix a jug of the flavour shown in the full page picture, to a rather cumbersome-looking car called a Nash (1950). These adverts are history, as well as entertaining in their unpretentious honesty. There is a marvellous positivity and sunny feel to most of these pages. Bright colours and bold text, often in fonts not seen in many years. A Delta advert from 1958 is saturated in colour, showing an aircraft parked right nearby a glistening swimming pool, surrounded by good-looking men and beautiful women. This was an era of pink typewriters, green kitchen cupboards, and pea green lounge furniture. Now we call it retro, then, it was called life.It was not all glamour, however: such as in a Mobil ad from 1967 predicted that by 1970, road accidents would claim over 14 000 young Americans a year. ".... just to put those 14, 450 lives in perspective, that is far more than the number of young [American] lives we have lost so far in VietNam." , says the ad.Some of the adverts of course, did not intend to be, but are, seen 50 years later, humourous: Lucky Tiger hair tonic (1957): " Gals just naturally go for guys who use Lucky Tiger ! It keeps your hair he-man handsome..." There are hundreds of wonderful images here, most full page. A treasure of life the way it possibly never was, but nevertheless, great fun. I could see a 50's style diner making use of these as wallpaper, but the books are too lovely to cut apart, so maybe order two sets. Why not ? The price was excellent for two such hefty books.

I think the only reason to buy these two boxed (and heavy)books is if you want to read ad copy. These are large titles with ads probably the same size as they appeared in consumer weeklies and monthlies decades ago. Taschen have already published 'All-American ads 50s', a 928 page chunky title with probably more than two thousand ads over ten chapters, the same applies to the 60s version with 960 pages. Those books though are not so big as these two 'Mid-century ads' titles.Considering the ads have been scanned from real thing I thought the reproduction was pretty impressive (the matt art paper helps too) and there are vague themes that run through both books: auto ads; drink; cigarettes; fashion; beauty; travel; furniture; appliances; medical and more. The first thirty or so pages in both books have a three language illustrated essay by Steve Heller.Apart from being able to read the best copy Mad Men could offer I found it interesting to watch the change of illustrations prevalent in fifties ads merging into all photo ads in the sixties.I think the 'All-American ads' series titles are better value and worth mentioning that they cover ads from each decade up to the 1990s.*White Anglo-Saxon Protestant

Impressive books and a great addition to the library. Quite heavy!

A book which is 2 in one slip case. The 50's and the 60's. All U.S.A. ad's. Right up there with the best from Taschen. Great reproduction considering the age of the source material.