Devil in Design: Krampus [Paperback]

Monte Beauchamp (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 5, 2004

A collection of vintage Christmas cards for very bad little girls and boys.

The Devil in Design is a fascinating, full-color compendium of extremely rare, late 19th and early 20th-century Krampus postcards culled from key postcard collections from around the world. Lavishly illustrated with over a 150 striking and stylized full-page examples, the book also includes a short introduction tracing the character's origin and its overwhelming popularity throughout Europe. In the Christmas traditions of Europe, the Krampus is Saint Nicholas's dark servant—a hairy, horned, supernatural beast whose pointed ears and long slithering tongue gave misbehavers the creeps! Whereas Saint Nicholas would reward children who had been good all year with treats, those that had been disobedient were paid a visit by the Krampus. The Krampus terrorized the bad until they promised to be good. Some he'd spank; others he'd whip, while others he'd shackle, stuff into his large wooden basket, and then hurl into the flames of Hell! Such scenarios were delineated by skilled and imaginative Old World craftsmen, printed on penny postcards and disseminated throughout Europe. The Devil in Design is the first English-language book to offer this breathtaking collection of the finest, rarest, and most visually-stunning Krampus cards history has left to offer. Full color throughout

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

In German and Czech central Europe before World War I, some old folklore gained new currency when the Krampus flourished in the new medium of the color picture-postcard. With horns, pointed ears, and cloven hoofs (or a hoof and a taloned human foot); covered in black fur; and bearing a trident, a birch switch, and a big basket, the Krampus accompanied St. Nikolaus on his feast day and, while the saint left gifts for the good, switched the naughty and carried off the worst. The demon proved ideal for greeting cards that were perhaps admonitory but definitely festive in a Halloweenish way. Beauchamp, who has featured the cards in Blab, the quasi-annual mounting of art-oriented comics he edits [see review, p.1277], presents more than 150 of them on all-color, larger postcard-size pages, interrupting them only three times with two pages of white-on-red historical text. Although that could be better written, the pictures, remarkably varied in style and portraying adolescents and adults as well as children as the Krampus' victims, constitute a perennial browser's delight. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Monte Beauchamp edited The Life & Times of R. Crumb from St. Martin's Press, and the popular Blab! series. His work has appeared in Print, Communication Arts, American Illustration, and the New York Festival's Annual of Advertising. He lives in Chicago, IL.

Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: Fantagraphics Books; annotated edition edition (May 5, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560975423
• ISBN-13: 978-1560975427
• Product Dimensions: 0.8 x 5.5 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,264,202 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #85 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Antiques & Collectibles > Paper Ephemera & Cards > Postcards

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Hellfire For Christmas August 9, 2004

By J. E. Barnes

Format:Paperback

Monte Beauchamp's dazzling 'The Devil in Design: The Krampus Postcards' (2004) is a collection of 147 vintage images of the dark and Pan-like Krampus, who, with his guiding companion St. Nikolaus, visited German and Austrian children at Christmastime.

But while St. Nikolaus rewarded the well behaved with small gifts, Krampus, as a more active presence, not only left switches for disobedient children with which their parents could beat them, but spanked, shackled, and even kidnapped the worst juvenile offenders, who were carried away and thrown into hell. Thus, a child's good behavior at Christmastime and indeed throughout the year took on an entirely different folkloric coloring than it did in America, a continent to which Krampus never successfully emigrated, though other parts of Europe had similar "dark" Christmas traditions.

Krampus was a childhood nighttime bogey and bedroom invader par excellence: small, horned, hairy, and black furred, he was almost identical to the archetypal Christian image of the devil. The classic Krampus figure was readily identifiable for his exceptionally long and permanently extended bright red tongue, as well as for having one cloven hoof in addition to a human foot.

The numinous Krampus was a hybrid figure composed of both comedic and frightening characteristics; his bestial appearance and unmistakably phallic tongue underscored the decidedly sexual angle in his nature, which several of the included images make apparent.... As a liminal trickster of the "betwixt and between" and a daimonic violator of boundaries and boarders of all varieties, several of the cards appropriately portray the irrepressible Krampus as bursting free from the two dimensional wall of the card and into the laps and

The visionary illustrations of the Krampus Postcards are as powerful and strange as the beliefs and folklore upon which they were based. As Krampus is uniformly presented in jesting guise, the overall effect suggests that the children of the late 19th century and early 20th were no more seriously frightened by Krampus than American children of a slightly later era were by the witches and ghosts of Halloween decor and the corresponding folklore. That said, most of the artists clearly considered the Krampus image as a point of departure, and freely added a variety of subtle sociological twists that considerably widened the scope of basic theme.

Several cards portray Krampus as a welcomed gentleman seducer, appearing on women's doorsteps dressed in period eveningwear, while others depict him spying enthusiastically on presumably wayward lovers. Two images reveal Krampus as a puppeteer of men, causing mankind's sin as well as punishing it. Like the Fool in the classic Tarot deck, Krampus gleefully steps off the edge of the earth, a group of shackled children following closely behind him; like the Pied Piper, Krampus leads away a line of children so long that its end disappears into the image's distant horizon.

Apparently never shy about causing physical pain and discomfort, Krampus freely pulls children's hair, boxes their ears, and switches their bottoms. Though some children allow themselves to be led blandly away, others are clearly terrorized and beg last minute forgiveness; but regardless of their reaction to him, Krampus' expression of dutiful pleasure never changes.

He is also capable of diverse forms of mobility: when not leading children away on foot or painfully pulling them after him, Krampus is driving an automobile, arriving by train, riding a sled, or flying in primitive airplanes, suggesting that there are few places to which he doesn't have access. As a kind of reverse Santa Claus, Krampus carries a basket on his shoulders, typically filled not with dolls and other toys, but with captured human children whose stunned appearance suggests that they have become little more than objects. Several cards depict Krampus carrying off young offenders through the snow, revealing that he is as comfortable in freezing weather as he is in the fires of hell.

In one, a smiling snowman and an anthropomorphic half moon in a nighttime stocking cap look peacefully on as Krampus passes by with a child prisoner in the still of the night, suggesting that everything is as it should be.

There are also female Krampus figures, and mother, father, and son Krampus families. Fans of Czech filmmaker Jan Svankmajer's 'Faust' (1994) will recognize the Krampus on page 80 as the model for one of that film's enormous devil puppets.

Most of the illustrations are traditional in character, and thus any sexual content is far from overt. However the fleshy and lascivious Krampus on page 50 clearly suggests the influence of Aubrey Beardsley, while the stylized Krampus of page 21 resembles nothing so much as a huge turgid phallus carried about on enormous cloven hooves.

Page 89's Krampus is nine tenths a rooster, or 'cock.' While Krampus is fond of carrying off huge baskets of adult women, including those of grandmotherly age, he is equally fond of strictly male audiences.

It has taken Krampus a hundred years to reach American shores, an event 'The Devil In Design: The Krampus Postcards' celebrates admirably. While some readers might prefer more historical information, Beauchamp's brief explanatory text provides the basic context needed to grasp the images: the illustrations, which speak volumes for themselves, do the rest.

Those interested in the evolution of Christmas folklore and other Krampus-like figures may also want to seek out Tony van Renterghem's 'When Santa Was a Shaman' (1995) and Phyllis Siefker's 'Santa Claus, Last of the Wild Man' (1997) for further information. Read more ›

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Visual Work May 25, 2006

By Waymon Cox

Format:Paperback

I really enjoyed this book. The brief descriptions make the cards easier to understand by putting them into the historical perspective of beliefs and practices of late 19th and early 20th century Europe. Most of the cards are colorful and impressive, depicting different styles of the Krampus, having both humanistic and animistic qualities. This is definitely a good buy if you're interested in seeing the postcards without too much reading.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting folklore April 11, 2007

By K. Selby

Format:Paperback

An historical, folklorical, and thought-provoking collection of symbolic prints geared to scare

kids into behaving via paranoia and the dark side of Santa Claus. Well done. I keep it next to

my copy of "Der Struwwelpeter".

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Decent collection of Krampus artwork, but very overpriced November 2, 2011

By Red Xala

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Interspersed with brief historical and current information about the European Krampus phenomenon, Monte Beauchamp presents a great artistic introduction to the obscure dark companion of St. Nicholas. As I look at the vintage images of Krampus pulling on the hair and ears of naughty children, chasing them with birch switches, and hauling the worst of them down into his lair, I try to imagine how the American view of Christmas would have been altered had this demonic element also been adopted from European traditions.
Unfortunately, it seems that this book has gone out of print, and sellers are now charging exorbitant prices for it. I'm sorry, but if you choose to pay $50 or more for a copy of this book, you are being ripped off. Making a quick Google search, you can find most of the images that are in this book (and many more that are not included).
I managed to find a copy of this book through my local library; I would suggest trying this first before you capitulate and line some greedy seller's pockets with too much money.

***UPDATE 9/12/12*** - Recently, a number of sellers have been offering this book for less than $10. This is the lowest pricing that I've seen for this book in over a year. I sincerely doubt that this reasonable pricing is going to last. If you are serious about owning a copy of this book, I would suggest getting it now while it's still available at a fair price.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Monte Beauchamp Knocked this out of the Park! November 29, 2010

By Alan Moskowitz

Format:Paperback

Krampus is most awesome, and his absence is what's wrong with Christmas 2010, I mean what's the worst most spoiled little boys and girls can expect, they may get sent to their rooms, to watch TV, Surf the net, Play Nintendo, but they're still going to get their presents right? You know the drill. But what if they started to believe at an early age, if they didn't behave, didn't say their prayers at bedtime, that not only would they not get their X-mas swag, but they might just get carried off in Krampus' basket. Thanks Monte Beauchamp for opening my eyes to the wonder of Krampus.BTW - this book is still very much available from the publisher at 18.95, don't get ripped off by unscrupulous sellers!!!