Christmas: Vintage Holiday Graphics (Icons) (Paperback)

by Jim Heimann (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
‘Twas the night before Christmas… Created in 1862 by American political cartoonist Thomas Nast, the white-bearded, red-suited Santa Claus has become synonymous with Christmas itself. This collection of American imagery from the first decades of the 20th century pays homage to Old St. Nick and his familiar cast of characters via vintage graphic and print media such as greeting cards, postcards, ads, decorations, and more. A brief introduction describes the evolution of Santa Claus and the tradition of Christmas.

About the Author
The editor: Jim Heimann is Executive Editor for TASCHEN America in Los Angeles and the author of numerous books on architecture, popular culture, and Hollywood history. The author: Steven Heller, the art director of the New York Times Book Review and co-chair of the School of Visual Arts MFA Design program, is the author of over 90 books on design, popular culture, and satiric art. His recent books include Design Literacy Second Edition, Handwritten: Expressive Lettering in the Digital Age, and The Education of a Graphic Designer.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Taschen (August 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3822845868
• ISBN-13: 978-3822845868
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #531,002 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A festive wrap, November 5, 2005

By	Robin Benson - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The latest Taschen Icon graphics book finally catches up with the American festive season and presents a delightful collection of historical printed matter. I liked the comprehensive selection of items, cards, wrapping paper, parcel tags, consumer ads, magazine covers, photos of house decorations, sheet music covers and all in color. Historically they come from Victorian times to about the mid-sixties.

Kris Kringle obviously gets a good showing and I was surprised to see that he was depicted as a plump guy many years before illustrator Haddon Sundblom fixed his size for ever in 1932 for the first of his annual Coca-Cola paintings. Incidentally, as the drinks company has used Christmas as a strong selling point hundreds of items they have created can be seen in 'Coca-Cola Collectible Santas' (ISBN 1887432930).

***FOR A LOOK INSIDE click 'customer images' under the cover.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Yes, it made me smile, but...., February 8, 2006

By	Fahtimah (Richmond, VA USA) - See all my reviews

While I enjoyed looking at the array of graphics, and I did wallow in warm fuzzies of Christmas past, I was disappointed that most of the graphics were grainy, some cut off, and several pages of my book looked like they had been ripped by a binding machine. Still, I put it out, and people really enjoyed looking through it and smiling that smile of rememberance which Christmas can bring.

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice Clipart - Scan it in..., March 3, 2008

By	GatorMan (OK) - See all my reviews

Nice Clipart...some good old classic generic clipart.
I scan it in...wish it was already scanned in.

Great price...
You should be happy.