"Ratty Please, I want to row." Illustration by Ernest H. Shepard, 1959

There are so many wonderful illustrated editions of the 1908 children’s classic The Wind in the Willows.
Here’s just a brief sample taken from a new annotated edition by Seth Lerer.

"The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" illustration by Paul Bransom, 1913

"O Unhappy and Forsaken Toad" Illustration by Nancy Barnhart, 1922

"Toad peering out the window." Illustrated by Philip Mendoza, 1983

"Badger with Car" Illustrated by Charles van Sandwyk, 2008

There’s no doubt Phil Spector is one of the most influential (and controversial) record producers in rock and roll.

His trademark was the Wall of Sound; a production technique using layered musical arrangements with backing bands the size of orchestras.

Songs produced with the Phil Spector touch included: “Da Doo Ron Ron,” “Be My Baby” and “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’.”

Spector’s stable of artists included: The Crystals, The Ronettes and the Righteous Brothers.

I discovered this book, Collecting Phil Spector: The Man, the Legend and the Music, a few months ago.
It’s by John J. Fitzpatrick and James E. Fogerty.
It was published in 1991 and is long out of print.

Collecting Phil Spector includes hundreds of photos of all the records with the Spector touch.

The photos included here are just a small sampling taken from the book.

I’m reading a fantastic new book about the history of fonts.
It’s called Just My Type and is by Simon Garfield.

Many of us take for granted or don’t realize the variety of fonts we confront in our everyday lives.
But, typeface can make an impact or generate feelings we may not realize.

I first came to appreciate typography when I was living in London.
I became friends with a German woman who was going to the Royal College of Art and was studying typography.
We had many discussions about fonts.
Once I asked her what typeface exemplifies the US, she said the fonts used in westerns (like Bonanza or saloon signs) and on the NYC subway.

Helvetica font used for the NYC subway system

Differences in sign lettering in the UK

I’m not by any means a font geek or nerd, but if you are, please let us know!
Oh, and let us know how you really feel about comic sans!?

Differences in lower-case g

The Saturday Evening Post from August 5, 1939

Summer Stock was the 188th cover Norman Rockwell did for The Saturday Evening Post.
Rockwell painted a total of 322 covers for the magazine, so this issue appears just about mid-career.
This issue was published August 5, 1939.

An alternate title for this painting is Actress Putting On Make Up.
Note the hens, hay and crate.
The program that reads The Summer Barn Theatre; hence the name Summer Stock.

In the first season of Mad Men, Don Draper is shown reading this book: The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe.
And recently I read this book for the class, “Who Is Don Draper?”

The Best of Everything was released in 1958.
It’s the story of four ambitious young women who work at a publishing company in mid-town Manhattan.
They’re looking for success and love – Sex in the City 1950s style.

The book was a huge success upon its release and was quickly turned into a feature film starring Joan Crawford.

Cheever is dubbed a suburban realist. A prominent theme in his writing is: things are not what they seem. And, he turned self-loathing into works of art.

Matthew Weiner, the creator of Mad Men, says he keeps books by John Cheever in his office and turns to them for inspiration.