Wednesday, 6 October 2010

Striking a Light

In October 2007, two fascinating books were published which revealed the impressive and attractive world of Indian matchbox and matchbook art: Tara Books released Shahid Datawal's Matchbook (which is actually in a slipcase in the form of a giant matchbox, with a striking edge and everything...



..while Ten Speed released Warren Dotz's similar Light of India, also in a matchbox-shaped slipcase.



Now Penguin is following this lead with 2011's Kipling re-releases, all of which are decorated with groovy Indian matchbox labels.



For more of this matchbox art, see this impressive collection.
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2 comments:

  1. Derek6 October 2010 at 19:13

    Neat idea ... the visual vocabulary of the Indian matchbox transposed to book covers. The contrast with the Penguin branding at the bottom of the covers is a bit jarring, though.

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  2. JRSM6 October 2010 at 19:35

    Good point--perhaps they could have let the texture of the boxes spill over into the black section, as with the Penguin (RED) covers.

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