Search Results: Art Deco from Royal Books, Inc.

San Francisco: The Recorder Publishing Co, 1937. First Edition. Archive of five vintage advertising signs designed by noted Art Deco designer Wana Derge, circa 1933-1937. Signs intended for countertop or streetcar use, one with an unused cardboard display easel affixed to the verso. Included with the collection is a First Edition copy of Derge's posthumously published color and design theory book, "Color, Form and Composition" (1966). A collection of striking and vibrant serigraphs, designed by Derge specifically for the popular California ice cream manufacturer. Each of the signs feature Derge's distinctive signature discreetly printed within the primary color field. Wiki and Wana Derge were a highly successful mother and daughter Art Deco design team based in the Bay Area in the 1930s and 1940s. Wana taught art at the College Women's Club and the City Club of San Francisco beginning in 1931, and continued teaching through her home studio in Berkeley until her death in 1964. Examples of all five… Read More

N.p.: N.p., 1931. Archive of 14 vintage photographs of movie theaters circa 1931. Each with a manuscript pencil notation on the verso identifying the theater and city. Three photographs with the photographer's stamp bearing his name and Reading, PA address on the verso. Films by Warner Brothers, Fox, Columbia, Paramount, and RKO are represented in the archive. Seven of photographs have the stamp of photographer Jack Thamm, and feature theaters from Thamm's native Pennsylvania, while the remainder show theaters from as far afield as St. Louis, MO, Santa Barbara, CA, and Sheboygan, WI. Many of the images show the theaters in the larger context of the places they resided, featuring the street, other shop fronts and signage, pedestrians, and cars. Theaters represented in the archive include Capitol, Shubert, Regent, and Warner theaters, as well as independently owned cinemas. The penciled annotations on the verso of each photograph are all in the same hand, likely indicating all the photographs were… Read More

London: George G Harrap and Co, 1923. First Edition. Large quarto. First Edition. Issued by Harrap in an edition of 2000 copies in 1923, 250 of which were distributed by Stokes in the US. With 48 richly colored plates interspersed with sheets of calligraphic text. Housed in a custom maroon quarter-leather clamshell case, with marbled paper-covered boards, gilt spine lettering and design. William Timlin was an artist and author, born in the UK. He studied at the Armstrong College of Art in Newcastle, and moved to South Africa in 1912 with his parents to finish his education. He worked there both as an architect and as an artist, and freely credits the influences of Aubrey Beardsley, Edmund Dulac, and Arthur Rackham in his work. He wrote and illustrated this novel, which also sports his own calligraphy. The story is a combination of science fiction and children's fantasy, wherein a man who believes in fairies has used their skill to construct a ship to travel into space and on to Mars, where they… Read More