On my summer vacation I used to go day trippin’ to hidden corners of Northern Connecticut and Southern Massachusetts to buy books. Now, at 75, I spend more time sitting in my easy chair, reading what I’ve collected over the years. This week when I was digging around I found my stash of Bradbury Thompson’s Westvaco Inspirations, which he designed and edited.
I am taking a short break, spending the last week of summer rummaging through my library’s nooks and crannies. These are what I’m savoring while I relax.
(The below is adapted from The Daily Heller, May 18, 2015)
Bradbury Thompson (1911–1995) was the maestro when it came to the magazine as symphony. He so mastered the rhythmic tenor of his pages that one couldn’t help hearing music while turning them. With Westvaco Inspirations, which he edited and designed for more than 60 issues (1939–1962), he had to juggle other designers’ and artists’ work with his own concept and composition. Among these issues were some design and typographic history milestones, but among my favorites were two issues produced on photography in 1954 and 1956, which showed Thompson’s genius for integrating photography, typography and painting together as essential elements of design.
