Friday, August 23, 2024

This year's calendar: 'Literary Classics'

 So, my office calendar this year (in a break with tradition, replacing the Mayan) is an oversized wall calendar called 'Literary Classics', with Art by 'Anderson Design Group', whom I've never heard of. But I like the art, which seems deliberately evocative of the WPA poster art of the 1920s and 30s. 

Just as interesting as the style are the choices of the Literary Classics chosen.  

January: 20,000 Leagues

February: Peter Rabbit

March: The Call of Cthulhu

April: The Count of Monte Cristo

May: The Secret Garden

June: Treasure Island

July: Hamlet

August: The Island of Dr. Moreau

September: Moby Dick

October: Sleepy Hollow

November: The Little Mermaid

December: The Time Machine


An eclectic group. Some quite short (the Potter, Irving, Andersen, Wells), others quite lengthy (Dumas, Melville).  I suspect I'm not the only one who, when confronted by such a grouping of display, such as frequently appear in the local Barnes & Noble,  pauses a minute to work out how many of them I've read. So I'll go ahead and confess I've never read The Secret Garden or Count of Monte Christo. And while I'm at it, I'll share that my favorite among the art pieces here are the dramatic view of the last moments of the Pequod and crew; the Verne; and The Time Machine.

The most interesting thing about this selection is that it includes Lovecraft, who continues his ascent out of the pulp dungeon towards canonization --which wd I think have astonished Lovecraft and his pulp peers.

No Tolkien, but then he's in copyright.

For those who want to see more of these posters, see 

https://www.andersondesigngroupstore.com/a/collections/literary-classics?gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAACw_eEcg_BJukFk-tbLc4CXCZcrLD&gclid=CjwKCAjw5qC2BhB8EiwAvqa41uRbXvmTCznc0BEEeDT-BXiY7DJ6b_23tIu3YSnJVL0MXsGziIRgrxoC2r8QAvD_BwE

or 

https://www.andersondesigngroupstore.com/a/collections/search?

or just ADG.com

--John R.

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