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Ski-ing Kit

Brochure
1930s (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

8 unnumbered pages illustrations 234 mm


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleSki-ing Kit (published title)
Materials and techniques
printed brochure
Brief description
Ski-ing Kit. Fortnum & Mason Ltd, 1930s
Physical description
8 unnumbered pages illustrations 234 mm
Style
Production typeMass produced
Gallery label
Ski-ing kit London, 1930s Fitness was an obsession of the 1930s. Upmarket department stores sold sportswear and equipment for aspirational pastimes such as skiing. Fortnum & Mason opened a sports department in 1930 where customers could learn to ski using the in-store ski slope and ‘how-to’ films. Fortnum’s employed a variety of styles for its promotional material. On the minimal cover of this catalogue speed is suggested by the simple brush-stroke figures. Screenprint Issued by Fortnum & Mason Ltd Museum no. 38041800898298(2018)
Object history
From a collection of examples of commercial printing and design including catalogues and books as well as a variety of ephemera such as magazine covers, promotional cards, loose sheets, book plates, book jackets, trade cards, advertisement proofs, wine labels, menu cards etc. Firms include Shell-Mex, Austin Reed, Guinness, Heals, Imperial Airways, Orient Line. Designers include McKnight Kauffer, El Lissitsky, Bawden, Bayer, Gill, Tschichold. Categories of material include architecture, broadcasting, costume, interior design, motor industry, food and drink.

In 1936 the National Art Library decided to lay the foundations of a "collection of commercial typography and to exhibit contemporary specimens from time to time so that the trend of typographic design, both in this country and abroad, could be appraised by students of industrial art". The Keeper of the Library, Philip James was largely instrumental in acquiring the material. The bulk of the collection consists of examples from the 1930s, especially 1936 - 1939, with a smattering of items from the 1940s.
The collection is further supplemented with material from the 1960s which the Library inherited from the Circulation Department of the Museum after its closure in 1978. As these two groups of material stand as historic collections in their own right, any further examples acquired by the Library have been catalogued individually and not added to this designated 'closed collection'.
Currently uncatalogued. A typescript list is available on request at the Main Counter; this list does not include the material inherited from the Circulation Department.

Other numbers
  • 904842 - Horizon bib. number
  • JP Box 7 (a) - NAL Pressmark
Collection
Library number
38041800898298

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Record createdApril 15, 2016
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