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Dress Reform

Trade Literature
1930s (made)
Place of origin

Dress Reform

Publisher:
London C. Vernon & Sons 193?

Description:
8 unnumbered pages colour illustrations 22 cm

Notes:
Andrew Stuart: men's fashion, Finchley.
Written by H.F. Hutchison

Names:
Fitton, James, 1899-1982.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleDress Reform (published title)
Materials and techniques
printed booklet
Brief description
Dress Reform: Andrew Stuart Ltd, written by Hutchinson and illustrated by J. Fitton. London C. Vernon & Sons 1930s
Physical description
Dress Reform

Publisher:
London C. Vernon & Sons 193?

Description:
8 unnumbered pages colour illustrations 22 cm

Notes:
Andrew Stuart: men's fashion, Finchley.
Written by H.F. Hutchison

Names:
Fitton, James, 1899-1982.


Dimensions
  • Head to tail of closed brochure length: 220mm (closed)
  • Spine to fore edge of closed book width: 170mm (Closed)
  • Depth: 2mm (closed)
Style
Production typeMass produced
Gallery label
(2018)
Dress reform
London, about 1936
James Fitton, Art Director of the advertising agency C. Vernon & Sons, was one of the young talents in British commercial design in the 1930s. He was known for his illustrations and distinctive use of colour. Reversed type (pale text on a dark background) conveys a sense of the new and unconventional, in this leaflet for Andrew Stuart Ltd, tailors and outfitters to the modern middle-class gentleman.
Lithography
Illustrated by James Fitton (1899–1982)
Produced by C. Vernon & Sons for Andrew Stuart Ltd
Museum no. 38041800898538
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.

Bibliographic reference
'Modern Publicity', 1936-7, p. 77. Cover of a booklet for Andrew Stuart Ltd., drawn by J. Fitton of C Vernon & Sons Ltd., London.
Other numbers
  • Jobbing Printing Box 12 - NAL Pressmark
  • 904839 - Horizon bib. number
Collection
Library number
38041800898538

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Record createdApril 15, 2016
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