British art / by R.M.Y. Gleadowe. [London] : British Broadcasting Corporation, [1934] (Birmingham : printed at the Kynoch Press). Ravilious, Eric William, 1903-1942, cover designer.

British art / by R.M.Y. Gleadowe.
Gleadowe, Reginald Morier Yorke, b. 1888.

Publisher:
[London] : British Broadcasting Corporation, [1934] (Birmingham : printed at the Kynoch Press).

Description:
viii p., 32 p. of plates : ill., ports. ; 25 cm.

Series:
BBC talks pamphlet

Series:
BBC talks pamphlet

Notes:
Caption title.
Synopsis of 6 broadcast talks, Jan. 14-Feb. 18, 1934, with an introductory essay (p. i-iii) by W.G. Constable.
Illustrated paper wrappers in black and cream, designed by Eric Ravilious.

Bibliography:
"List of illustrations": p. ix.
"Books to read and look at": p. vii-viii.

Subjects:
Art, British
England -- Art.

Genre or Form:
Typographica -- England 1934.
Illustrated wrappers (book covers) -- England 1934.

Names:
Constable, W. G. (William George), 1887-1972.
Ravilious, Eric William, 1903-1942, cover designer.
British Broadcasting Corporation, publisher.
Kynoch Press, printer.
National Art Library (Great Britain). Jobbing Printing Collection.

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.

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