Those wonderful old Walter T. Foster booklets...

Does anyone besides me love looking through those wonderful old Walter T. Foster booklets? You know, the ones that cost one dollar back in the Fifties.

Now, I want to stress that I am not referrring to whether they actually helped more, or less, than similar books for artists and wannabes. I lack the experience needed for getting into questions like that.

My point is that if you approach a Foster book as an illustrated booklet, simply to enjoy the illustrations, I mean, it will likely prove very worthwhile Of course, the fact that I enjoy book illustration no doubt has something to do with that. If you don't have much interest in illustration, you might not understand my pleasure in the Fosters.

By the way, does anyone here know of any old books for the art student which are a joy to look at because of the illustrations and general book design?

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Yes, and it is funny you asked. All the Foster art booklets I have seen had a white box in the lower right corner of the cover, and in big black letters said, 'Price $1.00,' but always added in smaller letters, 'Not more than $1.25 in any foreign country.' Of course, if you think about it, how could Foster control something like that? The Foster's publisher probably had agreements with foreign distributors, but there would be no way to prevent the booklets ending up in some little shop in Italy or France for a price that was the equivalent of $2 or whatever in the 1950's.

They were officially called the 'Walter T. Foster How to Draw Books.' There seemed to be close to one-hundred of them, in all. Each one represented an art lesson, such as 'Perspective Drawing,' 'How to Draw Birds,' 'How to Draw Fashions,' 'Mixing Colors,' etc.

They were about the size of large magazine, something like 13 3/4 by 10 1/4 inches. They were very thin, usually only about 40 pages, although the paper itself was of good, substantial quality.

As a person who appreciates illustration, I think the Fosters are wonderful. Walter T. Foster seemed to pick his artists very thoughtfully. In my view, some of those booklets are masterpieces of illustration. (Often one particular artist would do an entire booklet, and apparently the featured artist was picked on the basis of his or her strong points as an illustrators, be it figure drawing, landscapes, whatever.)

Even if you have no interest in the lessons at all, as long as you appreciate illustration you will probably enjoy looking through these.

I have two or three of those in storage along with the rest of my library. Let's see, one on painting faces, and I can't remember what else - maybe the 'mixing colors' you mention. I've had them since the 50s. Never could bring myself to part with them, if just for the nostalgia value. As I recall, they're in good condition. Make me an offer (just kidding.)

While the images may seem dated now, I've always enjoyed Arthur Guptill's books - Rendering in Pen and Ink, Rendering in Pencil, etc. They are lessons in 'how to' illustrate, so naturally they are going to contain first-rate 'illustrations' by way of teaching examples.

As for appreciating 'illustration' in its most useful form, the books of illustrations in the old Currier and Ives series are unsurpassed, IMO.