June 4, 2007
Reference
Looking back for inspiration
None of us lives in a vacuum; we are all influenced by the sparks of concepts, imagery, color, configuration, and typography we see in the world around us. Early books on advertising and design are an excellent source of inspiration—they show the seeds of today's crop.
Optos Books is a rare and out-of-print bookstore that specializes in books on design and the decorative arts. Find something interesting? You'll also find a fair number of these titles on amazon.com—some reprints and some from other resellers under the “Used & new” option.
Here is the graphic design and typography category...
An example of a title on early 20th century signage (click to maximize the illustration)...