Pocket-size!

I love little books, and I’ve got a growing collection of them on various different subjects — they’re just so much fun to read, they often feature great art or photos, and they’re easy to stuff into odd nooks and crannies in my bookshelves!

Here are a bunch of  pocket-sized reads I finished recently: Fountain Pens by Alex Fortis and Antonio Vannucchi, Bad Cat by Jim Edgar, and Treasures of Disney Animation Art.

My interest in fountain pens was piqued when I read Zafon’s Shadow of the Wind, in which Daniel falls in love a gold Montblanc fountain pen he sees displayed in a store window — it reportedly belonged to Victor Hugo — and the pen becomes an important element in the story.

But because I have far too many collections going already and I’m really bad with ink (a lot of my clothes and bags have ink stains on them!) I’ll settle for this book instead (and maybe a pen used by JK Rowling, Jasper Fforde, Carlos Ruiz Zafon or any of my favorite authors? I wish!).

It’s actually a bilingual book (in English and Italian) that features a gallery of exquisite fountain pens from the experts: Montblanc, Parker, Waterman, Shaeffer,  and other pen manufacturers, all from 1870-1960.

It describes the fountain pen as “a truly personal article” that “expresses not only intimate thoughts, but also the writer’s unique personality, even social status.”

Not much text in this book — mostly captions, but the pictures say it all:

 

Waterman: Safety No. 42, ca. 1920, made with real gold and sapphires, handcrafted by Italian goldsmiths!

Aurora, ca. 1940, “Selene” models in white metal trim and “Novum” models in laminated celluloid

Bad Cat is a humorous photo book of cats, mugshot style, with matching bad cat profiles.

“They’re bad cats, with bad intentions, bad habits, and badd attitude. Sot he next time your sweet little ball of fur misses the litterbox, as yourself — was it really an accident?” — it says on the back cover.

Posing for photos is one of the things cats do better than dogs — they can sit still longer and instinctively know how to look into the camera! (That’s Missy with the book, but she’s a very good cat!)

It’s a must-have for cat lovers, guaranteed to make you chuckle with each photo,  and it really makes you think that cats have world domination on the brain.

 

Up next is a little book of Disney Animation Art that my mom found at an estate sale when she was in the US earlier this year. I grew up on Disney (and I still watch the Disney channel), and while I’ve grown to appreciate other animation and illustration styles, I still have a soft spot for Disney.

The book is a collection archived sketches from the animation process for Disney  shorts and films  — stuff that never gets to appear on screen, from character sketches, clean-ups, story sketches, backgrounds and more.

I really enjoyed reading this book, as the material it uses isn’t generally available for public viewing, and often falls into the shadow of the final product. I like how the book explores the nature of art and how cartoons (and everything that goes into creating them) fall in the spectrum of art in general.

The book is tiny but thick, showcasing a brief description of the animation process, and a wonderful  gallery of over three hundred pieces! Just imagine how much more Disney ‘s got locked away in its vault, and the thousands of artists that work behind the scenes on animated films.

Effects animation. Artist: Ugo D’Orsi. “Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” Fantasia, 1940.

Character sketch. Artist: Marc Davis. Bambi, 1942

***

cover photo: inspirational sketch for the Cheshire Cat, by David Hall. Alice in Wonderland, 1951

Fountain pens, softcover, 4/5 stars
Bad Cat, softcover, 4/5 stars
Treasures of Disney Animation Art, softcover, 5/5 stars

books 59-61 for 2010

 

Fountain Pens by Alex Fortis and Antonio Vannucchi, Bad Cat by Jim Edgar, and Treasures of Disney Animation Art.