Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Rand McNally Book of Nations

Rand McNally Book of Nations
Rand McNally ~ 1960


When I first bought this book at an estate sale way back when, I was curious to find out who did the illustrations. An artist isn't credited, and the answer was not to be found on the online. So, today, I bring this to you all. Can any of you visual historians take a gander and see if you recognize the artist? It seems Charlie Harperish to me, but so many drew in that style, it is hard to tell. Anyone, anyone?

In particular, the animal illustrations are divine...

But anyways... completely outdated and irrelevant at this point, I love looking at these vintage world history-type children's books. The maps and the antiquated historical data...

The population of the U.S. in 1960 (178,781,000) versus today (311,991,487). New York 1960 (15,350,000) versus today (19,541,453) -- where did they put all those people!?! The complete obliteration on the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The visual split of an East Germany and a West Germany.

Oh, the times they are a changin'. One can't stop the evolution of the world markets, but with an old charmer like this, one can get a little glimpse into the way things were. Plus, anything with world flags in it floats my boat. Enjoy!


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5 comments:

Drake Brodahl (pumml) said...

It absolutely looks like Harper's work. What a great find and thank you for sharing!

Anonymous said...

The artist is excellent and I would love to see a picture of the European animal page too. Any chance? Thanks for showing this treasure.

Eva @ Four Leaf Clover said...

Love these illustrations! Thank you for sharing! It reminds me of a book I got years ago, but it's somewhere packed away in a box with most of my other books so I can't get to it right now, I'm sorry!

Anonymous said...

My family have the later edition of this book since I could remember. The world population is listed as 3,211,000,000 but I can't find the year it was published. Where did you find the published year?

Anonymous said...

My family have the later edition of this book since I could remember. The world population is listed as 3,211,000,000 but I can't find the year it was published. Where did you find the published year? I am ethnically Vietnamese and it is interesting to see the pre-Communist Vietnam flag.

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