Striking Images: Vintage Match-Book Cover

From the 1920s to the 1950s, a small but useful advertising gimmick spread like wildfire into the purses, pockets, and kitchen drawers of millions of Americans. The give-away matchbook was one of the most pervasive means ever found of putting promotional images into the hands of the public. Small and disposable, matchbooks were not only a highly successful marketing tool for a wide variety of products, they were also the repositories for a wealth of anonymous design creativity. Fantasies of ocean travel, bathing beauties, regal leisure, and tropical locales adorned the covers, as did hand-lettered typography, stylized illustration, and eye-catching color. This red-hot celebration brings the ubiquitous matchbook's art to life in all its pulp panache and visual zing.

Monte Beauchamp is the founder and publisher of the visual creativity annual BLAB! and editor of New & Used BLAB! (0-8118-4026-3). His work has appeared in numerous publications, and he is the recipient of five New York Festival Awards for excellence in print communications. He lives and works in Chicago.