Dec 13 2008
Review: Alphabet Erotica (Cleis Press)
Alphabet Erotica* ($10.95) is a book of 26 postcards, each showing a letter of the alphabet and tag line (B is for Bondage, Q is for Quickie etc) and a classic pin up girl. The postcards are derived from the Scott Idelman-designed cover art for a series of themed anthologies edited by Alison Tyler.
The designs are well-composed and the pin-ups are great examples of 50s illustration–although reproducing the whole cover at the size of a smaller format postcard does not show the pinup portion to full advantage. The cards are presented in book form but tend to detach as you flip through, so this product would be most useful to someone who wishes to collect or use the postcards as separate items (and at about 40c a card the cover price is more than reasonable).
The website and promotional material states: “Each sexy Vargas-inspired pin-up girl represents a different letter, seductively posed to highlight the best these books and letters have to offer visually.” I feel obliged to note that the pinups themselves are not modern, but reproductions of the works of contemporaries of Vargas (1896-1982), who might well not agree that Vargas was their source of inspiration.
For example, I recognised several works by the 50s pinup artist Peter Driben (see also). Driben (~1903-1975) was very prolific as a pinup, portrait, popular and fine art painter (amongst many achievements he painted a young Ronald Reagan–excerpted right–and President Dwight Eisenhower, the original poster for ‘The Maltese Falcon’ and a highly popular depiction of the raising of the flag in Iwo Jima). His art is recognisable in the designs for B, D, F (below, Driben original to the left), I (also below), N, S, T, U and Z.
While the designs for the overall covers/cards are well-balanced and pleasing, it would have been nice to see some kind of courtesy credit given to the original creator of the pin-up portion of the design, even though this material is now in the public domain.
* Review copy provided by the publisher
