Sealed in Original Shipping Carton

GREAT IDEAS

Container Corporation of America

John Massey (editor) with introductions by Herbert Bayer, David Ogilvy, Rhodes Patterson, Mortimer Adler and Franz Schulze: GREAT IDEAS. Chicago: Container Corporation of America, 1976. First edition. Folio. Tan cloth stamped in white. Publishers Slipcase. 400 pp. 195 color plates. An uncirculated copy still housed in sealed publishers decorated shipping carton. Rare thus.

11.25 x 14.25 hardcover book with 400 pages and 195 color plates featuring advertisements created for the company over 25 years by many of the greats in modern graphic design, art, and photography.

From 1950 to the mid-1970s, the CCA ran advertisements in a series called "Great Ideas." Art Director Herbert Bayer commissioned major artists and designers to illustrate selected ideas of the greatest philosophers, writers, scientists, and cultural, religious, and political figures of history. For example, René Magritte illustrates Milton on the power of truth, Ben Shahn illustrates Locke on the purpose of government, Paul Rand illustrates Herodotus on freedom of discussion, Bayer illustrates Wittgenstein on the limits of language, and Saul Bass illustrates John Stuart Mill on the pursuit of truth.    

In 1976, to celebrate America s bicentennial and the company s 50th anniversary, the CCA under the editorship of John Massey brought all of these ads together in this major publication, placing each one opposite a short biography of the featured artist and thinker. the book has introductions by Herbert Bayer and Mortimer Adler, among others. It s a lavishly produced volume in classic modernist style, with beige buckram boards and stamped white letters, glossy white paper and text in Helvetica monotype. The endsheets repeat the cover design in deep blue with spot laminated letters. The slipcase has raised letters.

This is an invaluable document of an entire era in modern graphic design.

157 artists featured with 195 color plates: Herbert Bayer, Saul Bass, Jacob Lawrence, Paul Rand, Alvin Lustig, Donald Kubley, René Magritte, E. McKnight Kauffer, Ben Shahn, Max Bill, Man Ray, Milton Glaser, Jan Tschichold, Gyorgy Kepes, Feliks Topolski, John Massey, Leo Lionni, Chuck Ax, Antonio Frasconi, Ivan Chermayeff, Louis Danziger, Richard Lindner, Elaine Urbain, Joseph Low, Herbert Matter, Hans Moller, George Giusti, Alexey Brodovitch, Jesus Soto, Karl Gerstner, Richard Hunt, Johannes Itten, Nicholas Ghika, Jerry Uelsman, David Aronson, Hans Erni, John Paul Jones, Miguel Vivancos, James Gill, James Rosenquist, Shiro Ikegawa, Mohan Samant, George Ortman, Ernest Trova, Ellen Lanyon, Leonard Baskin, Pedro Frieberg, and others.

Spreads from this volume can be viewed here.

Price: $100.00
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