Matchbox Labels: Over 2,000 Elegant Examples from All Over the World Paperback – October 2, 2004

Awesome...beautiful book!!

I bought this as I'm interested in popular graphics and the two thousand samples included certainly capture the flavor of this tiny corner of the printed ephemera market.The book is very well designed and printed but ultimately I was rather disappointed with the contents. There is a sameness about so many of these labels. The huge number from the old Soviet Union and the Eastern Block certainly look similar, only to be expected I guess but other nations output also seem bland and unimaginative. Perhaps the reason is that most of the labels included are brands rather than advertising labels that are so common today. Strangely none of the labels are dated but I would guess that most of them were produced several decades ago and the cheapness of liquid lighters now has reduced match output.As another reviewer has commented the absence of North American product maybe also explains the lack of pizzazz and color. The matchbook was the flame of choice for Americans and there are no examples of these included.This will probably be the standard book about matchbox labels because it is so comprehensive. The American matchbook is another story; their colorful design and huge output over the years will still produce occasional new titles. The one I like best is:Close Cover Before Striking: The Golden Age of Matchcover Art (Recollectibles) with several hundred matchbook covers in an attractively designed book.***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

This book is great. The sheer number of matchook covers and the nice printing are really 95% of why it's a great book. The descriptions are good to great, and I enjoyed the groupings of the various types of matchbook covers.I really don't like books that throw too much graphic design and 'flare' into the book design to help make the book more engaging.. it tends to overshadow the subject matter and distract. This book does not do that, and I applaud the publisher for it.Of all the matchbook cover books I've bought, I go to this one for inspiration the majority of the time..

I'm not a matchbook collector, but I am a graphic designer and I think any designer would find this collection of matchbook covers amongst the highest forms of eye-candy. The book is organized by subject matter, but often times the pages consist of a set from one particular country. I think that there is probably a lot of ground that this book did not cover, but over-all, this is an amazing book for anyone's visual reference library. The illustrations on the matchbooks are absolutely wonderful and inspiring.

Well designed and printed on quality paper, this well-stocked archive is a decent production for collectors, fans, and graphic designers. It's organization is clear and the color labels easily identified.However, the most obvious shortcoming, and one that I found frustrating, was the amazing lack of North American selections. Nearly the entire 2,000 examples showcased are from former Soviet Union satellites and Asia. This isn't necessarily a bad thing - as you get a very good sense of Soviet-era constructivism and wonderful Asian simplicity & beauty. But the lack of labels from the United States, Canada and Mexico is sorely missed.Although unbalanced - I would recommend this to devotees of the genre - if only to expose them to labels that aren't often seen. However, for graphic designers and fans of Americana, I would recommend focusing on selections by Chronicle Books.