Picturing the Night Before Christmas

"'Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there."

Pretty evocative, isn't it? I dare you to read the whole poem and tell me it hasn't conjured up some type of imagery in your head! I bet you can't. That's what makes this poem so memorable!

But incidentally, this also happens to be why this poem lends itself so well to illustration. There have been countless illustrated editions of this poem since it's publication in 1823, and while some are more easily recognizable than others, it goes without saying that they pretty much run the gamut. No matter what your stylistic preferences are, there's an edition for you--or even more than one! In our family Christmas box, we have several different editions, including (my personal favorite) a 1984 edition with very detailed and whimsical drawings by Anita Lobel. (As a very young child, I enjoyed it because of the faint and barely visible faces she drew on the moon.)

Illustration by Arthur Rackham (circa. 1931)

The poem itself, while evocative enough to spawn a plethora of illustrated editions, was also evocative enough to accomplish much more. At the time of its publication, New Years' was the family holiday of choice, while, owing to heavy Protestant criticism, Christmas took a backseat. It was The Night Before Christmas that cemented the idea of Christmas as a family holiday into the American psyche, and it's remained there ever since. In fact, our tradition of putting the kids to bed on Christmas Eve while waiting for St. Nick to leave all kinds of goodies under the tree was influenced in a major way by this poem. [Source: https://blog.bookstellyouwhy.com/influential-images-the-night-before-christmas]

And now let's take a look at some illustrations and graphics from various noteworthy editions of this poem.

W. W. Denslow (1902) Denslow is best known for illustrating L. Frank Baum's

"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz".

"He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf" (Illustration from an 1862 edition)

"He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf" (Illustration by Jessie Wilcox Smith, 1912)

"His eyes, how they twinkled." (Illustration by Arthur Rackham, circa. 1931)

Illustration from 1896 (illustrator unknown)

"In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there" (1928, illustration by Elizabeth MacKinstry)

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Honoring Graphic Design's Past

It's a sad state for designers in today's world, as machine learning and artificial intelligence begin to dominate creative professions and disciplines. Naturally, it's a concern for designers themselves, (which is why I never became a graphic designer, although I wanted to at one point,) but I'm more inclined to think about the bigger picture. Namely, not just how design jobs are affected, but also the way the general aesthetic quality of design will be affected.
We've already seen the computer come along and change design quite a bit, and while typesetting, for instance, became no more difficult than using a keyboard and mouse, there was still an actual person at the other end. An actual person who knew what looked good and what didn't. When that actual person is gone, we're left with the aesthetic judgments of a robot, which, quite frankly, I don't trust.

This is a huge reason why I started this venture. Having witnessed a lot of these changes firsthand, I wanted to preserve and honor the glorious history (and integrity) of graphic design. And I thought the best way to do this was to make some of the most beautiful works of art from design's heyday available as decorations for the modern day homeowner--and incidentally as monuments to an era that has all but slipped away.
We'll never forget the amazingly intricate typesetting, the creative artwork, and the incredibly rich and nuanced aesthetic that enriched our lives with the amazing design work we saw all around us. Here are some visual examples that will (probably) make you cry. And that's because we won't see anything like them in the years to come.

 Rhinocerus, by Albrecht Durer (1471-1528)

Hartmann Schedel's (1440-1514) Register (circa. 1493)

"Rip Van Winkle" Title Page (1905) by Dard Hunter (1883-1966)

Poster by Alfred Leete (1882-1933)

The Crystal Goblet; Sixteen Essays on Typography (1955) by Beatrice Warde (1900-1969)

Beethoven Festival Poster (1983) by Michael Cronin (1951-2013)

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If you liked this post, please visit our website, where you can get a $20 gift card, as well as a chance to win two FREE prints (a $200 value). This offer is only available to the first 50 email subscribers, so get yours today!

Popular Illustrator Spotlight #1: Edgar Keller

Another image we posted on social media was very well received, and although it was not as smashingly popular as the Billinghurst "Heron" illustration we discussed in our previous blog post, it did give us a pretty interesting idea. We're going to post a very brief biographical sketch, plus a hand-picked gallery of some of the artist's finest work, every time a new social media post gets a lot of attention. This way, we can ac-cen-choo-ate the positive, (as Ella Fitzgerald once famously said.)
The first of these posts, (or the second, if you count the earlier post about Percy J. Billinghurst,) is about Edgar Keller, whose illustration for the cover of a song sheet called "Winter" was posted on our Facebook recently, earning 203 engagements, 21 shares, and 11 reactions, (7 likes, 3 loves, and 1 wow.)

By the way, here it is:

But now about the artist himself: Edgar Keller was born in Crescent, CA, in 1867, the fifth of six children, to Henry Keller and Mary M. Kenny. He moved to New York in the late 1890s, were he became an artist. He published some of his earliest work around 1899-1900, and by 1910, he had become quite successful with his illustration work, most of which was published by M.Witmark & Sons.
He became a theatrical and artistic advisor for the Bison Film Co. in 1912, which effectively ended his career as an illustrator of sheet music, except for a few rare exceptions in the late 1910s.
Besides sheet music, Keller illustrated other kinds of publications, most notably children's books, including Yama Yama Land (1909) and Daddy Long Legs; Fun Songs (1900).
He died in Hollywood in 1932.

[Source: http://www.perfessorbill.com/artists/keller.shtml]
[Source: https://oz.fandom.com/wiki/Yama_Yama_Land]
[Source: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1900-book-daddy-long-legs-fun-songs-471619133]

And now for a few of his best images:

 Sheet music illustrations [Source: https://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/]

Illustration for Yama Yama Land, by Grace Duffie Boylan (1909) [Source: https://www.abaa.org/book/849296398]

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If you liked this post, please visit our website, where you can get a $20 gift card, as well as a chance to win two FREE prints (a $200 value). This offer is only available to the first 50 email subscribers, so get yours today!

Percy J. Billinghurst and the Image that Could Have Gone Viral

In the day to day course of events, there's always something surprising that comes up, and in a business like ours, surprises happen fairly often.
But nothing was more surprising than the shocking results of an image we posted on social media around the beginning of this month. This image was shared 60 times, and reached over 10,000 people. It also got over 200 reactions in a specific group we posted to, (and probably many more in other places.)
While this image did not go viral, (actually nowhere close, when you consider how unfathomably huge the population of the world is,) it was a massively popular image, and did far better than all the other images we posted on social media. Maybe it could have gone viral... who knows?

But it can be interesting to explore the appeal of images like this. And it begins with the illustrator himself. Percy James Billinghurst (1871-1933) made a name for himself at the turn of the 20th century by illustrating children's books about animals. The most famous examples are A Hundred Anecdotes of Animals (London & New York, John Lane, 1901), and A Hundred Fables of La Fontaine (London & New York, John Lane, 1900). The latter is where we got our miraculously performing social media post.
To be perfectly honest, we are positively stumped as to why this image is so popular, but I think it's safe to say that at least part of it is due to Bllinghurst's exemplary pen technique, as he certainly appears to make every pen stroke count. (Just look at those feathers!!) Also, when you consider that these illustrations were used primarily as decoration, you can get a sense of their aesthetic appeal. Also, his use of contrasting lights and darks gives depth to his images. And last but not least, past popularity is also a fairly good indicator. Take a look at this advertisement we found in the December 7th, 1901 issue of The New York Tribune:

In this image, you can see that all but one of the Holiday Books are illustrated by Billinghurst. Also, please keep in mind that this is only one of many ads we found that promote Billinghurst's work. It wouldn't be at all surprising if there were another ad floating around somewhere that promotes him even more emphatically. (Although, in the above example, I have to admit I feel kind of bad for Walter Crane, as he was another excellent illustrator.)
And there you have it! Although there is very little biographical information on Billinghurst, (and I can't even find a picture of him,) I think we summed it all up pretty well.

Oops! I almost forgot. Here is the whole picture:

Before you go, I wanted to share a little secret with you... I want you to be a part of something big. The thing is, when we launch, we want you to knw about it. After all, we don't want you to be left out, especially when something this exciting is going on.

That's why we're prepared to give you a $20 gift card, plus a chance to win two free prints, (collectively valued at $200,) if you'll join our VIP club. This offer will only be available to the first 50 subscribers, so if you haven't yet, please take advantage of this wonderful offer while you still can.

You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain.

Sign up here.

"Cupid's Garden" Sheet Music Restoration and Backstory

Yesterday, we made a video, (the first of many such videos) detailing the process of how we restore vintage art so it can be made available for sale as prints. Although it's really nothing too special, we think it does give a bit of an insight into our process in a way that most things wouldn't. But we think that's a good enough plan. When we embarked on this crazy experiment in August, we wanted to figure out a way to keep your finger on the pulse, (so to speak,) and this is the only idea that stood out. It has real visual and practical value so you at least know what you're getting--and what we've been up to.
But here's the really exciting part: we plan to make many more such videos, and we'll be sure you get to see them. We'll be posting one new video every two weeks, and of course, we'll find ways of letting you know when we've posted them.

If you didn't get a chance to see our "Cupid's Garden" video yet, you can watch it below.

Before we go, I've got one more thing I'd like to say...
Some of you might have been wondering who we are. And I don't mean "what is Dominion Graphic Arts". I mean, "who is really behind Dominion Graphic Arts..."
With that, I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Sebastian Certik, and I've been a huge fan of vintage art and illustration since I discovered L. Frank Baum's Oz Books at twelve years old. When I was nineteen, I tried to start a publishing business specializing in illustrated books from the Golden Age of illustration, (roughly between 1870 and 1960). Unfortunately, that didn't quite pan out as I would have hoped, but here I am again, using the lessons I've learned to build something new.
I'd love it if you could join us on this journey towards creating a revolutionary new aesthetic, and I hope to see more of you in the months to come.

Before you go, I wanted to share a little secret with you... I want you to be a part of something big. The thing is, when we launch, we want you to knw about it. After all, we don't want you to be left out, especially when something this exciting is going on.

That's why we're prepared to give you a $20 gift card, plus a chance to win two free prints, (collectively valued at $200,) if you'll join our VIP club. This offer will only be available to the first 50 subscribers, so if you haven't yet, please take advantage of this wonderful offer while you still can.

You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain.

Sign up here.