Circus Book Maximus

Ruze z Pouti (translation, A Rose From the Fair) was written and designed in 1961 by Czech artist Zdenek Seydl, and sent as a New Year's wish to clients and friends of music and book publisher, SNKLHU in Prague. (The book originally included a gramophone record as an insertion and was published in an edition of 2000). I first discovered this wonderful book on the Flickrstream of JosefSkrhola. 

      Seydl (1916–1978) was a prolific designer, illustrator, painter, stage and costume designer, toy designer, book designer, and author. He trained as a typographer's apprentice early in his career which influenced much of his later work. I can't help believing Seydl was somewhat influenced by the work of Paul Rand in his 1957 children's book, Sparkle and Spin, when designing the dust cover of Ruze z Pouti. This is a fair comparison if you check out the link and see the FAIR page spread. This takes nothing away from Seydl's work however, as the guy was brilliant. I can promise this won't be the last of it you find here either.

Front dust jacket cover of Ruze z Pouti at top. Back cover just above.

I am presuming this ABRAKADABRA design above is on the actual front cover board, but I have only seen the book in photos.

Title page spread.

Front cover of envelope package with publisher's name, SNKLHU.

The reverse of envelope reveals my own sentiments precisely ; (
I don't want this book to end either. Turn the frown upside down—you can find a few more page spreads on Flickr.