Faber and Faber Does Christmas

Faber and Faber is one of the great publishing houses in London. When first established in 1929, T.S. Elliot was their first editor. Their Christmas Books catalog from 1933 (above) was illustrated by one of the great British artists of the 20th century, Edward Bawden (1903-1989). Below are a series of their Christmas cards commissioned from several other brilliant British artists of the day and printed by the Curwen Press. I'd like to thank the folks at Faber and Faber for permitting me to share these Christmas cards here. Look for many more fabulous Faber finds on their Flickrstream.

1945 card designed by Barnett Freedman (1901-1958). Just below is the interior of the same card. Freedman did many notable book illustrations and book jacket designs for Faber during the course of his career. I'm particularly fond of this set of his cards which all contain books. 

1946 card design by Barnett Freedman.

1950 card design by Barnett Freedman. Below is the interior of same card.

1954 illustration of Russell Square by V.H. Drummond.

1956 card design of the 12 days of Christmas by Alan Howard. Below is the interior of the same card.

1960 card illustration by Gerald Rose. Below is the interior of same card.

1961 card illustration by David Jones. Below is the back of card also designed by David Jones.

1963 design by Gerald Rose. Interior of same card below.

1970 card design by Errol Le Cain.