Since I am not posting much this month here is a huge treat!
Another interesting artifact. Some illustrations from a 1956 Japanese Children's Science Encyclopedia. It has some wonderful painted space illustrations from the volume about transportation. It was originally published in 1956 but it seems to have updated sections through 1959 to take in current events.
"Shogakukan (Primary School) Learning Picture Book Series"
Don't have much else I can say about the books (or even what the title of the encyclopedia is).
I wonder if it is a translation of another encyclopedia? Many of the other illustrations in this and the other volumes seem very specific to Japan.
Yeah September is here, which means I am off the web for a while so I wanted to leave you with a "juicy" post. This is an amazing book called "Build Your Own Moon Settlement." It is both a craft book and a space architecture book.
Written by a real architect it is not an "adult" book but seems more directed to older children and curious/crafty adults. It is hard to find and I have never had the nerve to actually build the Moon settlement. Basically the last few pages of the book is the punch-outs that you can fold into various structures.
Wilson, Forrest. Build Your Own Moon Settlement. New York: Pantheon Books. (32 p.) 21 x 28 cm. Softcover. 1973
With very limited "space art" this book is a craft book that allows you to build cardboard models of some of the major modules a Moon settlement would need. Written by an architect, its 27 pages of text outline his ideas for how a colony would work. A unique book, characteristic of this post-Moon landing period.
I don't have a lot to add right now, I just really enjoy his line drawings of the moon buildings and their intended functions. I hope you enjoy them too.
Don't have much else I can say about the books (or even what the title of the encyclopedia is).
I wonder if it is a translation of another encyclopedia? Many of the other illustrations in this and the other volumes seem very specific to Japan.
