Miguel Aceves Record cover by Jim Flora

Well this weekend is México’s Independence Day and I thought I’d do a theme post so here’s a super fun record cover illustrated by the absolute wonderful Jim Flora. I love how he managed to include all the folklore of a traditional Mexican celebration. There’s the lady cooking outside, a bar, a pulqueria, a church, plata (silver), and animals including pigs, rosters and of course donkeys!

This is a different color version from the U.S. release. This one was released in Spain. The artwork is identical of the U.S. release but the colors and the RCA logo area are different.

So if you like delicious food, drinks and folklore, make sure you look for some of these festivities this weekend. Enjoy!

Design: Jim Flora   |   Year: 1955   |   Photo: Javier Garcia

Swedish bank Money box by Kjell Westerlund

This is a fun little money bank created by the swedish designer and illustrator Kjell Westerlund in the sixties for the swedish bank Sparbanken. This is often mistaken for a Stig Lindberg design but that is wrong. I really love the illustrations which have a double function. You can mix up the characters for fun and you can adjust all three rings to a certain position to open it. So this time I’d say illustration follows function. Enjoy!

Design: Kjell Westerlund     |     Year: 1960’s     |   Photo: Javier García

P.G. Wodehouse Book cover by Olle Eksell

Here is a book cover designed and Illustrated by the swedish designer Olle Eksell. This was found all the way in Stockholm, Sweden and I was very excited to scavenge a copy of this magnificent book. The illustrations and colors in combination with the custom typography makes this cover vibrate with joy. Unfortunately the book is in swedish so I won’t get to read it. Enjoy!

Design: Olle Eksell   |   Year: 1952   |   Photo: Javier Garcia

Jim Flora Disc Digest Booklet circa 1946

Here’s a fun booklet filled with Illustrations all over. It’s for Columbia Records. I’m going to go ahead and label this as a Jim Flora piece since he was in charge of most of the Columbia Records materials at the time and the style of illustration matches that of Flora’s earlier career. I know that George Maas and Robert Jones also illustrated some Disc Digest issues. Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong. This one is from a record store in San Francisco. Enjoy!

UPDATE: Thanks to the wonderful Irwin Chusid — who is an expert in this subject — we now know that only the cover was designed by Jim Flora.

Design: Jim Flora | Year: 1946 | Photo: Javier García

Dining Out In the Country NYC circa 1954

This booklet is a guide to eating in the suburbs and country in New York City put out by the New York Herald Tribune in 1954. Cover and back cover have some fun two color illustrations. The inside has mostly generic maps and text. The style of illustration looks very familiar but it’s unfortunately not credited. Enjoy!

Design: Unknown   |   Year: 1954   |   Photo: Javier García