Munari

(Munari, one of the illustrations)

Bruno Munari

World air water earth. Geographical images for children

Milan, Italgeo, n.d. (circa 1940?); approx. 14x20 cm; pp. (approximately 26 pages for each of the four booklets); publisher's paperback (in a cardboard slipcase).

Interesting original and vintage edition, a beautiful editorial idea by the well-known artist and designer Bruno Munari, a publication aimed at a young readership, a work of great editorial value for the numerous full-page color illustrations by Munari himself, images that illustrate various aspects of the natural world, life in the sky and in the sea and on land, and the various cultures and races and world economies or industries, including for example an illustration in which industries (industrial plant with chimney) and agriculture (a farmer working the land with his ox-drawn plow) and lumberjacks, and a fisherman and electricity pylons are brought together and synthesized; and in another table ancient and modern constructions (buildings) are compared, from stilt houses to the modern skyscraper; and again the history of communications in a table that shows viability by sleigh or by ships or by planes and by stagecoaches or by car; each illustrative table accompanied by a short explanatory written text printed on the facing pages (so that each sheet has an illustration on the front and a written text on the back; overall the edition includes four distinct booklets, with a distinct cover, without page numbering, with a colored paper slipcase or folder, useful for containing all four together; each booklet consists of about 26 pages (i.e. 13 unnumbered sheets) and except for the first sheet the other 12 are illustrated and therefore overall each booklet contains 12 full-page color illustrations, for a total of 48 color illustrations.

(Private collection)