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1914 - 1996
Maximum Meaning Minimum Means
books
Abram Games :
His Wartime Work
In 1946, Abram Games left the War Office armed with this testimonial:
'His work had to be subtly persuasive, or directly "propagandist" - but it was always effective, compelling, and of outstanding quality.' During the Second World War, Captain Games, holder of the unique title of 'Official War Poster Artist', designed a hundred posters for army use. The Ministry of Information adapted several designs for civilians. There is a tale to tell about many of these images, especially about his infamous but most successful ATS Blonde Bombshell recruiting poster. Being the son of a photographer, Games employed many ingenious photographic tricks to convey his message of 'Maximum Meaning, Minimum Means' in his designs. Most books on Graphic Design have included images by Abram Games. This is the only book published that concentrates solely on Games's war work.
UK Publisher: Amberley Publishing
192 pages
Softback
www.amberley-books.com
Paperback
ISBN-10: 1445692457
ISBN-13: 978-1445692456
£16.99
Abram Games, Graphic Designer:
Maximum Meaning, Minimum Means
This is a reprint of the first ever book to be published on Games and features 180 colour illustrations of his best-known work as well as examples of unpublished designs and progressive sketches from his own extensive archive.
UK Publisher: Pallas Athene
208 pages
Paperback
ISBN-10: 1843681773
ISBN-13: 978-1843681779
www.pallasathene.co.uk
Abram Games, Graphic Designer:
Maximum Meaning, Minimum Means
The acclaimed monograph, ‘Abram Games Graphic Designer, Maximum Meaning, Minimum Means’, is currently unavailable, though can be obtained from AbeBooks, Amazon and ebay.
UK Publisher: Lund Humphries
208 pages
Hardback
ISBN 0853318816
US edition:
Abram Games, His Life and Work
Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
Hardback
ISBN 10:1568983646
ISBN 13:9781568983646
Poster Journeys
This book offers a unique insight into Abram Games's working methods and shows rarely seen progressive sketches from his archive and a dialogue of letters.
Join him on his fascinating journey as he creates his London Transport posters from conception and follow the paring down of his initial ideas to the final design.
Available from this website.
Publisher: Capital Transport
ISBN 9781854143242
80 pages
Hardback
£14.95 plus p&p
A Symbol for the Festival
In 1948, two years after being de-mobbed, 'Official War Poster Artist', Abram Games, won the competition to design the symbol for the Festival of Britain. This was to be a significant event in his six-decade career, establishing him as one of twentieth century Britain's most respected designers. This book tells the story from the designer's brief and development of his ideas to print, and includes Festival items drawn from Games's personal collections and from the National and British Postal Archives. Abram Games's symbol was ubiquitous, versatile and memorable. The same can be said of its designer's work. In 1951 Games's Festival contribution helped to give colourless post-war Britain a much-deserved 'tonic to the nation'.
Available from bookshops and from the pubisher.
Publisher: Capital History
www.capitalhistory.com
ISBN 978-1-85414-345-7
88 pages
Hardback
£14.95
Abram Games Design
Abram Games: Design, compiled by Naomi Games and Brian Webb, features nearly 200 illustrations of the work of Abram Games. Best known as WW2's 'Official War Poster Artist' and designer of the Festival of Britain's emblem, he was considered to be one of twentieth century Britain's most significant designers.
This is an intriguing introduction to the graphic work of Abram Games. With images drawn from his personal archive, many less well known, it is possible to follow the social history of twentieth century Britain. For more than six decades Abram worked entirely on his own, always adhering to his personal maxim of 'maximum meaning, minimum means'.
From the start, Abram Games was determined to become one of Britain's great poster designers and would often say, "I have a small talent which I polish like a diamond." A first-generation Londoner, and an autodidact, he maintained that the three qualities a designer needs are curiosity, concentration and courage. These he had in abundance.
Available from bookshops and from the publisher.
Publisher: Antique Collectors' Club
www.accartbooks.com/uk
ISBN: 9781851496778
96 pages
Hardback
£12.50
Abram Games and Penguin Books
Naomi Games has written a detailed account of how her father Abram was invited by Allen Lane and Hans Schmoller in 1956 to select and commission an illustrator for each of a number of full-colour covers for Penguin fiction. This was an experiment by Penguin, which ran for a mere ten months before the company decided to revert to largely typographic covers.
Abram Games, who had established his reputation when he designed the symbol for the 1951 Festival of Britain, designed seven cover illustrations in the series himself (and another later cover) while ten other artists were commissioned to produce a further twenty-six illustrations, giving a total of thirty-three books in all.
The book provides an account of how Games commissioned many of his students and friends, with details of their covers, and a full account of Penguin’s involvement.
Available from the publisher.
Publisher: The Penguin Collectors Society
http://www.penguincollectorssociety.org
ISBN 9780955839573
Paperback
£9.00
Abram Games
Based on Abram Games’s 1975 Shakespeare poster for the Royal Shakespeare Company, as the reader flicks through the book, the titles of the plays build up to form an image of the great playwright, who cheekily winks at us from the page. The thirty-seven plays appear in the order of the First Folio of 1623, ending with Pericles, Prince of Tyre, added to the collection in the Third Folio of 1664. The date of each work is given on its first appearance.
Available from bookshops or from the publisher.
Publisher: Pallas Athene
www.pallasathene.co.uk
ISBN 13 9781843681373
Paperback
£7.99
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