Mile High

Airline travel wasn’t always such an unpleasant chore as it is today. Case in point is Matthias C. Huhne’s new book- he also owns Callisto Publishing –  that looks back on the glory days of air travel and the first wave of giant carriers, faithfully reproducing the work of industry luminaries such as Massimo Vignelli, Mary Wells Lawrence and Saul Bass. Airline Visual Identity 1945-1975 captures the grandeur of travel in an era when passengers dressed up for their journeys. Literally a hefty piece of work landing at 430 pages, weighing 14 pounds and selling for $400, the large format book features airplanes, world destinations, animals, flags and events through gorgeous photography, illustration and graphic design. This fascinating and superbly researched survey of the visual identities of the world’s greatest airlines is presented in extraordinary beauty.

The book provides unique insight into the design and advertising methods of an era when airlines were considered the most glamorous business sector and quality was the main criterion for selecting a flight. The true size of the book’s ambition is how it reveals the optimism of the Jet Age through nearly 400 posters and images from Pan Am, TWA, and United, evoking a time now seen as the golden age of flying. The most appealing aspect of Airline Visual Identity is how it recreates that sense of discovery and wonder when flying was not yet a commodity- or a major hassle- and was quite fashionable. Many of these ads are iconic and have left an imprint on our minds. Nowadays you may have to fly private just for that nostalgic feel. Maybe.  www.callisto-publishers.com