Country Fair: A monthly journal of the open air





I found these Country Fair magazines a couple of weeks ago at a boot fair and bought them purely for the bright coloured covers and sweet little illustrations. The lady selling them had about 30 issues and I'm now wishing I'd bought the whole lot!

Out of the three I bought, one is from February 1954 (red donkey cover - illustration by John Hanna), one from August 1962 (orange pigeon cover - illustration by D Shannon) and one from May 1963 (pink bird cover - illustration by D Shannon). The pink one is my favourite - I love the illustration of the cherries and the little bird in his beret.

Here are a few more of the John Hanna illustrated covers I found over on Automatism:





If you like these you might also like my collection of Which? covers.
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12 comments:

  1. joel.31 August 2009 at 19:16

    another awesome post.
    thanks

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  2. Make Do Style31 August 2009 at 20:50

    Top bananas - I need to go to a car boot with you!

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  3. readysetwhoa31 August 2009 at 23:43

    These are so great! Here are three more (two definitely Hanna - not sure of the orange one as the image is small).

    What cool covers.

    http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=1232976714

    http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=1232976729

    http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=1042454448

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  4. Patrick Wirbeleit1 September 2009 at 08:18

    WOW! These are fantastic! That will give me the "inspire kick in the ass" for today. Thank you.

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  5. Delicious Industries1 September 2009 at 11:45

    Thanks guys, glad you like them and thanks Beth for the links to more covers!

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  6. Kickcan & Conkers1 September 2009 at 14:38

    Fabulous find here. If you're interested a compendium of the best issues from the 50s is available at

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/185375627X

    great stuff!

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  7. Delicious Industries1 September 2009 at 15:04

    Kickcan and Conkers - Thanks for the link, I'll have to order that book. Much easier to store one book than a stack of magazines!

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  8. Arkonbey1 September 2009 at 15:50

    beautiful. I'm always a sucker for low-color stuff like that.

    and the subject matter really hits me where I live. If these don't make you want to save the family farm and rural America from corporate agri-business, nothing will.

    Thanks for posting these.

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  9. Top Bird @ Wee Birdy1 September 2009 at 15:58

    Stop it, these are too adorable! Love the birdy, too (natch). Super car boot finds. I'll have to tag along with Make Do Style for your next trip! xx

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  10. Top Bird @ Wee Birdy1 September 2009 at 16:02

    p.s. just tweeted about this post!

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  11. fiona kate2 September 2009 at 02:11

    note to self . must attend more car boot sales. Gorgeous illustrations what a find!

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  12. william wray4 September 2009 at 02:24

    amazing how may forgotten artists keep turning up. Lovely!

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