At least ten years ago, I hit the jackpot at a very old used book store, tucked away in a back alley of suburban Chicago. There I found about 30 or so old Gourmet magazine covers from the 1940’s. As you can see, they are works of art. The illustrator was Henry Stahlhut, and it appears his drawings graced the covers for many years.
I wanted to do something with them, but for whatever reason, they got put away in a box in my closet for future use. As I was looking for something else, I came across them again. Well, now is the time. I am not going to tuck them away again. They are just too beautiful to waste.
So here is where you all come in – please give me some ideas of what to do with them! Obviously framing, but should I do them one by one, or as a collection in several frames? I am not much of a crafty person, so someone out there probably has an idea I never thought of. You can comment here, send me an email at [email protected] – whatever you feel like doing – but help me decide what to do with these works of art! Aren’t they amazing?!
I came across your post while nursing a longing for Gourmet Magazine from days of yore.
What did you ever do with the exquisite cover illustrations (all these years later)?
I am in suburban Chicago as well…I wonder what old bookshop you bought them from?
Adrienne, Lake Forest, Il. 9/5/2018
Hi Adrienne- So glad you found me! I’m afraid there is sad news about those exquisite Gourmet covers. I bought them sometime in the 1980’s at a used book store in Highland Park that was located down a small alley, but I have forgotten the name. I still remember when I found them. I was going to eventually frame them, but they were all lost in a flood of my Culinary Cellar library along with almost 4,000 cookbooks. I wrote about the flood on my blog. Thanks to so many of my faithful readers who donated books to rebuild The Culinary Cellar, I am up to about 2,000. But I still mourn those old Gourmet’s as I have never come across any again.
I have over 20 early 40s and 50s 60s magazine books with that art
That’s wonderful, Keith. They really are works of art. I wish I still had mine, but they were all destroyed in a flood, and sadly, I’ve never come across them again. I was going to frame them but never got to it.
Keith, would you be willing to sell them?