Maire Mayo Machine

         Welcome to the April A to Z Blog Challenge!  My theme this year is Relief Printed Alphabet Squared, an alphabet of alphabets illustrated with relief block prints.  (And yes, there are more than enough to fill an alphabet!)

        Find out all about the A to Z Challenge here.

        Today’s first featured alphabet is by Maire Littledale (UK, 1910-1994), and it’s an alphabet of British birds illustrated in small wood engravings.  M is clearly for Magpies, but interestingly the artist didn’t actually title her pieces, so I just have to guess at their identification.  My guess for I is Iceland Gull, and Y is presumably Yellowhammer.  These seem to have been intended to illustrate a book, but I find no evidence that the book was ever made.

        Next up is another nature-lover, and a contemporary of the first, Eileen Mayo (UK, 1906-1994).  These illustrations come from Nature’s ABC and are very smooth, controlled linoleum block prints.  Most of Mayo’s letters include an animal and a plant, and most of them are species that would be found in the British countryside or garden.  For M we have 

Magpie (again) and Magnolia.  I’ve also given you two other letters.  In the F page (Frog, Forget-me-not) you can see how Mayo actually integrates the large letter and informational text as part of her art, although I’ve cropped it out of M and I (Insects, Iris).  Her work beautifully combines scientific accuracy with stylish design, and the F has a particularly attractive flow to it.

        I’ve also got for you, by contrast, The “White” Sewing Machine Alphabet for the Million.  I’m guessing that this booklet was printed up as an advertising giveaway, and every letter includes a peppy little verse extolling some fabulous quality of White sewing machines.  It’s actually a great 

piece, because it’s well-designed, cleverly tongue-in-cheek, and a perfectly legit alphabet book, even if it is most definitely agenda-driven.  M is for Mother, telling her sons how quiet her sewing machine is.  I especially like E for Ease, because it's not the sort of word we find in most of our alphabets.  Plus, I like the picture, with its detailed silhouette and faintly cross-hatched suggestion of a background.

        Then as a bonus I’ll wrap up with ABC de Puerto Rico, illustrated with wood block prints by Antonio Martorell.  M is for Mangó.  Apparently this acute pronunciation is distinctive to Puerto Rico, but of course M does just as well for the ordinary English Mango, too.  I like this illustration a lot, although I’m not sure whether there’s any particular significance to the carousel in the picture (does Merry-go-round work in Puertorriqueñas?), or whether Martorell just liked the way it made a letter M fit into the illustration of the mango tree.  And your extra letter from Puerto Rico is A for Agua (which obviously doesn’t work in English).  It makes particularly nice use of the graininess of the

wood.  I’ve featured this alphabet before, and you can see H, I, J, and R in a prior post.

        The Moral of M is to learn to identify your local birds.  It’s guaranteed to give you much delight!

        And also, a miss is as good as a mile, and manners make a man.

        So, do you have a favorite bird?  And which do you find most appealing: plumage, behavior, or song?

[Pictures: M, I, Y, wood engravings by Maire Littledale, before 1936 (Images from V&A);

Magpie, Frog, Insects, linoleum block illustrations by Eileen Mayo from Nature’s ABC, 1944 (Images from ARHC, Full Table, sandandwill);

Mother, Easy, block prints from White Alphabet for the Million,

 1884 (Images from University of Maryland);

Mangó, Agua, wood block prints by Antonio Martorell from 

Abc de Puerto Rico, 1968.]