Homage to the NatureTrail books
I have long admired the Usborne NatureTrail Books series and would like to present, for your consideration, a few examples taken from two volumes of the mid-70s, 'Trees & Leaves' and 'Garden Wildlife'. This series is an unsung classic of children's illustrated non-fiction that emerged in the golden age of Usborne's illustrated children's books.
I think that these earliest NatureTrail books are brilliant. Updated editions have recycled the images but reset the type and they are completely uninteresting. In the originals, the illustration and typography (in a nice nostalgic clarendon-like face) are well integrated and balanced.
Another classic book, 'How Your Body Works' (in which the human body is presented as a series of machines in cartoon drawings) might be the topic of a later homage…
