We were blown away by the reaction to Poland magazine at the Room&Book Art Book Fair in May. Considering it was the very first time we'd shown it, it was a huge success - one of the top talking points and top sellers of the whole weekend!

To to be honest, it's no surprise people responded so positively, just look at the covers below...psychedelia at its best! Amazing graphics and incredibly precise layouts from start to finish.

It's a compendium of the best of Poland's creative industry and goings on - from sculpture and poster design to French and Italian Urbanists. Not to mention they published wrap around covers, très special!

Poland
Illustrated cover - 'Early Spring' by graphic artist Roman Cieslewicz said to be one of the most influential graphic designers of the 20th Century. For more on his work see, Source: BBC.  

Poland 
Illustrated cover - 'Tomorrow' by Stanislaw Zagorski who also designed record cover artwork for artists including Barney Kessel and even the 1968 musical 'Hair'. 

Poland 
Illustrated cover by Polish painter Roslaw Szaybo. He also designed record covers for the likes of Janis Joplin and The Clash!
Inside this issue - old furniture and fabric designs related to Polish culture. 

Poland 
We even found a copy in Polish! Note the logo changes to 'Polska' The cover is by movie poster designer Andrzej Krajewski. 

Lots of people we chatted to discovered Poland for very first time at the fair. It got us thinking about another wonderful mag with equally spectacular cover designs; The Ambassador. It's a bit like the British equivalent of Poland albeit textile-based.

The Ambassador was in fact first published by advertising manager Ludwig Katz in The Netherlands under its original name, International Textiles. After two separate issues were produced under the same name simultaneously in The Netherlands and Britain during the Second World War, in 1946, the British version changed its name and the original International Textiles continued in The Netherlands. Here are some pics with both titles from our archive, feast your eyes! 

A mini collection of International Textiles published out of Amsterdam well after the Second World War. They're all illustrated covers by the most influential fashion illustrator of the 20th Century, none other than, Sir René Gruau. Just look at that red fringing, divine!

The Ambassador after the name change. Still looked great, no? Much like Poland, it was translated into a number of different languages and promoted British fashion fabulously with its creative approach to design and editorial content. We could look at those covers all day long!

All of the magazines in above are on sale in our shop in the RARE section: http://elegantlypapered.com/collections/types?q=RARE