The adventures of Flyball the Space Cat are detailed in four charming children’s books by author Ruthven Todd and illustrator Paul Galdone. The original books are collector’s items now, but reproductions are readily available. Published starting in 1952, the books imagine a small, gray, intrepid kitten who stows away on a rocket to the moon, and thereafter jets around the solar system (and beyond!) with his pal, Colonel Fred, discovering wonders. On Mars he even meets that world’s sole surviving “fishing cat,” Moofa, “a friendly female,” and they get married and have kittens together. The whole family subsequently visits Alpha Centauri, where they encounter a planet teeming with prehistoric creatures! Just delightful.
The type treatment on the covers is also delightful: in the title, “SPACE CAT” appears in friendly, randomly tilted capitals with little white stars on the serifs of the “S,” “C’s” and “E,” and as the crossbars on the “A’s.” Very space-age. (There were many typefaces like it in the 1950s; modern-day type foundry Font Diner released a similar retro typeface, Fontdiner Sparkly, in 1996 or 1997. See below the “Space Cat” PDF for a sample.) In this application, the titling adds to the happy charm of the books.
“Spacecat” PDF: all four front and back book covers, and a few text pages
“Fontdiner Sparkly” typeface
To give the typeface a 1950s “space age” style, the hand-drawn-looking characters have a low x-height and staggered baselines; some of them have perky eight-pointed stars above.
One Response
That is really cool, thanks for taking me back for just a moment to my grandma’s house. See Jane Run!…lol They are very well done.