Bradbury Thompson’s Westvaco

I have admired Bradbury Thompson’s work since I was a child: my designer father had a full set of Westvaco (West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company) Inspirations for Printers in his library that he encouraged me to study. Most of the issues he’d had bound in black hardcovers for posterity. A very few remained unbound in their original states and I have inherited three: No.194 from 1953, No.202 from 1955, and probably Thompson’s best single edition, No.210 from 1958.

bradbury thompson portraitI have scanned selected spreads carefully at 300dpi at actual size of 11¾” x 17¾” and am very happy to share them with discerning designers. These are, I believe, the best online reproductions available. These Bradbury Thompson works are as artistically important and as powerfully communicative today as they were in the mid-1950s when they were made. The images below are linked to much bigger files which range from 9MB to 21MB.

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Bradbury Thompson Westvaco Inspiration for Printers No.194 1953

Thompson-Westvaco194-(1953)-1sm.jpgBradbury Thompson Westvaco Inspiration for Printers No.194, 1953

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Thompson-Westvaco194-(1953)-8sm.jpgBradbury Thompson Westvaco Inspiration for Printers No.194, 1953

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Bradbury Thompson Westvaco Inspiration for Printers No.202 1955

Thompson-Westvaco202-(1955)-1smBradbury Thompson Westvaco Inspiration for Printers No.202, 1955

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Bradbury Thompson Westvaco Inspiration for Printers No.210 1958

Thompson-Westvaco210-(1958)-1smBradbury Thompson Westvaco Inspiration for Printers No.210, 1958

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Thompson-Westvaco210-(1958)-8smBradbury Thompson Westvaco Inspiration for Printers No.210, 1958