The Volvellery

Principle Bridges/Rivers of the USA Tip-Top Bread Date unknown

Hello, Volvellery! Long time no see! I don’t even know where my scanner is, so forgive these phone snaps, but I thought this volvelle was pretty topical and I’ve felt guilty all this time not sharing my bounty of volvelles with you all. If you can forgive some quick phone snaps going forward, I’ll try to keep up more with posting things here. Scanning, and then often as not piecing together in Photoshop (since most of the volvelles are bigger than my little scanner) ended up being a painstaking process, but this I think I can manage, though the quality might not be quite as good.

Prestolog H. Kempenich 1935; 5.25”  Ø 

This is one of my recent acquisitions. It's not flashy or colorful, but I love it. The font, the colon followed by a dash, the arrows: it's aces. There are a lot of similar profit calculators, but this is the first one I've seen that I really wanted to add to my collection. 

The Existential Calculator (Take That Job?) By Kelli Anderson for Adobe

Oh, hi there — I've been gone a while, haven't I? Apologies for that! I still have SO MANY volvelles to share with you. Dozens. But first, I wanted to show you what I think is the most beautiful contemporary volvelle I've seen yet, designed by Kelli Anderson for the national AIGA conference. The top image is the front of the volvelle, and the bottom is the back. Check out her blog post for a full description (and it's a great blog to follow if you're interested in design). I haven't seen The Existential Calculator in person, but I love it from the photos online. The multiple tabs, the rainbow center, and the clever architecture all add up to a home run of a volvelle. Beautiful!

If you're curious about my absence, it's been due to a combination of computer difficulties and being continually beat up by invisible fibromyalgia monsters (it's my dream to one day get Allie Brosh to draw the fibromyalgia monsters for me) — I wrote a bit about Project Health over on Project Neon a while back. I've also been busy the last couple of weeks putting together a handmade 2014 Project Neon calendar, which is now for sale on Etsy.

New York City Street Guide National Dealers Service 1968; 6.75”  Ø 

I've got a big stack of new volvelles to share. Here's the first one — a spiffy mid-century guide to New York City street addresses. The instructions in the middle are a little hard to read, so here's a close up. The pale greenish-blue color is great, as is the font for the title of this volvelle. I also like the graphic punch of the black and white addresses around the edge. Back in the days before magic phones, I had a tiny little chart I'd made to help track down address cross streets, but how much smarter to carry around this snazzy wheel chart? Oh the lucky Marketing Research Trade Association conference attendees — I bet getting this volvelle was the high-point of the event.

RIGID-tex Metal pattern selector Rigidized Metals Corp. — Buffalo, NY Date Unknown; 6”  Ø 

New South Wales By Train Waite & Bull, 1938 9.75” Ø 

Despite its somewhat ragged condition, this is one of the gems of my collection. I've never been to New South Wales (or any part of Australia), but I have all kinds of romantic ideas about how wonderful it would be, based solely on this volvelle. The colors are lovely, the fonts for "TRAVEL by TRAIN" on the left are fantastic, and the Service Speed Safety is perfect. It's interesting that the train is actually a pretty marginal part of the design, but it's great that the signal is incorporated both into the map number indicator and the arrow.

Wheel of Knowledge: Interesting Facts About The United States A. Knapp, 1931 6.5" x 6.5"

I love this volvelle.  I love the map with time zones, I love the name, and I even love the cereal names that pop up in the boxes that are between items. Also: Pep Bran Flakes — what a name! Plus the one- or two-word nicknames under each state name. (Alas, the District of Columbia doesn't get one.)

The compass rose is an odd addition (though also charming). My only beef with it is that it refers to the "continental" United States, clearly meaning the Lower 48. I hate it when people say that — what continent do they think Alaska is on? I guess I do wish it were just round instead of a circle in a square, but I can overlook that, given the sweet little drawings of cereal boxes in the corners and the cool green & red color combo.

Gruen World Time-Teller The Gruen Watch Company, pre-1983 4.375” Ø 

This is a sweet little blue & yellow volvelle that will tell you what time it is in Cairo, Nome, and Wake Island all with a simple spin of the dial. The text, although not handwritten, is nicely laid out, and the radiating arrows make it feel like a drawing of the sun.

I like that night is shaded blue and day yellow, that midnight and noon are without the AM or PM that everyone seems to incorrectly add these days, and that they're circled so you can spot them easily. A great little wheel!

100 First Words into Foreign Languages Astrel Publishing, 2004 5.75" Ø 

Since it's almost Fathers' Day, here are some translations of the word "father" for you, in this handy dandy translation volvelle. Especially useful for the Russian speakers out there. The other side has the remaining words (50 per side). This seems like a pretty good way to learn some vocab in another language (or four) — more compact than flash cards, but less instantaneous than a list or computer (or smart phone), so you have a little more time to rack your brain for the answer.

Election Year Argument Settler Time, Inc., 1956 7" Ø

No need to start barroom brawls, street fights, or other unmannered altercations over the presidency of Millard Fillmore or other obscure heads of state — simply carry your Election Year Argument Settler with you at all times and, as long as the dispute relates to pre-1956 presidents, the facts will be clear. (Facts about governors, congressional seats, and 1954 results take up the reverse, along with a cover of Time, clearly the unimpeachable source of all this info.)

The authoritative red, white, and black color scheme is great (though it reminds me of a London Tube sign on this side and a Do Not Enter sign on the other), but it's the name that won me over. Who doesn't want to settle all those election year arguments?

ANAVAC-2 Micromass, Winsford, UK Date unknown 5.75" Ø  

This volvelle was a gift from a lovely friend whose scientist father was clearing out his office. I gather it helps you read a mass spectrometer, but as I haven't got one of those, I'll just have to pretend that knowing that neon's relative sensitivity is 0.24 makes me smart. Or something.

Super Homemakers' Guide Super Publications Ltd, Toronto, Canada 1954, 6" Ø  

This single-sided volvelle has helpful hints for all kinds of home problems from dirty diamonds (I hate it when that happens!) to scorched laundry (from ironing, I presume?) Who couldn't use some handy household tips? Apparently it is one of a series of valuable information guides from Super Publications — I wish I had the others! (The publisher and date are oddly hidden underneath, almost at the center.)

Presidents of the U.S. Carnation c.1962; 5.25” Ø 

Calvert Baseball Wheel Calvert Distillers Co., N. Y. C. 1959; 5.5" Ø  

Here's a swell volvelle with two sides: one to give you baseball facts for 1956, '57, and '58; the other cocktail recipes using Calvert whiskey. I guess they envision you bringing your travelling bar with you to the stadium? Or maybe just drinking at home in front of the television...

At any rate, this volvelle will get you up to date with the late '50s stats for the Redlegs (leading batter for 1956: Kluszewski), the Athletics (1958 batting average: .305), the Senators (1957 manager: Lavagetto), and more, plus it will help you make a Cola Collins, a Gin Buck, or a Hot Calvert Toddy. Handy! It's all typeset (not hand written), but the fact that it's a giant baseball adds a lot of charm. Plus that casual script that the mid century loved so much adds character. This volvelle seems to have seen more use than many of mine — it's a bit worn around the edges and has some shadowing. 

Want to make a Gin Buck? Here's the recipe:

Chart of Knowledge: Europe Chart of Knowledge Co. of America — Boston, Mass. 1931; 10.25”  Ø 

I am dorkily excited that I just acquired (via eBay) the brother to the United States Chart of Knowledge. Yes, it's true, I am now in possession of the Europe Chart of Knowledge. I love so many things about it, including the Downton Abbey thoughts it inspires when I dial up Great Britain and Ireland. Also great: the indicator arrow that rises out of the Scandinavian Peninsula to tell you which country's wildly out of date facts you are studying (though I guess Principle Rivers and Highest Mountains rarely change) actually emerges just slightly from the inner dial. A great detail! I also love the little triangles below each country's name to line up with the arrow. And how wonderfully strange that the only mountains drawn are the Ural Mts., which are indicated by large tire tracks. Plus who doesn't love an abbreviation that leaves a trail of apostrophes in its wake as M'N'F'G.?

In this view (again pardon the awkward scan-stitching) we learn that Iceland's Principal Imports are All Necessaries, that its Government is a Constitutional Monarchy, that its Principal River is the Thjorsa, and that Principal Agricultural Products include Hay, Potatoes, and Turnips. Or at least they did in 1931. 

Xth Olympiad, Los Angeles Times Mirror Printing & Binding House 1932; 5.5" Ø

Here's another of my older volvelles — a swell wheel chart from the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, in lovely green & blue. It's sponsored by Coke (duh), and anywhere there isn't an answer, a tiny Coca-Cola logo appears. The back lists finals from 1928 that are too complicated to list on the front (eg boxing has 8 different categories), but it's not very interesting looking, so I skipped scanning it.

Bake •O• Meter M.L. Davis 1947; 3.75" x 5.25"

If you were wondering at what temperature to cook heart, now you know. This handy little Bake•O•Meter has the answers for all kinds of meats, whether you have a gas or an electric range (I never realized there might be different temperatures for different kinds of ovens). The small print at the bottom reads: "Stoves differ and so do personal tastes. Instructions may be varied slightly to fit your own needs." Indeed — my oven has its own special cooking system involving wildly overheating, allowing all the heat out into my apartment, and then overheating again. I'm not sure my heart would be done after 35 minutes per pound...

At the top, as in many volvelles, is a space for a shop to print their info (and then presumably give the volvelles away) — this time it's D. C. Cavanaugh Plumbing and Heating, who presumably will fix your oven, too. The back of this volvelle does not have a second volvelle (as many do), but there are some additional tips about frozen meats.