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6.
Six bookmarks, a paper bag and an original sheet of wrapping paper designed by John Sewell for Better Books, c. 1964/65.
i) six bookmarks, each with a different colour design (one duplicate). Two of them credit Sewell’s design practice on the verso (“This bookmark was designed by John Sewell ARCA MSIA”), and four announce Better Books’ new OUP Bookshop (“the largest stock of Oxford Books in London”). 15x6cm. Contemporary ink inscription to verso of one bookmark, o/w Very Good;
ii) paper bag with colour designs, one to each side. 31.5x22.6cm. Old vertical crease to left edge and overall creasing, o/w Very Good;
iii) wrapping paper with colour design. 38x51.8cm. Three old, faint folds, o/w Very Good plus.
Sewell studied at Hornsey School of Art and the Royal College of Art, before joining the BBC in 1954, where he became Head of Graphic Design in 1955. He worked simultaneously as a freelance illustrator, and as well as his graphic work for Better Books (which included the frontage for their Charing Cross Road shop), he designed covers for Penguin Books. He also collaborated with fellow Hornsey and RCA alumnus Bruce Lacey on three short films, the last of which, “Everybody’s Nobody” (1960), was a spoof promotional film for a product called the Mobile Absurd Nonentity (MAN).