Vintage Halloween Puzzles
Vision-wary Architects freebie mailer:
By way of quick introduction, the photo above is a visual celebration that shows all the postcards that went out in a batch mailer the week of July 21, 2024 - to all who previously purchased any volume of The Halloween Retrospect guidebook reference. Thank you!!! Sending out a mailer in such numbers really proved to this author how much support has found its way to The Halloween Retrospect archive library.
A head-spinning number of crossword cards going out to those
who in past purchased any volume of The Halloween Retrospect.
who in past purchased any volume of The Halloween Retrospect.
The story behind the postcard is this....
Since the release June 2024 of new reference THR, Vol 3 (link here to THR book store) the author has been continuing in background with the creation of brain-teasers for autumn fans. You might recall that Volume 3 is the first in the THR series to contain a "Puzzle Bulletin" with a vintage-Halloween themed crossword "Afterworld Lodger" inspired by the archive librarian's own enjoyment of such puzzles... particularly the work of Maura Jacobson (who created 1,4000 for New York magazine and 66 for The New York Times). By the way, there is still at least one compilation of her work still in print: New York Magazine Crossword Puzzle Omnibus, Volume 1).
Given the guidebook content of THR, Vol. 3, it seemed only natural to celebrate haunted house ephemera-makers mentioned in the third edition. It is hoped that vintage Halloween collectors will appreciate the references of such collectibles (particularly haunted house imagery) by companies as Beistle, Dennison, Hallmark (featured in book with poster), Gibson (on the cover), Norcross, Whitney, and more. As for the new postcard, some additional trivia includes: a visual nod in its grid to Amityville Horror, and a punny title "Vision-wary Architects" that is verbal play on Visionary Architects..., yet the goal was to make the puzzle fun for all, and perhaps just maybe become the start of a collection of similar work?
Since the release June 2024 of new reference THR, Vol 3 (link here to THR book store) the author has been continuing in background with the creation of brain-teasers for autumn fans. You might recall that Volume 3 is the first in the THR series to contain a "Puzzle Bulletin" with a vintage-Halloween themed crossword "Afterworld Lodger" inspired by the archive librarian's own enjoyment of such puzzles... particularly the work of Maura Jacobson (who created 1,4000 for New York magazine and 66 for The New York Times). By the way, there is still at least one compilation of her work still in print: New York Magazine Crossword Puzzle Omnibus, Volume 1).
A quick peak at the freebie crossword grid
with a slight resemblance to Amityville Horror.
with a slight resemblance to Amityville Horror.
Given the guidebook content of THR, Vol. 3, it seemed only natural to celebrate haunted house ephemera-makers mentioned in the third edition. It is hoped that vintage Halloween collectors will appreciate the references of such collectibles (particularly haunted house imagery) by companies as Beistle, Dennison, Hallmark (featured in book with poster), Gibson (on the cover), Norcross, Whitney, and more. As for the new postcard, some additional trivia includes: a visual nod in its grid to Amityville Horror, and a punny title "Vision-wary Architects" that is verbal play on Visionary Architects..., yet the goal was to make the puzzle fun for all, and perhaps just maybe become the start of a collection of similar work?
Anyway, since it is the newest edition from the vintage guidebook series, here is more about The Halloween Retrospect, Volume 3 available from THR's book store...
In the third volume, THR's library’s archivist creates a double-feature article. Part One discusses the transformation of haunted house imagery across the early-20th-century (and you can see some of the sources utilized in this blog link). Part Two considers the mid-century and amazing paper engineering that hailed from Norcross, Gibson, but particularly Hallmark Cards, Inc. (with help from Hallmark Archives). The resulting double-feature article includes a poster of Hallmark Halloween centerpieces, and the book contains a Puzzle Bulletin (see below) as earlier mentioned.
In the third volume, THR's library’s archivist creates a double-feature article. Part One discusses the transformation of haunted house imagery across the early-20th-century (and you can see some of the sources utilized in this blog link). Part Two considers the mid-century and amazing paper engineering that hailed from Norcross, Gibson, but particularly Hallmark Cards, Inc. (with help from Hallmark Archives). The resulting double-feature article includes a poster of Hallmark Halloween centerpieces, and the book contains a Puzzle Bulletin (see below) as earlier mentioned.
The Halloween Retrospect Vol 3 shown with page samples, poster & crossword.
The Halloween Retrospect Vol 3 review of sources across Part 1 & 2.
As always, the series is built on cited research and above is a sample of some of the many sources used in the research. You can visit a blog entry on the THR website to learn more about them. Also, carried out via THR's website is a study of Hallmark Envelopes 1950-1980 in three separate blog entries: Hallmark Halloween: 1950’s followed by Halloween Hallmark: 1960’s and concluding with Halloween Hallmark: 1970’s.
As usual there are some shorter articles tucked in the back of the book, and Vol 3 also contains a small write-up on vintage Halloween vinyl (which actually relates to those about haunted house). As well, there is a short article that reviews the different types of audiences original to certain catalogs. These final articles might seem tiny, but content in this book is for those obsessed with finer details, so content is short research-emphasis articles for puzzlers who enjoy hearing more about the past.
Gibson pop-up card (litho in Japan) marked as gifted in 1968.
Thank you once again, and I hope those who receive the postcard enjoy the crossword. I do try as author, editor, collector, archivist, librarian, artist, designer, publisher, seller and now puzzle-creator to produce a publication worth your time. To learn more about The Halloween Retrospect see this About page, and keep an eye on the THR website, particularly the Publications page.