Vintage Porto

The matt white hardback has silver foil lettering and a black matt/gloss slip coverRoughly translated from the Portuguese, Embalagem – Estórias de Embalar by Manuel Paula means ‘emblems – stories of wrapping’. The book celebrates the history of packaging in Portugal. I purchased it on my recent overseas trip, unable to resist its vintage allure as I love this kind of early twentieth century ephemera. 

The book is entirely written in Portuguese (which I can’t read), with a short essay at the beginning. No matter: the real heroes are the images of course – and everyone knows a picture tells a thousand words. Chocolate boxes, shoe boxes, match boxes, liquor crates, ink bottles, biscuit tins, boxes for perfume, tooth powder and soap … so many are represented, and more that I can’t translate. I could have scanned all the pages for you, but these must suffice. Quaint, fascinating and inspiring.