The 1965 children’s book, Cats and Bats and Things with Wings, was a true collaborative project between Glaser and poet Conrad Aiken. Unlike the typical process between author and illustrator, Glaser sent one drawing at a time to Aiken, who would respond with a poem. Glaser wrote in his 1973 monograph Milton Glaser Graphic Design, “My graphic idea was to do every drawing in a different style, a kind of muscle flexing. I used a very rigid format to give the book continuity since the drawings didn’t.”          

Some of these drawings first appeared in the Summer 1961 issue of the British magazine Motif. Motif was printed with a hardbound cover and did not feature any advertising; perhaps it was a source of inspiration for Audience magazine, a short-lived (1971-1973) and similarly gorgeous hardcover magazine of art, literature and long-form journalism art directed by Glaser and Seymour Chwast.

This post also appears in PRINT.