The opium poppy and its derivatives. (Image: Patty Peck)

When searching through old books at thrift shops or church rummage sales, you often come across vintage textbooks and magazines that feature incredible art and design — pieces that warrant being hung in a frame, or at least deserve wider public recognition. But like the work of so many commercial artists, these types of one-shot pieces are often relegated to utter obscurity. Over at 50 Watts, Will Schofield scans and catalogs such work, giving it a second life before it hits the landfill.

Some of the richest material Schofield has uncovered comes from a publisher called Communications Research Machines, which seemed to go out of its way to publish visuals best experienced while on some form of hallucinogen:

Communications Research Machines published Life and Health in 1972. I started to collect CRM’s intentionally or unintentionally psychedelic publications after finding a copy of Biology Today in a bookstore’s discard pile. Other early-seventies gems I plan to feature include Psychology Today and Developmental Psychology Today. (If searching for your own copies, pay attention to the dates as apparently subsequent editions are toned down.) For a fuller picture of Life and Health, see my previous posts featuring the surreal paintings of Phil Kirkland and the diagrams of Tom Lewis. Read More »