The Vintage Reader

Yup, you're looking at it right: Noel is, in fact, backwards.

These two lovely items are vintage linoleum blocks that I'm guessing someone used to make Christmas cards with. Aren't they nifty? I found them in a tray with a bunch of lead type at the television station where I used to work, when we disposed of the letterpress and all the type (which we sold by the pound to a guy who bought scrap metal). I like to think that maybe, once upon a time, they were used to make a backdrop that appeared behind a TV news man as he reported on how the Kennedys or the Johnsons were spending their Christmas, but I suspect they were just the product of a frustrated artist who took advantage of a late-night news slump to hand-print his Christmas cards. Whatever. I think they're wonderful.