Book Review: Full-Color Fruit Crate Labels CD-ROM and Book

Great crate art

Dover has published this book before: Old-Time Fruit Crate Labels in Full Color (Dover Pictorial Archive Series) but this edition has a CD-ROM with all ninety-two labels. In this book they are printed on one side of the page only so they can be cut out (I don't know if the previous edition had this format) but as all the labels are on the disc you can print them any size you like. None in the book are life size.

Though the book is called fruit crate labels there are some just for vegetables: asparagus, yams, lettuce, carrots, tomatoes or peppers and a few are European, from Spain, France and the Canary Islands but they are all very colorful and a visual delight.

Some of the brand names make you wonder about the name and the illustration. Santa brand, with painting of the fat man, come from Santa Paula, but how about Up n' Atom carrots with a cartoon character wearing boxing gloves from Kalich and Company, Watsonville, California, or a label with a painting of the Burlington Zephyr streamliner for Golden brand pears from Medford, Oregon.

I found the CR-ROM very user friendly. Load and a few clicks later thumbnails are on screen, click again and any label is screen size to study, print or use in a design.

Another book about crate labels that I've enjoyed is Fruit Crate Art. Published in 1990, it has probably more than two hundred all in color and also some interesting landscape shaped grape labels which I've not seen elsewhere. The slight annoyance with the book is that so many of the labels overlap each other. Certainly worth buying if you can buy a good inexpensive copy.

Full-Color Fruit Crate Labels CD-ROM and Book (Dover Electronic Series) is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN)

Joe Davidson's book is worth searching out. Dozens of labels in color.

The labels are printed on one side of the page so they can be cut out without spoiling one on the next page, though they are all on the CD-ROM anyway.

Opening spread.

The labels come up full screen.

Thumbnails for half the labels.

In 1974 Sunkist issued a fourteen page promo brochure about the company and the labels. A flap in the inside back cover had four reprinted life-size labels.

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