Private Worlds - A Visual Catalog of Progressive Toy Designs, 1970-1990

Private Worlds: A Visual Catalog of Progressive Toy Designs, 1970-1990 / 5.5 x 8.5 inches, saddle-stitched / from the folks behind the "Videoland" zine, Birchwood Palace Industries

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A collection of over twenty patent designs for educational children's toys of the 1970s and '80s, most never brought to market. Patent drawings are a fascinating medium for amateur idealism and ambition. That idealism goes double when paging through patent applications of the ‘70s and ‘80s looking at – for lack of a better term – “progressive toys." These ingenious, eccentric objects, designed both by professionals and amateurs, really highlight the interest in open-ended play that flourished in the post-Aquarian era before the market was flooded by plastic TV cartoon tie-ins. Illustrated with three-dimensional digital renderings.