Obsessive collectors of vintage stuff tend to buy and sell by the book, so it's no surprise that scads of publications celebrate yesteryear's gear. These four new anthologies are an asset to any nostalgia buff's archive.
New Catalogs of Retro-Cool
SUPER #1 ROBOT
Japanese Robot Toys 1972-1982
by Tim Brisko, Matt Alt, and Robert Duban
Transformers. Micronauts. Shogun Warriors. These are the die-cast droids that captured imaginations in the 1970s and '80s. Super #1 Robot chronicles the golden years of novelty bots, with more than 200 stunning portraits. As shot by Toyfare photographer Brisko, the mini-machines' shimmering colors and reflective chrome make them look more like works of art than mere playthings.
Hottest item: Astroboy, at the ripe old age of 50, is as cute as a button.
RETRO-ELECTRO
Collecting Technology from Atari to Walkman
by Pepe Tozzo
What better way to catalog the achievements of the late 20th century than by exploring the gadgets that helped us get through it? Split between work, play, and convenience, Retro-Electro's 150-plus pages of old-school gizmos recall the days when computers looked like cash registers and cell phones felt like bricks.
Hottest item: Simon, a memory game introduced at Studio 54 in 1978, is trippy, flashing-light fun - whether you're wasted or not.
AMERICAN STREAMLINED DESIGN
The World of Tomorrow
by David A. Hanks and Anne Hoy
The future is aerodynamic - or at least that's what industrial designs of the 1920s through the '50s seemed to declare. Everything from toy scooters to typewriters and power tools dropped their angles and embraced curves. Two hundred photos of early-century products tell the tale of classic American sleekness.
Hottest item: Buckminster Fuller's 1933 Dymaxion Car - the first hybrid?! - looks like a cross between a Studebaker and a Goodyear blimp.
BOYS' TOYS
An Illustrated History of Little Things That Pleased Big Minds
by Jed Novick
Kids today have PSPs, iPods, and phonecams. But in the '60s, '70s, and '80s, children were wowed by lower tech toys. Novick revisits that simpler time, when the world was seen through a View-Master, Death Race 2000 was re-enacted with Matchbox cars, and Captain Action did battle with GI Joe.
Hottest item: Luke Skywalker's X-Wing Fighter, with its sleek, space-age design, remains a force to be reckoned with.
- Sonia Zjawinski
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