Pascal Pinteau is the french movie special effects specialist who did some years ago this fantastic book called "Special Effects: An Oral History - Interviews with 37 Masters Spanning 100 Years", always available in english edition on Amazon.com and that i highly recommand. Last month, his new book called "Jouets Cultes" - Cult Toys in english - was released, and, frankly, it's simply one of the best book ever done about toys, and a perfect Christmas gift.
In the book Pascal talks about all these cult toys that many generations played with, from early last century Meccano to the 1980's Transformers. Visually, the book is absolutely stunning with hundreds of photographs, but it's the history of each toy that also makes this book captivating.
The first chapter is about one of the oldest toy: the Meccano and we learn how Frank Hornby in 1899 got the idea of this beloved construction game when he saw a crane during a train travel. He was looking for a Christmas toy idea for his children, and this is how it all began!
Another amazing toy origin is the one of the Silly Putty, invented during world war two when James Wright, a scottish engineer, created in 1943 a new kind of plasticine who was bouncing like a rubber bullet. He didn't knew what to do with this strange material that was not interesting the army and it's only after the end of the war in 1949 that it will become a toy for generations... All along, the book is full of these kind of incredible and fascinating stories about the toys origins, whether it is Mr Potato Head...
...the world famous LEGO
...or the also hugely successful G.I.Joe
If you remember the wonderful models that Aurora did for the Universal Monsters, Marvel super-heroes and many more, you'll be delight by the full chapter dedicated to them.
The Corgi Toys, Etch a sketck, the Viewmaster 3D, or legendary Hot Wheels all have a special chapter in this incredibly illustrated book. And do you remember the great space age toy Matt Mason created by Mattel in 1962 and inspired by NASA researchs? I had plenty of Matt Mason toys when i was a kid, and loved them! 40 years later the japanese did some copies of it, unfortunately not as good as the original...
All of these legendary toys are in Pascal's book, one of the last chapter being about the Transformers toys saga always incredibly popular since the beginning in the 1980's.
Another great idea of the book are Pascal recommandations at the end of each chapter for one who wish to buy some of these vintage toys. Everything you have to know and care about to be sure that you will buy a real good vintage one.
The book who has 520 pages, cost 46,55 euros can be found on Amazon.fr and for now is published only in a french edition, with french text - but pictures are in international language! There will very probably be an english edition in a near future, and of course i will let you know.
All pictures: copyright Nouveau Monde Editions
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