I've Got Your Number
So here it is: my drawing of a phone book.
But I'm cheating, of course. It's a lot easier to make a drawing of the phone book look pretty when you have a phone book cover, as I do. A girlfriend gave it to me many years ago and I bless her every time I look up a number the quaint offline way.
My phone book cover doesn't actually look at all like this one, but mine is printed with illustrations of chairs - I guess they figured chairs and phone calls go hand in hand. It seemed cheeky to draw someone else's illustrations ~ so the one you see here is my imaginary version, whose chairs are nothing like theirs. Likewise, the pink phone is taking liberties. Our real one is a bland cordless phone, but I'd love to have an old-fashioned one that you can put your immaculately polished talon or a leopard-print pencil into and turn the dial. How about you?
I've never come across a phone book cover. Are they common in your corner of the world? Here, I think I get about five different phone books a year dropped on my doorstep. They are all different sizes so I'm not sure one could actually cover them. I do have an old phone much like the one in your picture. It is tan, and I think it is about thirty years old.
ReplyDeleteI want a phone from the 1930's, but they are rather expensive.
ReplyDeleteI have a reproduction similar to the one in your painting and the receiver is heavy! Good way to keep conversations short, though.
The VC&A lady probably has a set up like this and I bet she doesn't remove her gloves when she dials, but she would use a leopard-print pencil. ;-)
Thats occupying buy never came through it before..i mean cover
ReplyDeletejolliiieesss:-)
I love those old rotary phones because they look so classy and cool. Until I get a call and am frustrated there's no built-in caller ID.
ReplyDeleteYou are so fancy to have a cover for your phone book. Mine is covered with dust under my desk.
Margaret ~ I'd never seen one before and haven't seen one since. Our phone books are generally uniform in width and length - just the thickness varies - but it sounds like I'm lucky ours fits. I'm glad you kept your caramel-coloured phone!
ReplyDeleteCali ~ good way to keep the conversations short or the biceps lean - though your caller might wonder why your voice keeps fading in and out. ;)
Escapist ~ Welcome, happy girl! It sounds like phonebook covers are even rarer than I thought.
PCN ~ I'd love to have one so it completely bamboozles those automated menus and you end up with a live person without having to try too hard! On the subject of dust, many believe it makes a great protective coating...
I've never seen such a thing as a phone book cover—but I wonder if they make one that's big enough to cover the Manhattan phone book! I too love old rotary phones, and wish I'd taken the one that was in my grandmother's house—an original circa 1930s or '40s. It was black, with a raised dial, and it weighed a ton!
ReplyDeleteLove your (imaginative) illustration. I had a feeling you might take the challenge.
Even i have not seen such a telephone book cover before...This is looking quite old and rather an antique collection..Thanks for sharing..Unseen Rajasthan
ReplyDeleteI had to use one of those old rotary phones at my in laws' farm not so long ago : my third attemp was the good one, I missed the 0 a couple of times ! Boy, I didn't remember it was so hard to do ! So I even didn't dare to use my non-leopard-print pencil !!!
ReplyDeleteNice drawing ! How do you manage to make simple things look so attractive ?
Alexa ~ {thank you!} Your grandmother's phone sounds marvellous! I imagined the Manhattan phone book to be in a series of volumes. :)
ReplyDeleteUnseen Rajasthan ~ you haven't either? Sounds like I have an uncommon novelty where I least expected it!
Marylène ~ {merci!} so are you tempted to kidnap your in-laws's rotary phone next time you visit? Not that I'd want you to do anything naughty on our behalf, of course ...
I'm actually old enough to remember and actually used the forerunner to the old fashioned phone that you've depicted, Shell. Those phones were chunky, black, made from bakelite and one needed very strong fingers to dial. Phone numbers were a combination of letters and numbers.
ReplyDeleteI do love your phone book cover!
MmeB ~ sounds magnificent!!
ReplyDelete