Categories / Art and Photography, Books

Vintage Penguin books – as canvas art

Penguin_canvas
We’ve previously covered classic Penguin book sleeves as both deck chairs and mugs – but not as canvas art.

Yes, you can choose your favourite piece of classic fiction (well, from the selection available), then hang it on the wall. These stretched canvas prints are printed on 100 per cent cotton canvas and come ready to hang. There’s also a choice of picture size too – 700 x 450mm (which is a reasonable size in itself) or the super-large 1400mm x 900mm.,

The smaller image retails for £99, with the larger one available for £299.

Find out more at the Art Meets Matter website

Categories / Books

Book Review: Curious Pleasures: A Gentleman’s Collection of Beastliness

Curious_pleasures_2
As far as retro goes, you don’t get more retro than a book written by a Victorian scholar called the Reverend Dr Erasmus St Jude Croom. His Curious Pleasures: A Gentleman’s Collection of Beastliness was, in its day, one of the most shocking books around.

The best libraries in Victorian Britain kept this filthy tome under lock and key and only let doctors and professors look into the lewd and depraved tales. Apparently, the book was so shocking that if any woman was to glance through its pages, they would faint. It is now in print for the first time since 1901… so what is it like in modern hands?

Well, Curious Tales hasn’t lost its curiosity value and in fact, provides a saucy but gentle read. Of course, in a world that has full nudity in commercials for shampoo, this won’t be sending any ladies reeling.

Read more

Categories / Toys and Games

Tesco’s radio-controlled mod on a scooter

Mod_scooter

If the weather (or lack of a real scooter) is keeping you off the road, you could spend the time playing with this radio-controlled mod on a scooter from Tesco.

New in for Christmas, this scooter apparently has a ‘retro styled design’, along with working headlights and breaklights and a fully-functioning remote control. There’s even an ‘authentic looking mod rider’ says Tesco.

Sized at 18 x 24 x 17cm, it retails for £20 – batteries included.

Find out more at the Tesco Direct website

Categories / Gadgets and Tech

Habitat’s retro radio/alarm clock

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Habitat
has a nice take on the classic bedside radio with this Net radio/alarm clock.

Mixing several styles, includes a 70s-style exterior, vintage dials and display and hopefully a very up-to-date sound quality, it can playback your favourite stations, wake you up in a morning and work off either batteries or mains.

Which is just about everything you need at the side of your bed. It retails for £45.

Find out more at the Habitat website

Categories / Food and Drink

Retro-styled melamine lunchbox

Mealmine_box
Fancy taking a three-course lunch to work? You can with this melamine lunchbox.

It’s a three-tier ‘tiffin tin’, which means you can pack in up to three different foods in the one container – or alternatively, you can just use it for general storage.

This retro-styled lunchbox has purple, lime and pink trays, secure metal grips and is sized at 24 x 13cm. It retails for £25.95.

Find out more at the Graham & Green website

Categories / Gadgets and Tech

Taito launches CB radio for your mobile phone

Taitotransceiver

Forget vintage handsets for your mobile, you can now get a CB radio for your phone.

This add-on from Taito, which you plug into the headset socket, is only available in Japan so far, allowing you to indulge in that early 80s craze of chatting to truckers and bedroom loners with phrases like ‘breaker breaker’, ’10-4′ and other such nonsense.

Alternatively, you can go out and buy some CB kit – which scarily (in this online age) you can still buy. Personally, I’d avoid both!

Find out more at the CScout Japan website

Via Technabob