The Saga of Frankie and Johnny

The Saga of Frankie and Johnny is a ballad about a woman and the no-good man who done her wrong. The book’s story, built around a tale of drunkenness and infidelity, with overtones of honky-tonk and frontier justice, looks backwards to an imagined nineteenth century; but the page layout, typography, and illustrations have a self-consciously rough-hewn sophistication that is entirely of the 1920s. The book is perfect example of sort of publications that U.S. publishers issued in limited, but not too-limited, editions in the 1920s and 30s. These were not artist’s books in the current sense; rather, they were intended to be books of high artistic quality that were in reach of a general audience who appreciated good design.