JF Ptak Science Books  Quick Post

I really should have kept track of this genre of design, the “tree of ______”,  as I’ve encountered this iconic method of data visualization  probably dozens of times, though I’ve only collected fewer than ten of them. The tree designs are relatively ancient, as with Porphyrys tree ( a hierarchical organizer based upon the then Aristotlean categories like substance, quantity, relation, quality, doing, undergoing, place where, time when, position and having), the standard and famous tree of Darwin and Haeckel, scientific organizing schemes (like the tree of the history of computers), as well as advertising vehicles (like Steinkohle of Essen’s tree of the derivatives of gas and coal and coke) and bits to display ideas good and bad (like the eugenic tree of human evolution, looking for their converts).  In any event, I’d say that this design has been used hundreds of times, if not more. 

This evening’s sample comes from a heavy and slick publication for “Sheffield Week”, showcasing producers in that city and surrounding area, and printed about 1935.  There are many ads from manufacturers and sellers, and this example is one of them. Hadfields Ltd., which produced a lot of heavy goods, many of the genres of which are the heavy limbs of this heavy tree: