Flavorwire

Unless you’re someone like Christian Boltanski, you probably don’t have much use for a phone book these days. Telephone directory covers are a lost art it seems, and many people collect the paper volumes fetching a pretty penny for them on places like eBay. One website takes the art of the phone book quite seriously and has a massive cover collection that showcases the most well designed tomes. Some phone books are made more interesting by their former owner’s doodles decorating the front pages, while others can be admired for their retro typography. Not all the designs are successful, but they’re still fun to look at — including one book from Nevada that resembles a creepy abduction scene. Hit the jump for more vintage phone book art.

Image credit: Old Telephone Books