GUINESS. HOOD, Thomas. All My Own Work: The Guinness “Do It Yourself” Book. (With poem about Guinness by Rudyard Kipling)

London: Designed for Arthur Guinness Son & Co. by S. H. Benson Ltd.; printed by S. Cowell Ltd., c.1964. Illustrations by John Tribe. Slim quarto. Original pictorial wrappers with striking orange panel illustration of a handyman holding a pint of Guinness; stapled binding. Profusely illustrated throughout in bright colours. Minor handling marks and light spotting to wrappers; internally clean and bright. A very good copy.

A charming mid-twentieth-century promotional booklet issued by Guinness, presenting humorous verses inspired by the poems of the Victorian writer Thomas Hood. The work celebrates the trials and mishaps of home “do-it-yourself” repairs, pairing light verse with witty illustrations of amateur carpentry, decorating, plumbing, and mechanical mishaps.

Each page combines bold graphic design with lively illustrations—builders, cobblers, gardeners, and painters all depicted in comic situations—accompanied by verses loosely adapted from classic authors such as Rudyard Kipling and others. The booklet forms part of Guinness’s celebrated tradition of imaginative advertising ephemera, produced during the 1950s–60s when the company commissioned leading designers and illustrators for their promotional material.

Pieces of Guinness advertising literature of this period are increasingly collected both for their graphic design and for their association with one of Ireland’s most famous brands.

[WR Food & Drink]