MAD Magazine; Four Decades of Fold-Ins
A few months back, Chronicle Books published The MAD Fold-In Collection: 1964-2010, a collection of Al Jaffee’s award-winning fold-ins featured on the back of MAD Magazine over the past four decades. For those of us who grew up reading MAD, this special collection is an absolute must-buy. Though I haven’t personally subscribed to the publication in recent years, I have fond memories of purchasing issues and immediately flipping them over to see what Jaffee had in store for us. His brilliant designs are not only humorous and satirical, but constantly remain topical and are often thought-provoking.
The collection contains a total of 410 individual fold-ins with each fold-in presented in its original form while a second, pre-folded copy, is digitally printed on the next page so you won’t have to fold it yourself. In case you’re a collector, this will be a blessing as it saves you the hassle of having to crease your pages. But, perhaps the most amazing thing about this comprehensive collection is that it doubles as an accurate timeline of American political and popular culture, albeit an entertaining one. This four volume set retails for $125, but if you purchase it directly from the Chronicle Books website, you can get a special limited edition gift pack containing a bookplate designed and signed by Al Jaffee himself at no additional cost.