Pomegranate offers myriad of possible landscape possibilities in 'Myriorama' collection

Pomegranate product at Toy Fair

Indie fine arts publisher Pomegranate Communications had plenty of product on hand at last week's Toy Fair, but associate sales manager Craig Bunn was particularly excited about Myriorama: A Collection of Many Thousand Landscapes—a mind-boggling series of 16 numbered panels that when laid down in numerical order form a vintage landscape painting, and when laid down out of numerical order…also form a vintage landscape painting.

In fact, one can construct specific scenes with a few panels, or bring them all together in making various pastoral narratives—depending on the order—of country life in the early nineteenth century.

"The panels maintain the horizon line no matter which way they're placed," explained Bunn, noting that Myriorama was originally an art book in the 1800s, made specifically for such interchangeability.

"There was an order in how it was painted, but it was meant to be put in any order," added Bunn. According to Pomegranate's catalog, there are 20,922,789,888,000 possible panel combinations.

Somewhat related, but with only two sextillion possible combinations, is The Helpless Doorknob: A Shuffled Story by Edward Gorey. Adding to Pomegranate's collection of Gorey specialty items, The Helpless Doorknob is a set of 20 black-and-white cards with Gorey images that, when shuffled, create a narrative that changes with every shuffle—no matter the card order.

On the adult coloring book front, the new Otto Wagner: An Architectural Colouring Book is of special interest, said Bunn.

Generically speaking, "Our adult coloring books are different in that they're hardbound and lay flat, making them easier to color," he said, "and they become a book-like keepsake, compared to a typical paperback coloring book that you wouldn't want to have on your bookshelf."

But increasing the value of the Wagner title in particular, is the fact that the impactful Viennese architect and urban planner's work "has never been collected like this in anything."

"Wagner is the reason Vienna looks like it does," said Bunn. "Beyond being a coloring book, our book is a great catalog of his architectural renderings, with 50 images in one place."

Other new adult coloring books at Pomegranate, incidentally, feature the artwork of Albrecht Durer, Harry Clarke and Aubrey Beardsley.