silent spring
folio society
2021
“The question is whether any civilization can wage relentless war on life without destroying itself, and without losing the right to be called civilized.”
— Rachel Carson
Hand lettering, jacket design and interior illustrations for Folio Society’s edition of Rachel Carson’s classic environmental book Silent Spring.
An interview about the creation of these illustrations is on the Folio Society blog.
From Folio Society:
A passionate ecological protest, grounded in painstaking scientific research, Silent Spring was a grim wake-up call when it was published in 1962. While the chemical industry, the Forest Service and farmers hailed DDT and its chemical cousins as miracle controls for pests and diseases, spraying swathes of farmland, forest and residential areas, they failed to appreciate or acknowledge the devastating repercussions. In order to eradicate gnats in Clear Lake, California, mosquitoes in the Florida swamplands, fire ants in arable fields, cattle ticks and garden grubs, the surrounding ecology was sacrificed. Where the ‘rain of death’ didn’t directly poison other insects, birds, fish, meadows and grasslands, it entered the food chain, resulting in sickness and death among larger wild animals, pets and humans. Carson’s shattering revelations ultimately led to a ban on DDT and the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency but she was vilified by the chemical industry in the process, with much backlash focussing on her gender. Almost sixty years later, as the world struggles with the plastic catastrophe, it is impossible to overstate the legacy of Carson’s work and the importance of sharing it.