Galactic Gourds

When I saw this one page illustration of “Galactic Gourds” from a 1918 seed catalog, I had to go after it. This is not an advertisement in the usual sense, as the copy is not intertwined with the illustration. It also is not an attempt to depict gourds, colorful and strangely shaped as they are, in any realistic way. In this illustration, gravity does not exist. But, what we do have is an abstract and bizarre collection of gourds –gourds of all kinds, with knobby curves and bright colors. The copy at the bottom informs you of the product, but the prose does not match the weird vision above.