Swimming Journal — Four Picture-Lessons 1940s-1950s Book of Knowledge

Before swimming pools had lane ropes and digital timing systems, they had picture-lessons — sequential diagrams printed in educational encyclopaedias, showing the body in motion through water with the calm authority of mid-century instructional design. This journal carries one of those lessons on both its covers.

Both covers reproduce the Four Picture-Lessons in Swimming and Diving from the Book of Knowledge educational series (Grolier Society, 1940s–1950s) — a mid-century instructional chart illustrating the crawl, breast stroke, side stroke, and swallow dive in sequential diagrammatic form, rendered in the clean, confident graphic style of postwar educational illustration, with figures shown in profile against neutral backgrounds to isolate technique and body position.

Product Details

• Format: 5.75 × 8 in (14.6 × 20.3 cm)
• Pages: 150 lined pages (75 sheets)
• Perforated pages — tear out cleanly without damaging the binding
• Paper weight: 100 gsm, suitable for fountain pens and pencils
• Hardcover with matte finish, casewrap sewn binding
• Weight: 400 g (14.1 oz)

Perfect For

• Swimmers and diving enthusiasts keeping training logs
• Swim coaches and aquatic educators
• Fans of mid-century graphic design and educational illustration
• Everyday writing, field notes, and daily planning
• Thoughtful gifts for sport lovers and vintage art admirers
• Collectors of postwar instructional ephemera and Book of Knowledge nostalgia

Read more: Learning to Swim on Paper: The Picture-Lessons of Mid-Century Aquatic Education