On the second day of Christmas, Overlook Press gave to me...

Welcome to the second day of Overlook's Christmas giveaways! We'd like to start out by announcing yesterday's Charles Portis gift pack winner...

Congratulations, Gayle Lin!

You are now the proud owner of an impressive library of Charles Portis novels, including the bestselling True Grit, Norwood, Masters of the Atlantis, Gringos, and The Dog of the South. Thanks to all who entered; there are still eleven chances to win!

Up for grabs today, we have a very unique gift pack. Are you a designer? Do you aspire to be one? Or are you just an admirer of all things beautiful? Today's giveaway includes visually stunning books by two of the world's most celebrated designers, Milton Glaser and Eva Zeisel.

...

While most widely known for his iconic "I ❤ NY" logo, Milton Glaser is a legendary artist and designer with a rich and varied oeuvre. With a body of work ranging from newspapers and magazines to toys, textiles, interior design, and more, Glaser's sweeping influence spans generations.

Budapest-born Eva Zeisel emigrated to the U.S. in 1909 and led a trail-blazing career spanning more than seventy-five years. Her unconventional art, mostly ceramics and glass, has earned her many great honors and awards.

...

In anticipation of Glaser's upcoming book to publish in February 2012--In Search of the Miraculous or One Thing Leads to Another--we are excited to give away a signed copy of his dazzling book Art is Work. And that's not all! We're also throwing in a poster-sized print of Glaser's exclusive design for Overlook's 40th anniversary, commemorated this year.*

In celebration of Eva Zeisel's 105th birthday, we are thrilled to offer you On Design: The Magical Language of Things, a lavishly illustrated book that communicates the ideas that have guided and inspired her work throughout her career.

So what are you waiting for? Enter to win in three different ways!

1. Comment on this post

2. Tweet at us using the hashtag #OverlookChristmas

3. Leave a comment on our Facebook page

You can enter once in each area until 8 am tomorrow morning, and we will be announcing a winner in tomorrow’s post. After all entries are received, we choose a winner using random.org.

*Fun fact: Did you know Milton Glaser also designed Overlook's famous winged elephant logo?

Eva Zeisel, 104, Profiled in The Wall Street Journal

Design legend and Overlook author Eva Zeisel was profiled in The Wall Street Journal this weekend:

"Ms. Zeisel is one of the great modernist designers of the 20th century. But what was she doing in the 21st? She was born around the same time as W.H. Auden, who's been gone for nearly 40 years, and Frida Kahlo, nearly 60. Turns out that at 104, Ms. Zeisel is still creating her "things," as she calls her designs, for companies ranging from Kleinreid to Design Within Reach. The definition of a survivor, Ms. Zeisel was born in Budapest, went to Berlin for the glamorous period of the 1920s and then to Russia in the '30s. "The arts from Russia seemed fresh and appealing," she said. "So I decided to go and see what was behind the mountain." There she had a run-in with Stalin, who imprisoned her for 16 months. In 1938, she arrived in New York with $67 in her pocket and was given the first-ever one-woman show, seven years later, at MoMA."

Zeisel classic work, Eva Zeisel on Design, will be published in an all-new paperback edition in October.

In this richly illustrated, full-color book, the designer presents the ideas that have guided and inspired her. Each aspect of the design process is analyzed--variety, spontaneity, line, contour, shading, and texture, among others--to show how the best works are formed through a dialog between creator and object, the result of which is an environment that is pleasurable, comfortable, and elegant. The language in which this dialog is conducted, "the language of things," is one in which Zeisel's fluency is unparalleled. Her thoughts, read alongside the photos of her stunning creations and those that have inspired her, make this book indispensable to every enthusiast of art, design, and ceramics.

With a trailblazing career that spans more than seventy-five years and continues to this day, with recent creations that include a Martini glass featured in Bombay Sapphire ads and vases for Klein-Reid, Eva Zeisel stands at the forefront of twentieth-century designers. Her works are a reflection of a profoundly independent vision, unconstrained by design conventions, fads, or ideologies, and are featured in the permanent collections of museums throughout the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art. Her belly-button wall dividers are part of the modern decor in the lobby of Los Angeles's Standard Hotel.

.