"Dollars à Table" print (1971)

When most people think "Department of Agriculture" in Canada, they're probably thinking about cattle, pigs, and wheat, but the Department actually spent a lot of time facing consumers instead of farmers. Incredible booklets like the Art of Making Sandwiches (1959) taught Canadians how to spend their money and who to spend it on—you can bet big dairy lobbied hard to get "butter" listed as one of the four essential sandwich components.

On the flip side, Dollars a Table taught Canadians how to not spend money, along with very cute interior illustrations that were uncredited, of course. Read the whole thing right here, and marvel at the pictogram on page five showing how the average worker's buying power almost doubled from 1949 to 1969. My, how things have changed.

A booklet cover reproduction available at 12x18" or 24x36" on Epson Enhanced Matte 192 gsm paper printed with Epson UltraChrome XD2 archival ink. Sold in an open edition, unframed. The Ministère de l'Agriculture du Canada wordmark on this cover has been replaced with the words ”Économie Domestique Canadienne” due to Section 9 of the Canadian Trademarks Act.