Lettering: Acey Cypres, Lettering Artist

Acey Cypres was born Sylvester Elias Cypres on October 19, 1906 in New York, New York according to his birth certificate and World War II draft card. His parents were Isaac Henry Cypres, an Englishman, and Molly Amsel, a Hungarian, who married on January 7, 1906 in Manhattan.

The 1910 United States Census counted Cypres (line 54) and his parents in Manhattan at 498 West 158th Street. His father was a clerk in a fur business.

The New York Sun, July 5, 1918, reported the results of the Independence Day athletic meets across the city. At Isham Park, Cypres won the 60 yard dash for 10 and 12 year-old boys.

In the 1920 census, the household (lines 35 to 40) included Cypres, his parents, sister, paternal grandfather and an aunt. Their Manhattan address was 103 Vermilyea Avenue. Cypress’ father was a furrier.

The 1930 census recorded Cypres, his parents and sister in Manhattan at 2 Seaman Avenue. Cypres (line 25) was unemployed and his sister was a letterer in the art trade. I believe the enumerator mixed-up their occupations.

On August 9, 1931, Cypres, an artist, married Jane Simon in Manhattan.

Cypres was a member of the Artists Guild of New York.

Evidently, Cypres was counted, in the 1940 census (line 57), at a business address, 45 Prospect Place. His partner was Arthur Lemon, a freelance artist.

Cypres signed his draft card on October 16, 1940. His address was 87 Brookline Avenue in Atlantic Beach, New York. He was described as five feet three inches, 145 pounds, with blue eyes and brown hair.

The Stamford Advocate (Connecticut), August 1, 1945, reported the sale of John Braggs’ seven-room Colonial home, on Wire Mill Road, to Cypres of Port Chester.

The 1948 Stamford, Connecticut city directory listed Cypres and his wife at Wire Mill Road near Long Ridge Road. He was a commercial artist in New York. His Stamford address, in the 1950 census, was 169 Wire Mill Road. Cypres (line 25) was a self-employed commercial artist.

Cypres was an amateur golfer. The Stamford Advocate, September 10, 1953, listed the pairings and starting times for the fifth annual WSTC City Amateur Golf Championship. “Acey” Cypres and two others were scheduled for 9:20 am on Saturday.

In his 1981 book, Life with Letters as They Turned Photogenic, Edward Rondthaler, in the part covering 1954 to 1955, named Cypres as one of the newcomers to Photo-Lettering Inc. It featured Cypres’ Spencerian alphabet in Art Director & Studio News, July 1954.

In Art Director & Studio News, October 1955, Cypres was named one of the contributors to Photo-Lettering Inc.’s A Manual of 2750 Alphabet Styles.

Cypres Penscript was advertised in Art Direction, May 1958.

For the Merrill Company Publishers, Cypres lettered the cover and title pages of three coloring books: Bunnykin’s Coloring Fun; Chipper Says, ‘Let’s Color’; and Jackie the Rabbit, His Coloring Book.

Cypres was listed in the Alphabet Thesaurus Nine Thousand (1960). His typefaces appeared on pages 105, 183, 198, 121 and 496.

Cypres had a listing in Who’s Who in Commercial Art and Photography (1964).

Cypres, Sylvester YU 6-1983
45 Tudor City Pl., New York, N.Y.

Alphabet Thesaurus Volume 2, Photo-Lettering Inc., 1970

Alphabet Thesaurus Volume 3, Photo-Lettering Inc., 1971
 

Samples of Cypres’ alphabets appeared in Photo-Lettering’s One Line Manual of Styles (1971).

Page 20: Cypress Blythe

Page 32: Cypress Carillon

Page 33: Cypress Script, Cypress Carillon Script

Page 34: Cypress Carillon Script

Page 42: Cypres Sylvan

Page 43: Cypress Spencerian

Page 243: Cypres Cypress Wide

Page 250: Cypres Roman

Page 282: Cypres Ceezee

Page 314: Caslon Antique Documentary

At some point Cypres designed alphabets for Headliners International.

Cypres passed away on December 17, 1988 in Norwalk, Connecticut. His death certificate (transcribed at Ancestry.com) said he was divorced and a graphic artist at Headliners International. Photographs of Cyrpres are at Instagram.

 

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(Next post on Monday: Picture Stories from the Bible)

Happy Halloween: Neal Adams, Frankenstein and Vampirella

Monster Scenes, Aurora 1971

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Next post on Monday: Acey Cypres, Lettering Artist)

Under Cover: Art Direction 1967

January: Jim Spanfeller

 

February: Kenneth Roberts

 

March: Ron Kambourian

 

April: Dan Culhane

 

May: Hebert H. Sklar

 

June: Saadyah Maximon

 

 

July: Sherman Mutchnick

 

August: Larry Miller and Fred Petermann
 

 

September: Richard Beck

 

 

October: Jerry Trainello; die-cut cover

 

November: Stan Mack

 

 

December: Barrington Smith

 

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(Next post on Saturday: Neal Adams, Frankenstein and Vampirella)

Typography: The Typosium, Los Angeles, 1925

On April 14, 1925, Laurie J. Quinby filed a trademark application for The Typosium. It appeared in the Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office, July 7, 1925

Typosium excerpts and quotes in

1. American Stationer and Office Manager, May 9, 1925
2. Visalia Morning Delta (California), June 24, 1925 and June 28, 1925
3. California Highways, August 1925
4. The Rustler (King City, California), September 4, 1925
5. Merced Express (California), October 1, 1926
6. The Inland Printer, July 1927
7. Sacramento Daily Union (California), February 2, 1928

A Few Details About Laurie John Quinby

 

Laurie John Quinby was born on December 8, 1868 in Covington, Kentucky according to Genealogical History of the Quinby (Quimby) Family in England and America (1915). His parents were Joseph Bailey Quinby and Annie Laurie. Quinby explained why he changed his birth name.

“Because I was born on the birthday of my mother’s brother, John Laurie, they named me for him. Later in life I preferred to reverse the order of these names, calling myself Laurie John; you see the tendency always was with me to arrange things to suit myself. For doing this, however, I had some reason. In those days there was a prize fighter who had made himself quite notorious. His name was John L. Sullivan. I had no liking for ‘sluggers,’ and so boys and men, whether to irritate me or not, would speak of me as John L., just as they did of him. I did not like that. Then I thought that Laurie J. Quinby sounded a bit more euphonious, that it was better balanced and such like things, all of which at that time did and still do seem sufficient reason for my writing my name as I please. Then a name is only a label, and I see no reason why any one should not be conceded the right to write his name as he chooses, regardless of any other consideration. However, I have always gone on the theory that if I have ever done anything I should be sorry for I am glad of it, for in the doing of those things we at least learn the lessons of right conduct. We learn what not to do the next time. ...

The 1870 United States Census counted six-and-a-half-month-old Quinby (line four) as the youngest of seven siblings. The family lived in Cincinnati, Ohio. Quinby’s father was a newspaper editor (line 36).

In the 1880 census, the Quinby family (lines two through nine) were residents on Jefferson Street of Dayton, Kentucky. Three of Quinby’s older brothers were printers.

On March 12, 1892, Quinby married Cora A. Clinkinbeard at Boyd, Kentucky.

Direct Legislation Record, March 1899, profiled Quinby.

Direct Legislation Record, September 1900, reviewed, on page 48, Quinby’s booklet, The Open Door.

According to the 1900 census, Quinby (line 53), his wife and daughter, Minerva, made their home in Omaha, Nebraska. They were lodgers in the Majors household at 223 Howard Street. Quinby was a printer.

Quinby (line 34) had the same profession in the 1910 census. His family lived in Dundee, Nebraska at 4916 Dodge Street.

Quinby attended and spoke at the first annual picnic of the printing trades of Omaha.

The 1920 census, enumerated January 13, listed Quinby on line 45. The magazine editor lived in Seattle, Washington at 907 Boren Avenue.

A month later on February 12, 1920, which was Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, published Quinby’s “Abraham Lincoln”.

In the early 1920s Quinby moved to Los Angeles, California where his wife, Cora, passed away on July 8, 1923.

In 1925, the Typosium published Three Paths: An Allegorical Romance which was written by Wallace Clifton, a pseudonym of Quinby.

The 1930 census said Quinby (line 14), his daughter and granddaughter, Jocelyn, lived at 1717 North Alexandria Avenue in Los Angeles. His household included five lodgers. Sixty-one-year-old Quinby was not working.

The American Republic of States and Democracy of Citizens was Quinby’s next book published by the Typosium in 1930.

Quinby’s Jefferson-Lincoln Symposium of What Constitutes Americanism was published by the Davies Printing Company in 1936.

At some point, Quincy married Harriet Brockway Weaver. In the 1940 census, the couple (lines 12 and 13) were counted in Los Angeles at 1119 South Victoria Avenue.

Seven-and-a-half months later, Quinby passed away on November 17, 1940 in Los Angeles. He was laid to rest at Hollywood Forever.

The Lincoln Star (Nebraska), November 22, 1940, said

Laurie Quinby, Former State Senator, Dies
Omaha, Nov. 22—Friends here were notified today of the death at Los Angeles Nov. 16 of Laurie J. Quinby, 71, one­ time prominent Omahan and a state senator in 1914.

The Freeman, January 1941, said

Laurie J. Quinby died in Los Angeles on November 17, after a long illness. He was 71 years old.

Mr. Quinby, a veteran Georgist, was for many years engaged in journalism and politics. He had published several books, and was much sought after as a public speaker. He wrote his own obituary, an inspired work which is published in the current issue of Land and Freedom.

Mr. Quinby’s body was cremated. He is survived by his widow, Harriet Quinby; by a daughter, Minerva Quinby Ingold, and a granddaughter, Jocelyn Ingold.

(Next post on Monday: Art Direction 1967)