Monday, August 10, 2015

Under Cover: Bill English


Jacket and cover designs by Bill English

Most jackets are linked to a
bookseller or Facsimile Dust Jackets.

Rex Warner
Lippincott, 1946

A. A. Avery
Bantam Books, 1946

Double Image
Arthur Herbert Bryant
Farrar, Straus, 1946
Image from the catalog, First Annual Exhibition of Book Jackets,
sponsored by the Book Jacket Designers Guild, 1948

Forlorn Sunset
Michael Sadleir
Farrar, Straus and Company, 1946

Image from the catalog, First Annual Exhibition of Book Jackets,
sponsored by the Book Jacket Designers Guild, 1948

 Never Let Weather Interfere
Messmore Kendall
Farrar, Straus and Company, 1946

 Night Fire
Edward Kimbrough
Rinehart & Co., 1946

John Buchan
Bantam Books, 1946

January 1947
6. Bodoni types with a red band and one of gray-green. By Bill English.
(A jacket by English was reproduced in this issue.)

H. F. Heard
Vanguard Press, 1947
Anna Kavan
Doubleday and Co., 1947

What D’Ya Know for Sure, a 20th Century
Fox Literary Fellowship Novel
Len Zinberg
Doubleday and Co., 1947

Rex Stout
Viking Press, 1948


Meredith Willson
Doubleday & Company, 1948

The Aunt’s Story
Patrick White
Viking Press, 1948
sponsored by the Book Jacket Designers Guild, 1949

Uneasy Street
Wade Mille
Farrar, Straus & Company, 1948

Wade Miller
Farrar, Straus, 1949

Dry Messiah: The Life of Bishop Cannon
Virginius Dabney
Alfred A. Knopf, 1949

May? 1949
…best, and still one of the simplest jackets we've seen for some time is the one Knopf have for Virginius Dabney’s “Dry Messiah: The Life of Bishop Cannon,” the famous prohibitionist. Bill English has taken the outstanding characteristics of the late and mostly unlamented Bishop and translated them into a pair of flaming eyes and a blue nose. With its white background, it’s an eye stopper, and we’ll bet it dominates any window that displays it.
Shirley Jackson
Farrar, Strauss, 1949

John Macdonald
Alfred A Knopf, 1949

Rex Stout
Viking Press, 1949

Rex Stout
Viking Press, 1949

Wade Miller
Farrar Straus, 1950

Cleve F. Adams
Alfred A. Knopf, 1950

John Ross MacDonald

Rex Stout
Viking Press, 1950

Records: 1950 Edition
David Hall
Alfred A. Knopf, 1950

Hammond Innes
Alfred A Knopf, 1951

G. V. Desani
Farrar and Straus, 1951

Art Directors Club, 1951
245 — design of complete unit —
[Contraband]
designer: Bill English
art directors: Bill English, Harry Ford
artist: Bill English 

Herbert Gold
Viking Press, 1951

Rex Stout
Viking Press, 1951

Theo Durrant
Alfred A. Knopf, 1951

Robert Merle
Alfred A. Knopf, 1951

January 1952
“Some Practical Notes on the Design and Creation of Book Jackets”, by Morris Colman, illustrated by work of Joseph Low, Alvin Lustig, Ludwig Bemelmans, Susan Foster, Bill English, Thomas Ruzicka, George W. Thompson, Ray Pederson, Philip Grushkin, Al Hirschfeld, George Maas, Edward Collins, Miriam Woods

Art Directors Club, 1952
268 Photographers: Bill English
Mariamne {English’s wife]
Art Director: R. A. Freiman
Publisher: Random House, Inc.
Publication: “A Length of Rope”

Encore
W. Somerset Maugham
Doubleday, 1952
Jacket design by Bill English

Hemlock and After
Angus Wilson
Viking Press, 1952

Rex Stout
Viking Press, 1952

Rex Stout
Viking Press, 1952

Hubert Creekmore
Random House, 1953

Oakley Hall
Viking Press, 1953

Rex Stout
Viking Press, 1953

A Man and Two Gods
Jean Morris
Viking Press, 1953

John Ross Macdonald

On the Road
Jack Kerouac
Viking Press, 1953

The Overloaded Ark
Gerald M. Durrell
Viking Press, 1953

The Stones of the House
Theodore Morrison
Viking Press, 1953

The Time of Indifference
Alberto Moravia
Farrar, Straus and Young, 1953

Jack Waer
Viking Press, 1954

1954
Hastings House develops ad art book program
Art director Harry Ford is using top professional designers for the covers. The first ten books will be done by Alvin Lustig, Leo Lionni, Joseph Low, George Salter, Bill English, Seymour Robbins, McKnight Kauffer, Antonio Frasconi and Harry...

Random House, 1954

Binghamton Press
(New York)
October 31, 1954

Binghamton Press
(New York)
May 8, 1955

 The Black Mountain
Rex Stout
Viking Press, 1954

Carnival by the Sea
Sigrid de Lima
Scribners, 1954

William Gibson
Alfred A. Knopf, 1954

George Harmon Coxe
Alfred A. Knopf, 1954

The Huge Season
Wright Morris
Viking Press, 1954

Jesse’s Creole Deep South Recipes
Edith and John Watts
Viking Press, 1954

Phyllis McGinley
Viking Press, 1954

Rex Stout
Viking Press, 1954

Rex Stout
Viking Press, 1955

The Navigator
Jules Roy
Alfred A. Knopf, 1955

 The New Men
C. P. Snow
Scribners, 1955

Harvey Swados
Viking Press, 1955

Willy Ley
Viking Press, 1955

Angus Wilson
Viking Press, 1956

John Masters
Viking Press, 1956

The Earth We Live On
Ruth Moore
Alfred A. Knopf, 1956

 Homecoming
C.P. Snow

Rex Stout

Graham Greene
Viking Press, 1956

Rex Stout
Viking Press, 1956

The Anatomy Lesson
Evan S. Connell, Jr.
Viking Press, 1957

Angus Wilson
Viking Press, 1957

Warner Fite
Indiana University Press, 1957

John Masters
Viking Press, 1957

Bernard Wolfe
Alfred A. Knopf, 1957

Rex Stout

Jack Kerouac

The Sandcastle
Iris Murdoch
Viking Press, 1957

Robert Jungk
Harcourt Brace, 1958

Jack Kerouac
Viking Press, 1958

Rex Stout
Viking Press, 1958

Hammond Innes
Alfred A. Knopf, 1958

Graham Greene
Viking Press, 1958

Pax
Middleton Kiefer
Random House, 1958

Hollis Alpert
Alfred A. Knopf, 1958

The Portable Henry James
Morton Dauwen Zabel, editor
Viking Press, 1958

D. H. Lawrence
Viking Press, 1958

The Galton Case
Ross Macdonald
Alfred A. Knopf, 1959

The Gray Flannel Shroud
Henry Slesar
Random House, 1959

Elizabeth Marshall Thomas
Alfred A. Knopf, 1959

Ruth Suckow
Viking Press, 1959

Nathalie Sarraute
Braziller, 1959 

My Father and I
Joseph Schildkraut and Leo Lania
Viking Press, 1959

Jack Kerouac
Viking Press/Compass Books, 1959

Rex Stout
Viking Press, 1959

Phyllis McGinley
Viking Press, 1959

The Sacred Mushroom
Andrija Puharich
Doubleday, 1959

James Wood
Vanguard, 1959

Diana Chang
Random House, 1959

The Ardent Years
Janet Stevenson
Viking Press, 1960

Pierre Boulle
Vanguard Press, 1960

Evan S. Connell Jr.
Viking Press, 1960

Hollis Alpert
Alfred A. Knopf, 1960

Rex Stout

Rex Stout
Viking Press, 1960

Holly Roth
Random House, 1960

Graham Greene
Viking Press, 1961

Erle Stanley Gardner
Walter J. Black, 1961

Rex Stout
Viking Press, 1961

Five of a Kind
Rex Stout
Viking Press, 1961

Hear Us O Lord from Heaven Thy Dwelling Place
Malcolm Lowry
Lippincott, 1961

Al Hine
Atheneum, 1961

The Man-Eater of Malgudi
R. K. Narayan
Viking Press, 1961

Angus Wilson
Viking Press, 1961

Iris Murdoch
Viking Press, 1961

Rex Stout

Rex Stout
Viking Press, 1962

Iris Murdoch
Viking Press, 1962

Theodore Morrison
Viking Press, 1962

Rex Stout

The Unicorn
Iris Murdoch
Clarke Irwin, 1963

The Deep and the Past
David B. Ericson & Goesta Wollin
Alfred Knopf, 1964

Angus Wilson
Viking Press, 1964

Rex Stout
Viking Press, 1964

Rex Stout

Rex Stout
Viking Press, 1965

Rex Stout
Viking Press, 1965

Under the Net
Iris Murdoch
Viking Press, 1965

Rex Stout
Viking Press, 1966

Calder Willingham
Vanguard, 1969

Vol. 3 No. 3, Fall 1980
…Bill English was mainly a hardcover artist but he did some wonderfully imaginative design for Bantam endpapers and covers. his endpaper map for “First Come, First Kill” (page 47 in PQ) is better than most Dell “mapbacks”!

By Its Cover: Modern American Book Cover Design
Ned Drew, ‎Paul Sternberge
Princeton Architectural Press, 2005
English’s Encore jacket reproduced on page 59.

The Daily Heller
A few of the jackets are from this article.

*****

William Walters “Bill” English was born in Campbell, Missouri, on May 28, 1916. English’s full name and birth information was at Ancestry.com in the Social Security Application database. English’s full name was also used on his 1954 book, Basic Ballet. His parents were James R. English and Hazel Walters.

The 1920 United States Census recorded English, his parents and older brother, James, in Hayti, Missouri. His father was a public school teacher.

Hapeville, Georgia was English’s home town in the 1930 census. His mother, a divorcee, was the head of the household which did not list James, but included twin sons, David and Charles. The family resided at 87 North Central Avenue.

Nothing is known about English’s education and art training. He made his way to New York City where he applied for his Social Security number in December 1936. It is not known if he was employed at a design firm or corporation.

So far, English’s earliest known jacket and book cover designs appeared in 1946.

English has not been found in the 1940 census. Ancestry.com has a number of Bridgeport, Connecticut city directories. English was listed in the “Artists—Commercial” category in the 1948 directory. His address was 1969 Cross Highway. The next available directory, from 1954, named English and his wife, Mariamne, who lived at 1023 Hulls Highway. When they married is not known. His occupations were artist and writer. The 1955, 1957 and 1962 directories had the same information. The listing in the 1972 directory said English was Vice President of Intercorp Inc. and lived at 101 Harbor Road.

Below is an excerpt from a 1963 Publishers Weekly article:
Colophons or Devices: Old and New
Mention has been made of Yale’s “foursquare” colophon, which was the brainchild of Alvin Eisenman, typographical consultant to the Press and a member of the Yale faculty, and “used to the hilt” (in the words of Chester Kerr, Yale’s director) “by Bill English.” (Bill English is head of the agency which handles Yale’s advertising, and he has been responsible for the look of most of the recent Yale ads—“a uniqueness of style which seems to suit our particular attitude toward scholarly publishing.
According to the Connecticut Death Index, English passed away March 27, 1980 in Kent, Connecticut. His spouse was Virginia; the date of their marriage is not known. English’s first wife, Mariamne English-King, passed away December 21, 2007 in Mohegan Lake, New York. English and Mariamne’s son, Timothy Gordon English, was mentioned in the magazine Broadcasting, December 17, 1990, on page 80, bottom of column two.


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(Next post on Monday: 100 Ampersands, Part 4)
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Monday, August 3, 2015

Lettering: William E. Dennis, Master Penman

August 1858, Chester, New Hampshire – June 6, 1924, Brooklyn, New York

 1860 United States Federal Census
Chester, New Hampshire
Name / Age
Green Dennis 40
Dorcas S Dennis 40
Abby Dennis 9
Charles Dennis 6
George G Dennis 4
William E Dennis 2

 1870 United States Federal Census
Chester, New Hampshire
Name / Age
Green Dennis 50
Dorcas S Dennis 50
Abbie Dennis 19
Charles Dennis 16
George Dennis 15
William E Dennis 11

 1892 New York State Census
Brooklyn, Kings
Name / Age
William E Dennis 32

 The Brooklyn Daily Eagle
(New York)
March 3, 1893
Evening High School No. 2
William E. Dennis, penmanship instructor

Penman’s Art Journal
February 1897
Cover

 Penman’s Art Journal
August 1897
Baltimorean, Bostonian, etc
Galveston Business University

 Penman’s Art Journal
January 1898
Dennis

 Penman’s Art Journal
February 1898
Cover
Engrossing

 Penman’s Art Journal
March 1898
Engrossing

 Penman’s Art Journal
April 1898
Engrossing

 Penman’s Art Journal
May 1898
Engrossing

 Penman’s Art Journal
June 1898
Engrossing

 Penman’s Art Journal
August 1898
Alphabet

 The Star
(Long Island City, New York)
March 11, 1899
Evening High School
…William E. Dennis, penmanship and business forms…






















1900 United States Federal Census
244 President Street, Brooklyn, New York
Name / Age
William E Dennis 41 [Birth: August 1858; Occupation: School Teacher]
Lizzie R Dennis 37
Rasheeb Simond 21

 1905 New York State Census
1305 Avenue O, Brooklyn, New York
Name / Age
Wm E Dennis 46 [Teacher]
Lizzie R Dennis 42

 The Brooklyn Standard Union
(New York)
September 10, 1905
Many Important Changes in the Faculties of Prominent Brooklyn Colleges
…Packer makes few changes in faculty this year. The new head of the department of Latin and Greek is Miss Alice Van Vilet, an instructor of last year. The French department will be in charge of Louise Guehin, who succeeds Florence Bristowe. The new teacher of ancient languages is Elizabeth McJ. Tyng, and William E. Dennis is the new instructor of penmanship.

 The Brooklyn Daily Eagle
(New York)
February 9, 1906
Case of Valentine Is Drawing to a Close
…William E. Dennis, a teacher of penmanship, etc., from Flatbush, was on the stand for the defense when court closed for the day. He was shown photos of Mrs. Valentine’s signatures and the alleged forged signature, He apparently had not been called into the case but recently, and, as some time was being taken for his answers, Mr. Griffing announced that he could go no further until to-day.

 The Brooklyn Daily Eagle
(New York)
February 10, 1906
Case of Valentine Not in Jury’s Hands
…With Justice Rogers, the twelve jurymen and the counsel looking at photographic reproductions of signatures and other writing while one of the experts, William E. Dennis, gave demonstrations on large sheets of paper placed on an elevated frame, the court room resembled a class at school taking a lesson in penmanship.

 The Blue Book
L.E. Stacy
1907
Mr. W. E. Dennis was born in Chester, New Hampshire, in i860. At the age of 15 he secured a copy of Gaskell’s Compendium and made considerable progress by practicing during his odd moments. For two years he practiced without a teacher and at the age of 17 entered Gaskell’s Business College, Manchester, New Hampshire, Mr. Dennis completed a course under Gaskell and prepared a number of large pieces of pen work. He then taught writing classes as an itinerant teacher, and later came under the instruction of Mr. A. R. Dunton who trained him in engrossing, preparing script copy, etc. Mr. Dennis next went to Brooklyn and taught for several years in Wright’s College, and later at Peirce [sic] College, Philadelphia, for one year.

 For the past 17 years Mr. Dennis has been the leading engrosser and pen artist of Brooklyn. He has attended art colleges and lectures and supplemented these courses by the study of designing, engraving, etc. He has built up a profitable business and keeps two assistants busy in addition to what he is able to do himself. For engrossing resolutions, etc., he receives prices ranging from $100 to $250. He has all of the work he can do in the cheaper grades, running from $10 to $50. Except during the summer months, Mr. Dennis has from six to twelve sets of resolutions ahead of him and finds that his business is increasing from year to year. He is a master in the use of waiter colors and the art of illumination.

 1910 United States Federal Census
504 East 118 Street, Manhattan, New York
Name / Age
Eliza J Breene 45
Joshua D Day 59
William E Dennis 49 [Designer/Engraving Company]

 1915 New York State Census
357 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, New York
Name / Age
William E Dennis 55 [Designer and Engrosser]

 The Brooklyn Daily Eagle
(New York)
June 8, 1924
Dennis—William E. Dennis of 374 Fulton st. on Friday, husband of Elizabeth McAlpin Dennis. Funeral services Sunday, June 8, 1924, at Lafayette Chapel, 38 Lafayette ave., Interment Evergreens Cemetery.

 Dennis—Members of Anthon Ledge, No. 769, F. &. A. M., are requested to attend the funeral service of our late brother, William E. Dennis, Sunday, June 8, 2:30 o’clock, at the chapel, 38 Lafayette ave.
Emil H. Kegel, Master.

 The Brooklyn Standard Union
(New York)
June 8, 1924
William E. Dennis
William E. Dennis, well known penman, died Friday [June 6] in Prospect Heights Hospital. He was born in New Hampshire sixty-five years ago and had been a resident of Brooklyn for forty years. He was a member of Anthon Lodge, 679, F. and A. M. He is survived by his widow, Elizabeth McAlpin Dennis. The funeral services will be conducted at 2:30 P.M. today by the Rev. Dr. Frederick Stiehier. Interment will be at Lutheran Cemetery under direction of H. J. Flood, 297 Van Brunt street.

 The Brooklyn Daily Eagle
(New York)
June 13, 1924
“Woman Arouses Courthouse by Attack on Will”
Housekeeper for the Late William Dennis, Handwriting Expert, Charges Fraud.
A woman created a stir in the clerk’s office of the Surrogate’s Court this afternoon when she cried in a voice that was audible far down the long corridors that the 30-year-old will of the late William E. Dennis, prominent handwriting expert, as offered for probate, is a fraud.

 The woman said she was Anna Morley, a boarding house keeper of 120 Schermerhorn st. She said she gave Dennis his meals for six years and kelp clean his two-room apartment above his etching establishment at 374 Fulton st. She claimed he had left his wife, Lizzie, 16 years ago after a legal separation.

 The will leaves the entire estate, valued at $8,000, to the widow Lizzie Dennis, who lives at 142 Franklin st., Astoria, L.I. No mention has been made of a brother, Charles H. Dennis of Manchester, N.H., or a nephew, Howard Miles of Providence, R.I. The will was drawn in 1894.

 The Morley woman denied the efforts of attendants to quiet her. She declared that the night before Dennis died in the Prospect Heights Hospital early in June he told her he wanted to change his will. She said she didn’t know he was dying and told him to wait until he felt better. The next morning he had died and yesterday the will was filed for probate by the widow.

 The woman said she would put in a claim for her services. No mention of her is made in the will.

 The Brooklyn Daily Eagle
(New York)
July 14, 1924
“Nephew Protests W.E. Dennis Will”
A nephew has appeared from Providence, R.I., to contest the will of William E. Dennis, penman and engrosser, drawn almost 30 years ago and leaving his entire estate of $8,000 to his estranged widow, Mrs. Elizabeth Dennis of 142 Fulton st., Astoria. Dennis died at the age of 66.

 This became known today when Peters & Burchell, attorneys for the nephew, Howard Miles, filed a petition in the Surrogate’s office asking that the probate of the will be delayed until they can present their objections to Surrogate Wingate. The objections from the nephew arrived in Brooklyn an hour after the will had been marked for final decree and settlement in favor of the widow. 

 According to the petition, Dennis lived in a room at 374 Fulton st. until shortly before his death, June 6 last, in Prospect Heights Hospital.

 Recently his widow filed for probate a yellow document alleged to be his last will and dated April 30, 1895. It left all to her. Eleven years after the will was drawn, according to the petition, Dennis was legally separated from his wife and payed her a monthly sum for her support. The petition claims the existence of a later will leaving Dennis’ business and entire estate to the nephew, Howard Miles.

The Business Educator, September 1924

The Business Educator, September 1924

































































An Elegant Hand: The Golden Age of American Penmanship and Calligraphy
William E. Henning
Oak Knoll Press, 2002
“William E. Dennis“
profile and portfolio

Artwork by Dennis and others can be viewed here.

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(Next post on Monday: Bill English)
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