Dust Jacket Designer Philip Grushkin From Comps To Final

by Stephen J. Gertz

Philip Grushkin working in his Englewood, NJ home studio, c.1950s.

A major archive of renowned dust jacket designer, Philip Grushkin, "whose work made him the standard-bearer throughout the publishing industry," (NY Times obit) is coming to market courtesy of Glenn Horowitz Bookseller. Booktryst got a sneak preview of its catalog, yet another key reference and collectible work as we've come to expect from the NYC-based super dealer.

Philip Grushkin was born in Brooklyn, NYC, in 1921, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants. He became interested in book dust jacket design as a teen and began collecting them, those of George Salter (1897-1967), the preeminent American dust jacket designer 1935-1965, his primary interest. He attended Cooper Union college as an art student, studying calligraphy and lettering with Salter, who became his mentor. He graduated in 1941.

After the war, he began to free-lance as a jacket designer, working for virtually all of the major New York publishers of the time: Alfred A. Knopf; Random House; Harper and Brothers; Harcourt, Brace and Company; Macmillan; and Doubleday; as well as smaller houses such as Farrar Strauss, John Day, and Crown. He became one of the go-to designers at Knopf because the great book and typeface designer W.A. Dwiggins declined to do dust jackets. Grushkin became part of a select group of dust jacket designers that included Salter, Charles Skaggs, and, on occasion, E. McKnight Kauffer, Herbert Bayer, Paul Rand, and Alvin Lustig.

In 1947 he joined the the fledgling Book Jacket Designers Guild established by Sol Immermann (1907–1983), who, with H. Lawrence Hoffman, produced the jackets for the first one hundred titles published by The Popular Library. The BJDG established a code for dust jacket design, rejecting the poster style in vogue for pulp novels in favor of a descriptive, non-blaring style. Its manifesto, embraced by Grushkin, rejected:

• "The stunt jacket that screams for your attention, and then dares you to guess what the book is about."

• "The jacket that is born of the assumption that if the book has a heroine, or if the author is a woman, or the author's mother a female, the jacket must say SEX."

• "Burlap backgrounds, the airbrush doilies and similar clichés as well as the all too many good illustrations that were stretched, squeezed, tortured and mutilated to fit a jacket format with just enough room left for an unrelated title."

1953.

Grushkin's hallmark, like Salter's, was his creative use of calligraphy and lettering in concert with a lightly drawn illustration. His early work tends to mimic Salter's but in the late 194os his own personal style began to emerge, with an emphasis on lettering and calligraphy often to the exclusion of illustration altogether. Perhaps his most recognizable and typical dust jacket from that period is that for Simone De Bouvier's The Second Sex (1953).

If you are unfamiliar with Grushkin his deceptively simple yet visually aggressive pictorial style is distinctive; once you see a Grushkin book jacket you will begin to see them all over the place on books published during the late 1940s - early 1960s.

"Grushkin forged his own brand of modernism, one that owed nothing to the work of Lustig, Rand, or Herbert Bayer, inventing a unique mixture of bold typographic hand lettering, dynamic background patterns, vibrant colors, and abstract symbolism. By the end of the 1950s, Grushkin’s style was distilled to the point where it resembled Paul Bacon’s 'Big Book Look,' with hand lettering - instead of calligraphy - taking center stage, augmented only by a tonally variegated background" (Paul Shaw, Philip Grushkin: a Designer's Archive, catalog to the collection).

Below, a few examples of Grushkin's work in development, from first comp to final jacket.

The Other Side of the Record (1947):

First comp.

Second comp.

Third comp.

Fourth comp.

Fifth comp.

Final.

The Train From Pittsburgh (1948):

First comp.

Second comp.

Third comp.

Fourth comp.

Fourth comp, side notes.

The fourth comp of Train..., unusually, has notations, not just by Grushkin, but also by "J" at Knopf (likely production manager Sidney Jacobs). Grushkin’s notes refer to the colors he plans to use - blue, red, and yellow - with a reminder that the jacket will be offset printed. The notation by “J” approves the design but suggests substituting the calligraphic lettering of Julian Farren's name to a clean, serif'ed typeface.

Fifth and final.

Mechanical - Shards of Glass.

Mechanical - Lettering.

Helix (1947):

Partial comp.

In what was, apparently, the first (and partial) comp for David Loughlin's novel, Helix (1947), Grushkin employs a blue background, a single swirling spiral, and title lettering running upward on a diagonal from left to right.

First complete comp.

In the above, the first complete comp for the Helix DJ, Grushkin loses the blue background and substitutes red, has the title lettering on a downward diagonal from left to right, acutely triangulates the author and title, features a series of smudgy, overlapping spirals, and adds a tiny ship moving along a black plane.

Second complete comp.

Grushkin's second complete comp for Helix refined his design in the first comp, downplaying the swirling spirals,  deleting the ship's black path, and adding black "gears," elements that made it to the final published dust jacket.

Final.

Grushkin's final design for Helix cleans up, clarifies, and polishes the second comp.

Limbo mechanical.

Final.

The lettering mechanical for an early comp of Grushkin's DJ for Bernard Wolfe's classic science-fiction novel, Limbo (1952) bears a different subtitle than the final. "A Voyage of Discovery and Adventure in the Fantastic World of 1990" must have seemed a tantalizing teaser in 1952. The teaser to the final certainly hammers it home: "A diabolic tale - mad, merry and monstrous - of men and women caught in the vortex of history yet to happen! Check out that mad, merry, and monstrous year, 1990, more frightening that Wolfe could ever have imagined:

• Manuel Noriega surrendered to U.S. forces after acting as dictator of Panama for five years.

• Notorious Gambino crime family leader John "the Dapper Don" Gotti was arrested and charged with racketeering, murder, and various and sundry illegal activities.

• Marion Barry, the flamboyant mayor of Washington D.C., was arrested for possession of crack cocaine in an F.B.I. sting set up in a D.C. hotel room.

• British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher resigned. 

• The first McDonald's restaurant opened in Moscow, becoming for many a symbol of the nation's new progressive free market ideology.

• The World Wide Web was created, along with the first ever web page and web browser.

• Time Inc and Warner Communications, two of the largest media companies in the world merged to create giant Time Warner.

That's some vortex. We're lucky to have made it through 1990 alive.

The Grushkin archive consists of his book jackets (with related comps, roughs and mechanicals); binders of his cover designs for Mercury Publications; letterhead and logo designs; related ephemera; and a collection of book jackets by George Salter: over 2,000 total items in all, 150 of which are highlighted in the catalog, with the largest and most important portion being the dust jackets by Grushkin.

"'His life was literally books,' said his son, Paul, noting that some 10,000 volumes lined the walls of the Grushkins' home.

"Yet, he was an invisible presence, his work evident only to a book's author, the publisher's editorial and design staff, the printer and the bindery" (Times obit).

"My Dad was also a book designer. He handled in his lifetime close to 1500 books, for many publishers, but most for Harry N. Abrams, the worldwide leader in artbooks. He told me a book design is successful when it's invisible, meaning the reader never has to labor to overcome the designer. In a good book design, the grid and typographic elements illuminate the author's concept along with the book's contents. Nothing jars that reader from experiencing the book - nothing in the design is so boastful that it's the designer who's calling out, before anything else, 'look at MY cleverness'" (Paul Grushkin). 

Book lovers, special collections librarians, and aficionados and collectors of dust jackets will be fortunate to score a copy of the Grushkin Archive catalog, luckier still to acquire the archive itself. While it's not unusual to track a writer's progress through their archive, it isn't often that we have an opportunity to see a dust jacket designer in the midst of their process from conception to completion.

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All images reproduced with the express permission of Glenn Horowitz Bookseller, with our thanks.
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The Only Bookplate Designed By René Lalique

by Stephen J. Gertz

Found in a copy of the Kelmscott Press's The Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems by William Morris (1892) from the collection of Emilie B. Grigsby (1879-1964), this is the only bookplate ever designed by René Lalique (1860-1945), the celebrated French art glass and jewelry designer.

Note her given name at lower left, so well integrated into the background foliage that it almost disappears into it.

Grigsby was a wealthy American bibliophile of "colorful reputation," and the young, comely "ward" (i.e., concubine) of the notorious robber baron, Charles Yerkes (1837-1905) who built (and bilked) the Chicago transit system and Northern and Piccadilly lines in London.

Emilie Grigsby was almost forty years younger than Yerkes but held her own,; she was sophisticated charming, and intelligent. The mansion he built at 660 Park Avenue, New York City - just a few blocks from his Fifth Avenue palace where Mrs. Yerkes lived - was a gift to Emilie, the daughter of a slave-holding father from Kentucky and a brothel madam mom from Cincinnati. Her fine library was sold in New York by Anderson and Company in 1912.

Emilie B. Grigsby.

"A most interesting catalogue of books belonging to Miss Emilie Grigsby, the ward of the late Charles T. Yerkes of Chicago, has been issued by the Anderson Auction Company, which will sell them in the week beginning Jan. 29. It is a woman's library of fine books, not subscription books, but really interesting and beautiful books and fine bindings. The sale includes long series of the William Loring Andrews books; publications of the Essex House, Kelmscott, Vale and other private presses..." (Boston Evening News, January 24, 1912).

"She has a charm one feels at once and responds to, a charm, vague, indescribable, that borders on the aesthetic, the kind that some of Chopin's music exerts over the crudest of us.

"Perhaps her appearance fosters this idea of the spiritual. Golden hair, blue eyes, fragile as a piece of Dresden china, she is as many of our famous artists have painted her. Absolute unconsciousness of her beauty, lack of affectation, simplicity of manners are hers. She listens to what is told her, and speaks when she has something to say. There is no boredom, nor yet effusiveness. She strikes easily and naturally the note so many others have attempted and failed, the note of harmony and perfect poise. No restless striving for this, nor craving for that" (Lillian Barrett, Emilie Grigsby - A Reminiscence.. New York Times, July 16, 1911).

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Bookplate image courtesy of David Brass Rare Books, witrh our thanks.

Image of Grigsby courtesy of University of Illinois Archives, with our thanks.
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Edmund Dulac's Persian Pearls

By Stephen J. Gertz

Neither serpents, nor magicians, nor sickness, nor accidents can touch him who has and holds in honour a pearl born in the head of a serpent (Léonard Rosenthal, stanza 66, from Au Royaume de la Perle).

In 1919, Léonard Rosenthal (1872-1955), an internationally respected and acclaimed dealer of oriental pearls and precious stones based in Paris,  published  Au Royaume de la Perle (Paris: Payot), a 208-page 16mo volume with decorations by Claude Denis.

 

In 1920, Rosenthal commissioned Edmund Dulac (1882-1955) to provide illustrations for a large quarto deluxe edition. Published in Paris by H. Piazza, it was immediately translated into English and published in London by Nisbet & Co.

With Dulac's illustrations, the book was transformed into a pearl born in the head of a magnificent artist.

 

“His plates, truly genius, do much to bring a fanciful touch to an otherwise stark exposition on pearls” (Hughey).

Ann Hughey, who compiled the standard bibliography of books illustrated by Dulac, is a bit harsh regarding Rosenthal's text. Within the "stark exposition" lies a fascinating chapter devoted to oriental pearl legends and mythology, i.e:

The cloud pearl never reaches the earth; the gods seize it whilst it is still in the air. It is like the sun, a dazzling sphere the rays from which fill the whole of space (Stanza 67).

It eclipses the light of fire, of the moon, of the lunar constellations, of the stars and all the planets. As the sun is to the day, so is this pearl to the darkness of the night (Stanza 68).

The earth, adorned by the four seas, the waters of which glitter with the lustre of many jewels, the whole earth covered with gold, would scarcely attain to the value of this one pearl: such is my belief (Stanza 69).

He who, by reason of an act of virtue of the highest degree, becomes possessed of it, will remain without a rival in the whole world, so long as he retains it (Stanza 70).

“Edmund Dulac adapts his talents to the spirit of that which he is to render…In…The Kingdom and the Pearl he used the conventional Persian style without perspective, rich in decorative forms and jewelplike colours, bring out the beauty of minute things by the use of colour and graceful line” (The International Studio, Sept. 1926).

Dulac “at his best…fantastically Persian” (The Times).

In 1904, when Edmund Dulac, age 22, landed in London after winning prizes for his work awarded by the Ecole des Beaux Arts he hit the ground running,   was an immediate success, and was soon the most acclaimed book illustrator of his generation at a time when book illustration had entered its golden age. His only rival was Arthur Rackham.

By 1913, his romanticism-in-blue period had evolved into a vivid, highly exotic and idealized vision of the Orient, Persian art miniatures a major influence upon him. First budding in his illustrations for Stories from the Arabian Nights (1907) and Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (1909), his new orientalist style was in full flower with Princess Badura: A Tale From the Arabian Nights (1913); Sinbad the Sailor and Other Stories From the Arabian Nights (1914).

This was the elegant oriental exoticism that Rosenthal had in mind when he imagined what Au Royaume de la Perle might look like if richly illustrated. Dulac's was exactly the fantasy he saw in his head, the romance of  his beloved pearls made manifest in art, each plate a jewel.

He who, by reason of an act of virtue of the highest degree, becomes possessed of a copy of this book will remain without a rival in the whole world, so long as he retains it. Yet post it for sale on Ebay and you shall be accursed for all eternity.

A copy that recently passed through my hands had been rebound by Bayntun-Riviére in full black morocco with a royal crown centerpiece ornamented by twenty-six tiny, set-in cultured pearls. A simple strand of pearls against black remains classically elegant fashion. Women of taste who come across this copy will wonder whether to read the book or wear it.

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[DULAC, Edmund, illustrator]. ROSENTHAL, Léonard. The Kingdom of the Pearl. London: Nisbet & Co., [n.d., 1920].

Limited to 675 copies, this being copy no. 44. Large quarto (11 x 8 ¾ in; 279 x 224 mm). xii, 150, [1], [1, printer’s slug] pp. Ten tipped-in color plates.

Bound ca. 1960 by Bayntun (Riviére) in full black crushed levant morocco with single gilt fillet border enclosing a frame of rolled gilt dots with corner ornaments within which is a double-fillet panel housing a royal crown centerpiece in gilt which is set with twenty-six tiny pearls. Raised bands with gilt rolls. Compartments with gilt-ruled frames enclosing gilt ornaments. Gilt-rolled edges. Broad turn-ins with gilt-rolls. Top edge gilt. Cockerell endpapers.

Hughey 54c.
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Images courtesy of David Brass Rare Books, with our thanks.
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Of related interest:

The ABC Book of Edmund Dulac.
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Opera Canceled Due To Rain Inside Theater, Beautiful Costume Designs Remain Dry

By Stephen J. Gertz

 In Budapest, for the first time in history, an opera was called off on account of rain. It was to be Offenbach's La Belle Helene at the Municipal Theatre and the fire inspector was making his rounds 15 minutes before curtain time. He tried this exit, examined that extinguisher. He touched a wrong lever and stage rain fell, beat upon the scenery until all was ruined, and no performance possible (Time Magazine, Music Notes, December 19, 1928).

That indoors weather disaster prevented the production's costumes seen here from being seen there, back then. They are, apparently, the only production artifacts that survived aprés le déluge.

These delicate and detailed watercolor drawings from Hungary, 1928, are the original costume designs for that production of Jules Offenbach's 1864 3-act opéra bouffe.

The costumes depict all the main character roles, Helen of Troy, Paris, Agammenon and Menelaus as well as nearly thirty designs for the chorus including dancers, workers and soldiers.

Each watercolor is captioned in Hungarian with the name of the character and possesses the signature of the artist in pencil, "Gücs." Who Gücs was remains a mystery. "Gücs" is a Hungarian toponym; perhaps the artist used it as a nom de brush.

This production of Le Belle Hélène was and remains, apparently, the only time in opera history that a weather report served as a review, with the opera's producers raining tears upon an already sodden stage.

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Images courtesy of Shapero Rare Books, currently offering this item, with our thanks.
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"One Of The Most Beautiful Books Ever Created" Reaps $415,937 At Sotheby's

by Stephen J. Gertz

CENDRARS, Blaise & DELAUNAY, Sonia.
La Prose du Transsibérian et de la Petite Jehanne de France.
Paris: Editions des Hommes Nouveaux, 1913.

Box (above) by Paul Bonet after Sonia Delaunay.

Est. at 40,000 - 60,000 EUR ($53,173 - $79, 972).
Sold for 312,750 EUR ($415,937, incl. premium).

Four twentieth century illustrated books, in astonishing bindings, out of a total of 190 lots, sold for over $100,000 each at Sotheby's - Paris in their Livres Illustrés de la Biblioitheque R. & B.L. sale, March 28, 2012.

A fine, first edition copy of Blaise Cendrars' collaboration with artist Sonia Delaunay, La Prose du Transsibérian et de la Petite Jehanne de France, in a chemise and box by Paul Bonet, brought the highest price.

It was estimated to sell for $53,173 - $79, 972 (40,000 - 60,000 EUR).

It fell under the hammer at $415,937 (312,750 EUR, incl. premium).

Cover.

 Called "one of the most beautiful  books ever created" when Yale University Press reissued it in 2008, and a milestone in the evolution of artists' books by Joanna Drucker in The Century of Artists' Books (p. 50), it is "a sad poem printed on sunlight," according to Cendrars, who published it under his New Man Editions imprint.  Comprised of four sheets glued together to form an accordion (fold-out) binding 199 centimeters tall when opened, only sixty copies out of a planned 150 were issued, and of those sixty only thirty are believed to have survived.

BONNARD, Pierre. VERLAINE, Paul. Parallélement.
Paris: Ambroise Vollard, 1900.

Binding by E.-A. Séguy.

EST. 30,000 - 40,000 EUR ($39,901 - $53,173).

Sold: 78,750 EUR (($104,673, incl. buyer's premium).

A copy of Paul Verlaine's Parallélement, illustrated by Pierre Bonnard, and in an stunning binding by E.-A. Séguy, was estimated at $39,875 - $53,173.

It fell under the hammer at $104,673 (incl. buyer's premium).

It was issued in an edition of 200 copies featuring 190 lithographs by Bonnard. Of the twelve copies, in original wrappers or rebound, that have come to auction since 2000, the highest hammer price was  $44,500 at Sotheby's June 11, 2002 for a copy bound by J. Anthoine Legrain. The scarce binding by the great Séguy accounts for the $60,000 difference.

Decorator and designer, Eugène-Alain Séguy (1890 - 1985), produced only a few bindings during his career. He is best known for his work in the graphic arts and textile design, including folios of Art Nouveau and Art Deco-inspired design models in lush pochoir that he published 1910 - 1930.

TEMPLE, Guillaume. ERNST, Max. Maximiliana.
ou L'Exercise Illégal de L'Astronomie.
Paris: Le Degré Quarante-et-un, 1964.

Binding by P.-L. Martin

Est. 50,000 - 70,000 EUR ($66,501 - $93,104).
Sold 84,750 EUR ($112,733).

One of seventy copies on Japon Ancien paper, each signed by the artist and editor, Maximiliana, Max Ernst's collaboration with Guillaume Temple, is graced with thirty-four watercolors by the Dada pioneer. This copy, in a binding by P.-L. Martin,  contained an extra, unpublished watercolor by Ernst. 

Estimated at $66,501 - $93,104  it fell under the hammer at $112,733 (incl. premium).

DALI, Salvadore. LAUTREAMONT, Comte de.
Les Chants de Maldoror.
Paris: Skira, 1934.

Binding by George Leroux (1993).

Est. 40,000 - 60,000 EUR ($53,173 - $79, 972).
Sold 78,750 EUR ($104,673, incl. buyer's premium).

Salvadore Dali's illustrations to Le Comte de Lautréamont's Les Chants de Maldoror are considered to be his best book work. Issued in a total edition of 200 copies on vélin Arches, this copy, in a masterful, 1993 binding by Georges Leroux, is one of forty signed by Dali and containing an extra-suite of illustrations.

Estimated to sell for $53,173 - $79,972, it realized $104,673 (incl. premium).

BRAQUE, Georges. APOLLONAIRE, Guillaume.
Si Je Mourais La-Bas?
Paris: Louis Broder, 1962.

Binding by George Leroux after Braque.

Est. 40,000 - 60,000 EUR ($53,173 - $79, 972).

Sold 60,750 EUR ($80,812, incl. premium).

Many of the remaining lots realized five figure prices, not the least of which was a copy of the Georges Braque-illustrated edition of Apollonaire's Si Je Mourais La-Bas?, its eighteen colored woodcuts considered to be Braque's most important book illustrations. Issued in a total edition of 180 copies, the copy above, bound by Georges Leroux after Braque motifs, is one of forty with an extra suite of color woodcuts, each signed by Braque.

Estimated at $53,173 - $79,972, it sold for $80,812 (incl. premium).

[BRAQUE, Georges]. TUDAL, Antoine. Souspente.
Avec Une Lithographie en huit Couleurs de Georges Braque.
Paris: Robert Godet, 1945.

Binding by Thérèse Moncey.

Est. 2,500 - 3000 EUR ($3,325 - $3,990).
Sold 5,000 EUR ($6.650, incl. premium)

Even the stragglers - those modern illustrated books that sold below $10,000 - were impressive.

Braque's contribution to Antoine Tudal's Souspente is a lithograph in eight colors that is considered Braque's best such. This copy is one of an edition of 125.

Not much is known about the binder, Thérèse Moncey, beyond that she worked in Paris 1945-1965, and won a grand prize of French binding in 1950.

Estimated to sell for $3,325 - $3,990, it sold for $6.650 (incl. premium).
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Images courtesy of Sotheby's, with our thanks.
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