A comprehensive survey of custom lettering from the 1920s and 1930s.
Compiled and edited by Rian Hughes, Custom Lettering of the ’20s and ’30s brings together over 6,000 examples of hand-drawn lettering from books, magazines, posters and advertising. Organised by decade and style, this 576-page collection captures the variety and invention of lettering in the interwar years.
Art Deco geometry sits alongside brush scripts, decorative serifs and illustrated letterforms. Speed lines, drop shadows, stencils and patterned fills show the ingenuity with which artists gave words their own distinctive character.
A foreword by Hughes and an introduction by Leslie Cabarga set the work in context, tracing the craft through signwriting, shop displays and cinema advertising. Rare original artwork by Jewett Bubar and Don Sturdivant offers a closer look at the artists behind the lettering.
Rich in ideas for graphic designers, illustrators and typographers, this flexibound collection is a feast for anyone fascinated by vintage lettering and print culture.
About the editor
Rian Hughes is an award-winning graphic designer, illustrator, comic artist, author and typographer whose work spans British and American advertising, music, comics and publishing. He has designed record sleeves and book covers, and created logos for James Bond and Batman, while releasing typefaces through his foundry, Device Fonts.
His books include Logo-a-gogo and Rayguns and Rocketships, as well as the novels XX and The Black Locomotive.
Read our interview with Rian Hughes.
Introduction by Leslie Cabarga
Zavier Leslie Cabarga is an illustrator, type and logo designer and author of books including Progressive German Graphics, The Logo, Font & Lettering Bible and The Lettering and Graphic Design of F. G. Cooper. He is also the author of Topless Summer Love Girls.
His illustrations have appeared in New York Magazine, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and on the covers of Time, Newsweek, Fortune, National Lampoon and Screw.
From 1975, Cabarga offered hand-lettering and logo design services under the trading name Handy Lettering Company. By 1993, he had begun creating typefaces including Magneto Bold, Streamline, BadTyp and Casey Bold.
Also by Rian Hughes
1 Review
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Delicious selection of Lettering by a master!
I love this book! The author, Rian Hughes is not just the compiler of copious examples of great lettering but a great letterer and designer himself. So that means he really knows his stuff. This is his own "swipe file" of inspiration he's made public. I do think it's the last word on lettering of the 20s and 30s and I've been looking at it a lot when I'm drawing retro style letterforms. My only complaint is that there are too many great examples from which to choose. Recommended!
