Michael Harvey

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(11 November 1931 – 18 October 2013) was an English lettering artist, teacher and writer specialising in

lettering Lettering is an umbrella term that covers the art of drawing letters, instead of simply writing them. Lettering is considered an art form, where each letter in a phrase or quote acts as an illustration. Each letter is created with attention to d ...

type design Type design is the art and process of designing typefaces. This involves drawing each letterform using a consistent style. The basic concepts and design variables are described below. A typeface differs from other modes of graphic production su ...

and letter cutting. His work appears in many English cathedrals and on the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

, London. Originally inspired by reading

Eric Gill Arthur Eric Rowton Gill, (22 February 1882 – 17 November 1940) was an English sculptor, letter cutter, typeface designer, and printmaker. Although the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' describes Gill as ″the greatest artist-cra ...

's ''Autobiography'', he worked as

Reynolds Stone Alan Reynolds Stone, CBE, RDI (13 March 1909 – 23 June 1979) was an English wood engraver, engraver, designer, typographer and painter. Biography Stone was born on 13 March 1909 at Eton College, where both his grandfather, E. D. Stone, and fa ...

's assistant between 1955 and 1961. He then became a freelance, producing some 1500 hand-lettered book jackets over the next twenty years for major publishers such as

Heinemann Heinemann may refer to: * Heinemann (surname) * Heinemann (publisher), a publishing company * Heinemann Park, a.k.a. Pelican Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States See also * Heineman * Jamie Hyneman James Franklin Hyneman (born Se ...

The Bodley Head The Bodley Head is an English publishing house, founded in 1887 and existing as an independent entity until the 1970s. The name was used as an imprint of Random House Children's Books from 1987 to 2008. In April 2008, it was revived as an adul ...

and

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

. As technology changed he developed his interest in type, producing designs for

Adobe Systems Adobe Inc. ( ), originally called Adobe Systems Incorporated, is an American multinational computer software company incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in San Jose, California. It has historically specialized in software for the crea ...

and The Monotype Corporation and later, with Andy Benedek for his own foundry, Finefonts. His inscriptional work included a long collaboration with

Ian Hamilton Finlay Ian Hamilton Finlay, CBE (28 October 1925 – 27 March 2006) was a Scottish poet, writer, artist and gardener. Life Finlay was born in Nassau, Bahamas, to James Hamilton Finlay and his wife, Annie Pettigrew, both of Scots descent. He was ...

. He gave talks and demonstrated widely and taught for a number of years at Poole Art College and later ran the Letterforms course at

Reading University The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

with James Mosley. He designed a number of typefaces, including Zephyr,

Andreas Andreas ( el, Ἀνδρέας) is a name usually given to males in Austria, Greece, Cyprus, Denmark, Armenia, Estonia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Finland, Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of B ...

, Mentor, Strayhorn and Ellington. In 2012, he published under his own 47 Editions imprint Adventures With Letters, an extensively illustrated memoir of his working life. He was an active member of The

Double Crown Club The Double Crown Club is a dining club and society of printers, publishers, book designers and illustrators in London that was founded in 1924. Among its early members was the typographer Stanley Morison. According to Sir Sydney Roberts, writing in ...

, The Wynkyn de Worde Society,

ATypI The ATypI () or Association Typographique Internationale (the International Typography Association) is an international non-profit organisation dedicated to typography and type design. The primary activity of the association is an annual fall confe ...

Letter Exchange Letter Exchange is a professional organization dedicated to the promotion of lettering in all media. Letter Exchange was founded in the United Kingdom in 1988. It organizes lectures held at the Art Workers Guild, publishes its journal ''Forum'' twic ...

and The Edward Johnston Foundation.

Select bibliography

* Harvey, Michael. ''Letters into words''. London: s, 1973. * Harvey, Michael. ''Lettering design: form and skill in the design and use of letters''. London: Bodley Head, 1975. * Harvey, Michael. ''Creative lettering, drawing and design''. London: Bodley Head, 1985. * Harvey, Michael. ''Carving letters in stone and wood''. London: Bodley Head, 1987. * Harvey, Michael. ''Calligraphy in the graphic arts''. London: Bodley Head, 1988. * Harvey, Michael. ''Reynolds Stone: engraved lettering in wood''. Netheron: Fleece Press, 1992. * Harvey, Michael. ''Creative lettering today''. London: A. & C. Black, 1996. * Harvey, With Letters''. Bridport: 47 Editions, 2012

References

Harvey, Michael. ''Creative lettering today''. London: A. & C. Black, 1996.

External links

Michael Harvey biography
on www.myfonts.com
Adventures With Letters, Harvey's memoir of his working life

www.finefonts.com, fonts designed by Michael Harvey and Andy Benedek
1931 births English typographers and type designers Members of the Order of the British Empire British calligraphers 2013 deaths {{graphic-designer-stub