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Robert Henry Harling (27 March 1910 in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
– 1 July 2008 in
Godstone Godstone is a village and civil parish in Surrey, England, east of Reigate at the junction of the A22 and A25 roads, near the M25 motorway and the North Downs. Godstone railway station is separated from it by agricultural land. Blindley H ...
,
Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...
) was a British
typographer Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line-spacing ( leading), a ...
, designer, journalist and novelist who lived to the age of 98.


Early life and work

Robert Harling's success came despite an unpromising upbringing. He was born in
Highbury Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor house was sit ...
, London, in 1910, and was orphaned at an early age being brought up by his mother's friend, a nurse whom he regarded as an ''aunt''. After her marriage they moved to
Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
, bringing him in contact with the Royal Pavilion, and a lifelong appreciation for architecture and design, and the Sea, where he learnt to swim and sail. With the death of his ''uncle'' he returned to
Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ...
with his ''aunt'', and was enrolled in Owen's School. This was the story he put about. "Later research showed this was complete invention. He grew up and went to school in Islington, with a living mother and a father who drove a
London taxi A hackney or hackney carriage (also called a cab, black cab, hack or London taxi) is a carriage or car for hire. A hackney of a more expensive or high class was called a remise. A symbol of London and Britain, the black taxi is a common s ...
. He had a brother and a first wife who, like his parents, had been ruthlessly excised by Harling from his biography, and came as a revelation to his middle-aged children." He attributed his interest in lettering from his study of
Pears' Cyclopaedia ''Pears' Cyclopaedia'' was a one-volume encyclopaedia published in the United Kingdom. Pears' Soap launched the original ''Pears' Shilling Cyclopaedia'' in December 1897, the year of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. The first edition contain ...
, which he was given on his 12th birthday. He was fascinated by the reproductions of assay marks for plate, fine examples of English vernacular lettering. His "uncle" would enlarge them for him photographically so he could laboriously copy them. This love of letter-forms and contemporary gothic led him to the Central School of Arts and Crafts, having rejected a place at
Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
. He briefly kept a bookshop in
Lamb's Conduit Street Lamb's Conduit Street is a street in Holborn in the West End of London. The street takes its name from ''Lambs Conduit'', originally known as the ''Holborn Conduit'', a dam across a tributary of the River Fleet. Lamb's Conduit Lamb's Conduit w ...
, and then got a job as a trainee at the
Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...
, but as he would tell friends later "left, quite untrained, a year later". Two six-month stints followed at two of the best printers in the country, Lund Humphries at
Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...
(for whom he mounted an exhibition on Rudolf Koch in 1935) and the
Kynoch Press The Kynoch Press was an English-based fine press in Witton, Birmingham, founded in 1876 as a company press for Kynoch, a British manufacturer of ammunition. Initially, the press was used to print packaging. The press closed in 1981. History T ...
at
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...
, "trying – not all that successfully – to learn more about the technical side of printing". This led him to write and publish two books prior to the war: The London Miscellany (1937) and Home: a vignette (1938). Both drew on his love of 19th-century architecture and design. By the start of the war, he was becoming known as an expert on typography and design. In 1940 he was named an associate editor of '' Art and Industry''.


World War Two. The Royal Navy and Ian Fleming

In 1939 Robert Harling met
Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer who is best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., an ...
, the meeting was (as Harling found later) no accident. Fleming, was serving in
Naval Intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...
, and had heard about Harling's editorship of the Typography journal, which was setting new standards for the design and display of printed matter. During their meeting he learned that Harling was also writer and designer of "News-Reel Maps" for the
News Chronicle The ''News Chronicle'' was a British daily newspaper. Formed by the merger of '' The Daily News'' and the ''Daily Chronicle'' in 1930, it ceased publication on 17 October 1960,''Liberal Democrat News'' 15 October 2010, accessed 15 October 2010 b ...
, and "demi-semi-resident art director" of Lord Delamere's up-and-coming advertising agency. This led him to commission Harling to redesign the Admiralty's weekly intelligence report, but they were not to meet again until 1941. Harling, a keen amateur sailor, volunteered for the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...
. Before he finished training, under the legendary Captain O. M. Watts, he found himself at
Dunkirk Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.
in charge of a
whaler A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. Terminology The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Japa ...
. Sub-Lieutenant Harling, RNVR, next found himself
navigator A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation.Grierson, MikeAviation History—Demise of the Flight Navigator FrancoFlyers.org website, October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2014. The navigator's prima ...
of a
corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the slo ...
, on convoy duty in the Western Approaches. This led him to write ''The Steep Atlantick Stream'', published by
Chatto & Windus Chatto & Windus is an imprint of Penguin Random House that was formerly an independent book publishing company founded in London in 1855 by John Camden Hotten. Following Hotten's death, the firm would reorganize under the names of his business ...
in 1946, based on his experiences in the
North Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe a ...
and
Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...
between 1941 and 1942. Following a meeting in London in 1941 Fleming recruited Harling to work in the Inter-Service Topographical Department (ISTD), where he put him to work examining photographs of enemy held terrain and applying the knowledge he had gained researching maps for the News Chronicle. This led to an adventurous air-trip to various parts of the world to collect data. On forming 30AU (30 Assault Unit) Fleming again tapped Harling. Landing soon after
D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...
, he pursued the task assigned to the unit to pick up enemy code-books, security documents and wireless equipment through fierce fighting round
Cherbourg Cherbourg (; , , ), nrf, Chèrbourg, ) is a former commune and subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It was merged into the commune of Cherbourg-Octeville on 28 Febr ...
, and on into France. Cautious, eventually cordial relations with American forces brought a memorable meeting with General
George Patton George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, and the Third United States Army in France ...
, which was followed by a lightning dash across Germany to
Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebu ...
to round up German scientists. A final mission to Norway to disarm German naval forces brought a close to Harling's war.


Immediate Post-War Career

In between convoy duty and the ISTD Harling had redesigned the ailing
Daily Sketch The ''Daily Sketch'' was a British national tabloid newspaper, founded in Manchester in 1909 by Sir Edward Hulton. It was bought in 1920 by Lord Rothermere's Daily Mirror Newspapers, but in 1925 Rothermere sold it to William and Gomer Berr ...
for
Lord Kemsley James Gomer Berry, 1st Viscount Kemsley, GBE (7 May 1883 – 6 February 1968) was a Welsh colliery owner and newspaper publisher. Background Berry was born the son of John Mathias and Mary Ann (''née'' Rowe) Berry, of Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. ...
, who liked Harling's work but thought it too advanced. He now invited Harling to become typographical adviser to
The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
, where his friend Fleming had become Foreign News Manager. With his old friend James Shand, printer and sponsor of Typography, he launched a new journal, Alphabet and Image (1946–48), which later became Image (1949–52). He was also given a larger room in the Delamere advertising agency, and was a consultant to
The Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
and in 1947 redesigned ''
Time and Tide Time and Tide (usually derived from the proverb ''Time and tide wait for no man'') may refer to: Music Albums * ''Time and Tide'' (Greenslade album), 1975 * ''Time and Tide'' (Basia album), 1987 * ''Time and Tide'' (Battlefield Band album), ...
'' for Lady Rhondda. Harling now turned his hand to writing a number of popular 'pulp fiction' titles including: The Paper Palace (1951), The Dark Saviour (1952), The Enormous Shadow (1955), The Endless Colonnade (1958), The Hollow Sunday (1967), The Athenian Widow (1974) and finally The Summer Portrait (1979). He wrote easily and well, with a good ear for dialogue. Fleming, too, had taken to thrillers, and their friendship continued to increase during the period, despite
Bond Bond or bonds may refer to: Common meanings * Bond (finance), a type of debt security * Bail bond, a commercial third-party guarantor of surety bonds in the United States * Chemical bond, the attraction of atoms, ions or molecules to form chemical ...
taking over his creator's life to an alarming extent. In 1957 Fleming was about to go to New York, when Harling suggested that he might sound out "Pat" ( Iva Patcevitch), the head of
Condé Nast Condé Nast () is a global mass media company founded in 1909 by Condé Montrose Nast, and owned by Advance Publications. Its headquarters are located at One World Trade Center in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan. The company's m ...
, about the editorship of House & Garden. Fleming was astounded that his friend Harling wanted the job, but did what he was asked, and the deal was done surprisingly quickly.


House & Garden

Harling now established a new routine, four days at House & Garden, and Friday and Saturday at
The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
, where he was architectural correspondent as well as designer (and from 1961 he would become Editor of the
Sunday Telegraph ''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', ...
). At ''House and Garden'' he had a staff of 18 which included Leonie Highton, and later John Bridges, and three outstanding advisers:
Elizabeth David Elizabeth David CBE (born Elizabeth Gwynne, 26 December 1913 – 22 May 1992) was a British cookery writer. In the mid-20th century she strongly influenced the revitalisation of home cookery in her native country and beyond with articles and bo ...
(on food),
Loelia, Duchess of Westminster Loelia Mary, Lady Lindsay, formerly Loelia, Duchess of Westminster, (''née'' The Honourable Loelia Ponsonby (6 February 1902 – 1 November 1993), was a British socialite, needlewoman and magazine editor. Family and first marriage Lindsay ...
(to discover unknown houses), and Olive Sullivan (on interior design). With his dedicated and happy crew he revitalised House & Garden, and produced a Magazine in Britain which would contrast the ancient and modern, colour and simplicity. Besides the magazine, he launched a series of books on the same theme, starting in 1959 with House & Garden Interiors and Colour. Ten more books followed, his last contributions being the House & Garden Book of Romantic Rooms (1985), and House & Garden Book of Classic Rooms (1989); in 1980 with Miles Hadfield he published British Gardeners: a biographical dictionary – this being a reworking of ''Pioneers in Gardening'' a book which he had developed with Miles Hadfield and Leonie Highton thirty five years earlier.


Later life

Harling would admit that some of the fun of life diminished following the death of his friend Fleming in 1964, but he remained alert and active, and could still be found at
The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
late on Saturday evenings until 1985. Nor did his interest in the graphic arts wain. His publication ''The Letter-forms and Type-designs of
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-cr ...
'' (1976) is still considered the best assessment of Gill's work, which perhaps is no surprise given Harling was also a master of lettering. He also contributed his memories to The Wood-engravings of Tirzah Ravilious (1987). Harling's greatest legacy to Printing and Publishing can probably be summed up as his generous approach to helping younger designers, editors and authors in understanding the ''Harling style'', many of whom he has outlived. If the style itself has changed, the Harling message of clarity, simplicity, and economy etc., has not. Robert Henry Harling, typographer, graphic artist and designer, editor and novelist: born London 27 March 1910. Married Phoebe Konstam (who predeceased him in 2006) in April 1945, having met at the Gargoyle Club. They had two sons and a daughter, and set up home at an old house in
Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include ...
, before moving to an 18th-century Gothic vicarage on the
Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
-
Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the Englis ...
border in 1953, which was made more picturesque by the removal of a later top floor. He died on 1 June 2008, at Godstone, Surrey.


Selected Books and other work

* ''British Gardeners. A biographical dictionary'', Miles Hadfield, Robert Harling & Leonie Highton. Condé Nast, London (1980) * ''The Summer Portrait'' (1979) * ''The Letterforms and Type Designs of Eric Gill'' (1976) * ''Guide to interior decoration (House & garden)'', Robert Harling, Leonie Highton, Yvonne Jaques, Nigel Kendall. London, Condé Nast (1967) * ''The Hollow Sunday'' (1967) * ''The Endless Colonnade'' (1958) * ''Pioneers in Gardening'', Miles Hadfield, Robert Harling, Leonie Highton. Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd, London (1955) * ''The Enormous Shadow'' (1955) * ''The Dark Saviour'' (1952) * ''The Paper Palace'' (Chatto & Windus, London 1951) * ''The Drawings of Edward Bawden'' (1950) * ''The Steep Atlantic Stream'', Chatto and Windus, London 1946 * ''Notes on the Wood-engravings of Eric Ravilious'' (1945) * ''Amateur Sailor'' (1944) reprinted in 1952 under his own name * ''Home: a vignette'' (1938) * ''The London Miscellany. A 19th Century Scrapbook'' (Heinemann, London 1937) * ''Ian Fleming: A Personal Memoir'' (The Robson Press, London 2015)


Selected Achievements

* Editor of
Condé Nast Condé Nast () is a global mass media company founded in 1909 by Condé Montrose Nast, and owned by Advance Publications. Its headquarters are located at One World Trade Center in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan. The company's m ...
's UK and European magazine '' House & Garden'' (1957– ) * Editor of ''
The Sunday Telegraph ''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long vertical pages, typically of . Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner and tabloid ...
'' (1961– ) * Designed the periodical ''Art and Industry'' (1940) * He worked for several other newspapers including: ''
Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...
'', ''
Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to '' The Times'' but became a separate publication ...
'', ''
Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
'', both editing, writing, designing layout and typesetting. * His work can be seen to the present day as he was responsible for the current, and iconic, external design and typography of the
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...
.Obituaries. ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'' 2009 edition, p1605


Fonts

* Playbill (1938), a
French Clarendon Clarendon is the name of a slab-serif typeface that was released in 1845 by Thorowgood and Co. (or Thorowgood and Besley) of London, a letter foundry often known as the Fann Street Foundry. The original Clarendon design is credited to Robert Be ...
design inspired by theatre and circus posters. Known for being bundled with some Microsoft software. * Tea Chest (1939), a stencil design inspired by old boxes and industry * Chisel (1939), inscriptional All three designs were created for Sheffield type-foundry
Stephenson Blake Stephenson Blake is an engineering company based in Sheffield, England. The company was active from the early 19th century as a type founder, remaining until the 1990s as the last active type foundry in Britain, since when it has diversified in ...
and inherited by other companies after it left the printing market. They are single-style designs with no italics; Tea Chest has no lower-case characters.


References


External links


Obituary
in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...
'' 2 July 2008 (p34)
Obituary
in ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...
'' 3 July 2008
Obituary
in ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
'' 8 July 2008
Alphabet and Image, Published in Baseline Magazine, 2009
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harling, Robert 1910 births 2008 deaths English typographers and type designers 20th-century English male writers Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II Royal Navy officers of World War II