Valenti Angelo (1897-1982) (variant name Valenti Michael Angelo) was an

Italian-American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, ...

printmaker, illustrator and

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

, born June 23, 1897 in

Massarosa Massarosa is a city and '' comune'' in the province of Lucca, Tuscany, Italy. The city is near Lucca and Pisa. The city hosts Massarosa International Piano Competition. Sister cities Massarosa is twinned with: * Gmina Łużna, Poland * T ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. He immigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, living first in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

then settling in

Antioch, California Antioch is the third-largest city in Contra Costa County, California, United States. Located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area along the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta. The city's population was 115,291 at the 2020 cen ...

. At the age of nineteen, Angelo moved to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, working by day as a labourer and spending his evenings and weekends at libraries and museums. He soon became a versatile artist and an especially skilled engraver and printer. Angelo's favoured medium was the

linocut Linocut, also known as lino print, lino printing or linoleum art, is a printmaking technique, a variant of woodcut in which a sheet of linoleum (sometimes mounted on a wooden block) is used for a relief surface. A design is cut into the linoleum s ...

, and his prints depicting urban nocturnes and desert scenes of the

American Southwest The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado ...

are particularly coveted by collectors and dealers. In 1926, Angelo made his first book illustrations for the well-known, San Francisco-based Grabhorn Press. In a period of 34 years, Angelo decorated and illustrated roughly 250 books. Among these were folio editions of

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among ...

's ''

Leaves of Grass ''Leaves of Grass'' is a poetry collection by American poet Walt Whitman. Though it was first published in 1855, Whitman spent most of his professional life writing and rewriting ''Leaves of Grass'', revising it multiple times until his death. T ...

'', ''

The Travels of Sir John Mandeville Sir John Mandeville is the supposed author of ''The Travels of Sir John Mandeville'', a travel memoir which first circulated between 1357 and 1371. The earliest-surviving text is in French. By aid of translations into many other languages, the ...

'', and numerous books of the Bible. Many of these books have been included in the annual

American Institute of Graphic Arts The American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) is a professional organization for design. Its members practice all forms of communication design, including graphic design, typography, interaction design, user experience, branding and identity ...

exhibitions since 1927. Under the tutelage of

May Massee May Massee (May 1, 1881December 24, 1966) was an American children's book editor. She was the founding head of the juvenile departments at Doubleday from 1922 and at Viking Press from 1932.

Viking Press Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquir ...

, Angelo began writing children's stories in 1937. In 1939, Angelo won the

Newbery Honor Newbery is a surname. People * Chantelle Newbery (born 1977), Australian Olympic diver * David Newbery (born 1943), British economist *Eduardo Newbery (1878–1908), Argentine odontologist and aerostat pilot * Francis Newbery (disambiguation), s ...

for ''Nino''. After a mid-life relocation to

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

, he returned to San Francisco in 1974 and continued his life's work. Angelo died in San Francisco on September 3, 1982.

Selected collections

* ''Library of Congress'', Washington D.C. * ''New York Public Library'' * ''Special Collections, Stony Brook University Libraries''

Selected publications

* ''Paradise Valley'' * ''The Rooster Club'' * ''The Candy Basket 1960 The Viking Press'' * ''The Bells of Bleecker Street'' * ''The Marble Fountain'' * '' Nino'' * '' Salome'' * ''

The Scarlet Letter ''The Scarlet Letter: A Romance'' is a work of historical fiction by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne, published in 1850. Set in the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony during the years 1642 to 1649, the novel tells the story of Hester Prynne, ...

'' *1934 Limited Editions Club edition: Burton, Richard Francis, translator, '' The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night: The Complete Burton Translation with the Complete Burton Notes, the Terminal Index, and 1001 Decorations by Valenti Angelo'', 3 Volumes (reprinted in 1962). * ''The Little Flowers of Saint Francis of Assisi'', The translation of Thomas Okey, Published by Peter Pauper Press (c. 1944)

References

*Linden, James (ed.). ''Con Amore: Valenti Angelo: A Bibliography, 1971-1982''. San Francisco: Linden Editions, 1992. *''Valenti Angelo: Author, Illustrator, Printer''. San Francisco: Book Club of California, 1976.

External links

AutobiographyAskart.com
(Valenti Michael Angelo)
Special Collections, Stony Brook University Libraries
(Valenti Angelo collection)
International Fine Print Dealers Association
(Valenti Angelo)

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Angelo, Valenti 1897 births 1982 deaths American children's writers American engravers American illustrators American printmakers Artists from San Francisco Italian emigrants to the United States Artists from the Province of Lucca 20th-century engravers