Warren Chappell (1904,

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

– March 26, 1991,

Charlottesville, Virginia Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen C ...

) was an American

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complic ...

, book and type designer, 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 ...

Education

He was a graduate of the

University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a private liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approximately 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students in five schools: the School ...

, and then studied at the Art Students League of New York, under

Boardman Robinson Boardman Michael Robinson (1876–1952) was a Canadian-American painter, illustrator and cartoonist. Biography Early years Boardman Robinson was born September 6, 1876 in Nova Scotia. He spent his childhood in England and Canada, before mov ...

, where he later taught. In 1931-2 he studied type design and punch-cutting under

Rudolf Koch Rudolf Koch (20 November 1876 – 9 April 1934) was a German type designer, professor, and a master of lettering, calligraphy, typography and illustration. Commonly known for his typefaces created for the Klingspor Type Foundry, his most widely ...

at the Design School Offenbach in Germany. In 1935 he studied illustration at the

Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College (FAC) is an arts center located just north of downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado. Located on the same city block are the American Numismatic Association and part of the campus of Colorado ...

. The University of Richmond awarded him an honorary D.F.A. in 1968. In 1970 his work in the graphic arts was recognized by the Rochester Institute of Technology, with the presentation of their Goudy Award.

Career

After running his studio in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

for several years, Chappell traveled to Germany just before World War II to work at

Stempel Stempel is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Gary Stempel (born 1957), English-Panamanian football manager * Herbert Stempel (1926-2020), television game show contestant who exposed the rigging of results in the 1950s quiz sho ...

on the typeface ''Trajanus''. He returned to the United States at the onset of the war, having seen only initial proofs. He first saw the completed typeface in Swedish design magazines during the war. He later devoted himself to book design and illustration and was closely associated with the firm of

Alfred A. Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Alfred A. Knopf Sr. and Blanche Knopf in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers in ...

for which he designed many books. He also did illustrations for

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

Harper & Row Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City. History J. & J. Harper (1817–1833) James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...

, and Doubleday. He was a typography consultant to both the

Book of the Month Club Book of the Month (founded 1926) is a United States subscription-based e-commerce service that offers a selection of five to seven new hardcover books each month to its members. Books are selected and endorsed by a panel of judges, and members ...

and

American Type Founders American Type Founders (ATF) Co. was a business trust created in 1892 by the merger of 23 type foundries, representing about 85% of all type manufactured in the United States. De Vinne, Theodore Low, ''The Practice of Typography,'' Century Com ...

. He was Artist-in-Residence at

the University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective adm ...

in Charlottesville. John Updike and Chappell worked together on books for children on music, including "The Magic Flute" (1962), "The Ring" (1964) and "Bottom's Dream" (1969). His design for the

E. P. Dutton E. P. Dutton was an American book publishing company. It was founded as a book retailer in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1852 by Edward Payson Dutton. Since 1986, it has been an imprint of Penguin Group. Creator Edward Payson Dutton (January 4, ...

re-issues of

A. A. Milne Alan Alexander Milne (; 18 January 1882 – 31 January 1956) was an English writer best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh, as well as for children's poetry. Milne was primarily a playwright before the huge success of Winni ...

Winnie-the-Pooh Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear and Pooh, is a fictional anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. The first collection of stories about the character was the book ''Win ...

books are considered to be particularly elegant.

Typefaces

* Koch Uncial (1932) in collaboration with Paul Koch * Lydian Series (

ATF The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE), commonly referred to as the ATF, is a domestic law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice. Its responsibilities include the investigation and preven ...

) ** ''Lydian + Italic'' (1938) ** ''Lydian Bold + Italic'' (1938) ** ''Lydian Cursive'' (1940) ** ''Lydian Condensed + Italic'' (1946) * Trajanus Antiqua (roman) + Trajanus Kursiv (italic) + Trajanus Halbfett (semi-bold) (1939,

+ Linotype (Frankfurt)), named for the same Roman emperor as Carol Twombly's

Trajan Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presi ...

but a very different design, being a Medieval. See Fr. Edward Catich's research for more on the origin of the monumental lettering style which was the inspiration for the typeface Trajan.Carl Purlington Rollins, ''American Type Designers and Their Work.'' in Print, V. 4, #1. The semi-bold weight however, was prepared by the foundry, Chappell having only made drawings (starting with a broad nibbed pen, then refining the contours using opaque white as if using an engraver) for the roman and italic designs. The Huxley House specimen book for it was featured in an

AIGA 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 ...

br>design annual

Bibliography

As Chappell was a prolific book designer and illustrator, a complete bibliography would be the subject of a specialized work. Following are books he wrote himself or for which he is especially well known. * ''The Anatomy of Lettering'' (1934) * ''A Short History of the Printed Word'' (1970; a revised edition was published in 2000) * ''The Living Alphabet'' (on calligraphy, 1975) * ''The Proverbial Bestiary'' with

Rick Cusick Rick Cusick is an American lettering artist, calligrapher, type designer and book designer. Career Cusick began his lettering career designing illuminated signs for Ad/Art, Inc. in his hometown of Stockton, California, followed by study at Ar ...

(1982) Illustrated children's books: * ''A Tale of a Tub'' by Swift, (1930) * ''The Nutcracker'' (1958) * ''They Say Stories'' (1960) * ''Sleeping Beauty'' (1961) * ''Moby-Dick'' W. W. Norton & Co. (1967).

References

* MacGrew, Mac, "American Metal Typefaces of the Twentieth Century," Oak Knoll Books, New Castle Delaware, 1993, . *Friedl, Ott, and Stein, ''Typography: an Encyclopedic Survey of Type Design and Techniques Throughout History.'' Black Dog & Levinthal Publishers: 1998. .

External links

Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
at University of Virginia holds Chappell's papers and a large collection of his books – as of June 2016, reports 651 hits for Author: Chappell, Warren, 1904–1991
Warren Chappell papers, 1931–1978
at Columbia University Libraries Archival Collections * Discussion about an unpublished font of Chappell's calle
Eichenauer
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chappell, Warren 1904 births 1991 deaths American children's writers American graphic designers American illustrators American typographers and type designers Art Students League of New York alumni Artists from Richmond, Virginia University of Richmond alumni 20th-century American non-fiction writers