Warren Chappell

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Warren Chappell (b. 1904, Richmond, Virginia, d. 1991, Charlottesville, Virginia) was an illustrator, book and type designer, and author. He studied at the Art Students' League under Boardman Robinson (later returning there to teach), and with Rudolf Koch at the Offenbacher Werkstatt in Mainz, Germany returning there just before World War II to work at Stempel on the typeface Trajanus. He returned to the US 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 for which he designed many books. His typefaces include Lydian and Trajanus (named for the same Roman emperor as Carol Twombly's Trajan but a very different design, being a Medieval. See Fra. Edward Catich's research for more on the origin of the typeface Trajan). He was Artist-in-Residence at University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia.

[edit] Bibliography

As Chappel 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)

Illustrated childrens books: