Monday, September 30, 2013

Street Scene: Subway Uptown–Downtown


 N E W Y O R K C I T Y 
72nd Street and Central Park West, Manhattan


(Next post on Monday: The Homecoming)

Monday, September 23, 2013

Anatomy of a Logo: Magik


On July 6, 1983, Louise Jones called and said she needed a logo in two days. She added that I could do whatever I want. I accepted and quickly produced a number of sketches and developed a half-dozen of them for presentation. The next day I met Louise at the Marvel office and she picked one. Back at my studio, I made a tight pencil drawing of the logo on tracing paper, Later I positioned the drawing on a light box, then placed a piece of LetraMax 2000 over it. The inked logo was delivered to Louise on July 8.




























I don’t have the original art but I did make a same-size photostat of it (above). The letterforms are related to my Were Wolf logo for Neal Adams’ Monsters graphic novel.



Covers of the four-issue mini-series.


(Next post on Monday: Subway Uptown–Downtown)

Monday, September 16, 2013

Creator: Clarence P. Hornung


Clarence Pearson Hornung
June 12, 1899 – January 2, 1997

The Inland Printer
February 1922










All Things Ruffnerian


Lux Mentis Booksellers


The New York Times
January 4, 1997
Hornung, Clarence P.
On January 2, 1997. 97 years. Beloved husband of Rose and the
late Sara. Devoted father of Richard and Elaine and Donald and Sis. 
Loving grandfather and cherished great grandfather. Services Sunday,
1:30 P.M. at “Gutterman’s Inc.”, 175 Long Beach Rd. Rockville Centre,
L.I. Interment at the Beth Moses Cemetery, Pinelawn, New York.

(Next post on Monday: Magik)

Friday, September 13, 2013

Fortune Cookie Day


Fortune Cookie Day: July 20 or September 13.

The fortune cookie was known first as the fortune cake.
An unopened jar of Jan-U-Wine Fortune and Tea Cakes
has a label with a 1934 copyright. The contents may be
79 years old.



(Next post on Monday: Clarence P. Hornung)

Monday, September 9, 2013

Creator: Augustus L. Jansson



The Inland Printer, September 1903


The Inland Printer, October 1903 (postcard version is here)


The Inland Printer, November 1903


The Inland Printer, December 1903


The Inland Printer, January 1904


The Inland Printer, February 1904


The Inland Printer, March 1904

The Inland Printer, 1904 (advertisement was found here)


The Inland Printer, 1904 (advertisement was found here)


The Inland Printer, October 1904 (complete image is here)

The Inland Printer, November 1904 (postcard version is here)

The Inland Printer, December 1904 (postcard version is here)

The Inland Printer, March 1905

The Inland Printer, April 1905 (postcard version at eBay)

The Inland Printer, May 1905

The Inland Printer, June 1905

The Inland Printer, July 1905

The Inland Printer, August 1905

The Inland Printer, September 1905 (see December 1904 for postcard link)


The Inland Printer, November 1905 (see December 1904 for postcard link)


The Inland Printer, December 1905 (postcard version is here)


The Inland Printer and The American Printer/The International Printer
January 1906 (postcard version is here)


The Inland Printer, February 1906 (postcard version is here) and 
The American Printer/The International PrinterFebruary 1906 and April 1907


The Inland Printer, March 1906


The American Printer/The International Printer, March 1906

The Inland Printer, April 1906 (postcard version is here)


The American Printer/The International Printer, April 1906


The American Printer/The International Printer, April 1906

The Inland Printer, May 1906


The American Printer/The International Printer, May 1906

The Inland Printer, June 1906


The American Printer/The International Printer, June 1906

The Inland Printer, July 1906


The American Printer/The International Printer, July 1906

The Inland Printer, August 1906


The American Printer/The International Printer, August 1906

The Inland Printer, September 1906

The Inland Printer, November 1906

The Inland Printer, February 1907
(second version is here; postcard version is here)


The American Printer/The International Printer, March 1907

The Inland Printer, April 1907 (see February 1906)


The American Printer/The International Printer, April 1907
(see October 1903)

The American Printer/The International Printer, May 1907

The Inland Printer, October 1907

The Inland Printer, July 1908 (see March 1905)


The Inland Printer, August 1908 (see July 1905)


The Inland Printer, December 1908
(complete image is here; see November 1903)

Detail of a printed piece is here. More postcards are here.


Augustus Ludwig Jansson was born in Boston, Massachusetts on April 17, 1866, according to the Boston birth records at Ancestry.com. 

Jansson produced artwork for the color comic section of the Boston Herald Sunday newspaper. “In Plaiddie Land” and “Moon Rhymes” appeared in 1901. Three years later in 1904, the following comics were published: “New England Mother Goose”, Odd Folks”, “The Old Veteran’s Story”, “The Boston Tea Party” (You can view it at the Sunday Press website, move the cursor over “Sample Pages”, click “Society Is Nix”, then click arrow in the right margin.), and “The Battle of Bunker Hill”.

The National Magazine printed two rhymes of Jansson’s “The Zigzag Mother Goose” in the July 1903 issue (below).



Jansson’s book, Hobby Hoss Fair was published in 1904, and reviewed in the Cambridge Chronicle, December 10, 1904.

In 1906 Jansson created the “Colonial Characters” for the wholesale clothier, Smith, Sherman & Co., of Boston. The illustrations were in advertisements that appeared in the bi-monthly trade magazine, Men’s Wear.

November 6, 1909

November 21, 1909

December 5, 1909

December 19, 1909

January 9, 1907

January 23, 1907

February 6, 1907

February 20, 1907

March 6, 1907

March 20, 1907

April 10, 1907


April 10, 1907

April 24, 1907

May 22, 1907

June 6, 1907

June 19, 1907

July 10, 1907

July 24, 1907

August 8, 1907

August 21, 1907

September 11, 1907

September 25, 1907

October 9, 1907

October 23, 1907

The Stripper’s Guide and the Davistown Museum have samples of Jansson’s work including tableware for Wedgwood. Jansson’s art reminds me of some of Seymour Chwast’s illustrations. 

(Next post on Thursday: Fortune Cookie Day)