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UNCANNY CALLIGRAPHY FROM THE POINT OF A FLAT PEN

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Charles Buckles Falls was another letterer-illustrator equal¬
ly renowned in both fields. Above left and below right, there
can be no better example of harmony between lettering
and art than Falls's The Story of the Birth of Jesus Christ,
1929. Top right, God's Trombones, 1927, was illustrated by
Aaron Douglas, with incredibly eccentric gothic black-letter
schritt by Falls that went further even than his amazingly
free, calligraphic lettering for Jesus. Below, the ABC Book,
1925, was produced entirely by woodcut. Falls's signature,
an F within a funky square (under the elephant), became so
well known, he eventually dropped the F.

LOGO, FONT & LETTERING BIBLE

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PAULSHAW/LETTEH DESIGN 7*S WEST END AVENUE NEW YORK crnf 10025 TÍL11I/ÍSÍ Î7M fA«HJIt««21«3

Paul Shaw made this amazing
alphabet soup (he calls it his
"Arabic carpet") as a promo¬
tional postcard. How do cal-
ligraphers get their work to
look so even, I wondered?
"That's the easy part—that's
the pen!" Shaw explains. The
piece started out as a doodle,
"...just fitting letters into
spaces." He then cut it all up
into pieces, respaced it more
tightly, then traced it over
clean. And I just assumed he'd
done it perfectly the first time!

Below, part of a 1932
letter from Rudolf Koch
to Warren Chapped, who
had spent a year's
"apprenticeship" with
Koch in Germany.
This letter, reproduced
as a keepsake by the
Composing Room, is as
dynamic an example of
calligraphy as any.

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