[Theodore B. Hapgood] Decorative Design in Advertising

Hapgood, Theodore B. Typographical Layout and Fine Lettering: Decorative Design in its Application to Advertising. Boston: The Sherrill Press, [no date, but circa early to mid-1920s]. "Catalogues and books: magazine advertisements: letterheads: certificates, bank cheques and other commercial stationery forms" / "This is the first of a series of presentations of publicity matter that will be sent to you at monthly intervals: your acknowledgment of them would be appreciated".

Printed on double leaves. Half-title page with large decorate floral bouquet surrounding.  Frontispiece and title page with beautifully wrought floral borders and ornaments with scrolling foliage, frontispiece depicting Hapgood in a Renaissance-esque scene, seated and working at a desk. Pictorial light brown endpapers with rectangular box design surrounding large floral ornament. Light brown pictorial paper-covered boards with a dense design of winged figures, scrolling foliage, and architectural borders framing a large title box. Black cloth spine, original glassine included (browned). Housed in original cardboard folding box (decorated with ornament from endpapers), which is worn at the edges with some small stains. Original shipping label addressed to Frank Fleming of The American Institute of Graphic Arts is loosely inserted. Measures approx. 6" x 8.5".

A fantastic example of an advertisement for the Hapgood's services as an advertising designer (which would have been no small expense).

Theodore Brown Hapgood, Jr. (1871-1938) was an American Arts & Crafts–era designer and decorator active in the Boston book-and-print world. Educated at Boston Latin (1891) and trained at the School of Drawing and Painting in Boston, he exhibited pen-and-ink work at the first national Arts & Crafts exhibition in the U.S. at Copley Hall in 1897, in the company of figures like Sarah Wyman Whitman and Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue. Known for cover design as well as integrated book work (bookplates, title-page ornament, and interior decoration), he maintained an office in Boston’s Cornhill district in the 1890s (later at Park Square) and completed design work for a wide array of publishers--including the beautiful Two Lyrics for the Craftsman’s Guild--while also producing a broader body of applied design (American Trade Bindings and Beyond).