Hosie’s Alphabet (1972)

Hosie’s Alphabet (1972)
Pictures by Leonard Baskin, words by Hosea, Tobias and Lisa Baskin
Hardback H293 x W203 mm, 56 pages. Acquired from Springwell Books, 7 April 2021.
Photos: Books On Books Collection.

The Bodleian Library holds the Leonard Baskin archive, but strangely did not have a copy of Hosie’s Alphabet. Recently (19 July 2023 – 24 January 2024) for its exhibition “Alphabets Alive!”, the full set of original prints created for The Gehenna Alphabet (1982) went on display.

So this acquisition for the Books On Books Collection performs the double duty of adding a Caldecott winner to its subset of abecedaries and, when the Collection arrives as a donation, filling the gap in the Bodleian’s holdings.

Baskin’s artistry in this book not only resides in the pictures. The layout and handling of Bembo vary — sometimes dramatically, sometimes subtly — in just the right way, be it in the use of uppercase, lowercase, roman, italic, bold, size, shading or the sudden introduction of Goudy Text.

Further Reading

“Abecedaries I (in progress)“, Books On Books Collection, 31 March 2020.