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.

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.