The Art (and Humor) of Book Covers

Pictorial cover stamped in black and gold
 Bêtes et Gens by Stop (Paris: E. Plon, 1880; 25cm)
Schmulowitz Collection of Wit & Humor, SFPL

"Never judge a book by its cover." We know this adage to be true some of the time, but when we find beautifully illustrated bindings and want to share them with our readers, we just can't help ourselves--we judge. The publisher's pictorial cloth binding pictured here of dancing butterflies and drumming beetle is an enchanting invitation to the fables and poetry that await within. Stop continues the insect theme with a butterfly frontispiece inside. See the title page for a beetle couple dancing off into the sunset. Hundreds of additional illustrations throughout the book sweeten the reading experience. Our copy of Bêtes et Gens was published in Paris in 1880.

A contemporary of the artists J.J. Grandville (1803-1847) and Gustave Doré (1832-1883), Stop was the nom de plume of Louis Pierre Gabriel Bernard Morel-Retz (1825-1899).

This book is one of our favorites from the Schmulowitz Collection of Wit & Humor. Come take a look for yourself!

Frontispiece, Bêtes et Gens by Stop (Paris: E. Plon, 1880)
Schmulowitz Collection of Wit &  Humor, SFPL



Reference: E. Bénézit. Dictionary of Artists, vol. 9 (Paris, 2006)

Research the History of Your Home at the Noe Valley Branch

San Francisco History Center's archivist will be presenting Research the History of Your Home at the Noe Valley Branch Library on Saturday, July 28. We had a great crowd at the June Parkside Branch Research the History of Your Home program and we're ready to share tailored tips to the Noe Valley neighborhood. The program starts at 3 pm, with plenty of time for questions and answers.  The presentation will include online tips for the research steps in finding out who owned a particular building and who lived in it.  Print-only resources such as Index to Papers on File will be discussed.  There will also be pointers on how to find a photograph of a building, including how to use the recently digitized San Francisco Aerial Views, 1938 and the San Francisco Assessor's Office Negative Collection. But there's no need to wait for the program in order to get started with your research: begin with the San Francisco History Center's online guide How to Research a San Francisco Building.

2054 24th Street between Noe & Castro, late 1940s - now Valley Tavern*

*from the San Francisco Assessor's Office Negative Collection

Kalligraphia Spotlight: Melissa Titone

Our next Kalligraphia 13 program will feature Melissa Titone, who will present a pointed pen calligraphy demonstration on Saturday, July 28, 2 – 4 pm in the Latino/Hispanic "A" Meeting Room on the Lower Level of the Main Library.

Titone, who is based in Santa Rosa, California, has owned a freelance calligraphy business since 1988 and has shown her work in various juried exhibits. Her calligraphy has been published in several books, including Greeting Card Design, Letterheads Gone Digital, and The Artful Letter Engagement Calendar. You will find more information about Titone at her website Words of A Feather.

She enjoys teaching adults and children and looks forward to introducing you to the wonders of this beautiful script. Afterward, don’t miss Kalligraphia 13, an exhibition of modern calligraphy by members of the Friends of Calligraphy, a nonprofit Bay Area organization. It is on view in the Skylight Gallery on the 6th floor of the Main Library through August 26.

Kalligraphia 13 Gallery Walk & Talk

Georgianna Greenwood holds Jenny Hunter Groat's
"Eustace, A Collector's Calligraphic Teddy Bear"
part of the Kalligraphia 13 exhibition.

Saturday, July 21 from 2pm-4pm join us in the Skylight Gallery for a walk through Kalligraphia 13, an exhibition featuring work by members of the Friends of Calligraphy.

Friends of Calligraphy members Georgianna Greenwood, Thomas Ingmire and Chris McDonald will be on hand to give an overview of the exhibition and discuss their own pieces on display.

Return to the Main Library every Saturday through August 18 for calligraphy demonstrations from artists whose works are on display in the exhibit.
Upcoming demonstrations:

• July 28 - Melissa Titone: Pointed Pen Calligraphy
• August 4 - Carl Rohrs: Brush Writing
• August 11 - Monica Dengo: Improvised Compositions
• August 18 - Judy Detrick: Uncial & Rustic Scripts

All demonstrations will be held in the Latino/Hispanic Community Meeting Room, Lower Level. Main Library from 2pm-4pm. Kalligraphia 13 will be on view in the Skylight Gallery through August 26.

Swimmer Ann Curtis Cuneo and Crystal Plunge

When staff here in the San Francisco History Center read about the death of Olympic swimmer Ann Curtis Cuneo, we searched our files and came up with some gems from the 1940s:

Ann Curtis at Fleishhacker Pool, instructing students, July 12, 1944.

Swimming stars Ann Curtis and Johnny Weissmuller at Fleishhacker Pool, July 5, 1944.

Apparently, being a swim star brought endorsement opportunities. The newscopy for the photo below, originally from the photo morgue of the Call-Bulletin, reads:  "S. F.'s 'PERFECT FOOT'--Ann Curtis Cuneo (right), Olympic swimmer, holds plaster of Paris as Sculptor Beniamino Bufano prepares to make model of 'perfect foot' of Peggy Sparling, 1735 Turk street. A registered nurse, she was named winner of Chandler Shoe Salon's contest with her trim size 7-A in store at 153 Geary street last night."

Artist Beniamino Bufano with Peggy Sparling and Ann Curtis Cuneo.

 The other "endorsement," from the 1950s, is for Muni. You can search our San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection database for that one!

Our file for the Crystal Plunge Swim Team has clippings, programs club bulletins, most of which feature Ann Curtis. Crystal Plunge was a saltwater swimming pool located on Lombard Street in North Beach that closed in the mid-1950s.

Crystal Plunge Swim Team file, San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library.

Kudos and many respects to a renowned and beloved San Franciscan athlete!

Kalligraphia Spotlight: Ward Dunham

On Saturday, July 14, Ward Dunham will present: Blackletter written with Bamboo Pens.

Ward Dunham, 1965

Ward Dunham discovered the broad-edged bamboo pen in 1964 while serving in the Special Forces in Viet Nam. After his return to San Francisco, he met local scribe Georgianna Greenwood at a Renaissance Faire. She told him there was a name for what he was doing with bamboo pens & fountain pens—“calligraphy”— and a literature for it, and Ward got involved as a founding member of both the San Francisco Friends of Calligraphy and the New York Society of Scribes.

In the 1970s, after studying with Donald Jackson (the scribe to the Queen of England), Ward struck out on his own adventurous journey of studying, practicing, and focusing on blackletter calligraphy. He is especially knowledgeable about the transitional hands of the 11th and 12th centuries and the full-blown Gothic hands of the 13th and 14th centuries.

Ward Dunham, 2010

He has also been influenced by 20th century masters Rudolf Koch and Edward Johnston. He worked for years in San Francisco as a blackletter scribe, teacher, bartender and raconteur. In recent years, Ward and his wife & partner Linnea Lundquist have moved to Half Moon Bay to focus on calligraphy, type design, and writing.



In this demonstration, Ward will use a variety of large bamboo pens that he cuts himself, and he will talk about why blackletter hands are so compelling.

Calligraphy by Ward Dunham



Ward Dunham "Blackletter Written with Bamboo Pens" - Saturday, July 14th at 2 p.m. in the Latino/Hispanic Community Meeting Room, Lower Level, Main Library. While you're here, come up to the 6th Floor for Kalligraphia 13, an exhibition of modern calligraphy by members of the Friends of Calligraphy, a non-profit Bay Area organization. Kalligraphia 13 will be on view in the Skylight Gallery on the 6th floor of the Main Library through August 26.

Kalligraphia Spotlight: Sara Loesch Frank

This Saturday, artist Sara Loesch Frank will demonstrate "Decorated and Illuminated Initials"

Sara Loesch Frank

Sara Loesch Frank began calligraphy in public school art classes while studying for her Masters Degree in Art Education at the University of New Mexico. She received her degree in 1976 and moved to California, where she worked on illustrations and map labeling at Sempervirens Fund.

Ms. Frank joined the Friends of Calligraphy in the late 1970s and began teaching art and lettering for adult education classes. Her early calligraphy mentors include Peter Thornton, Ewan Clayton, David Howells, Ieuan Rees, Georgianna Greenwood, Carl Rohrs, Georgia Deaver, Stan Knight and Jacqueline Svaren, whose book she would turn to when baffled.

In 1999, one of her pieces was chosen to be shown at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. Two more pieces were selected for the Connecticut Conference "Writing Beyond Words." In 2001, she was awarded a year-long scholarship from the Academy of Art in San Francisco based on her calligraphic artwork shown at the San Mateo County Fair. Her calligraphy has been featured in  Letter Arts Review, Bon Appetit and B for Savvy Brides.

Sara Loesch Frank

Don't miss Sara Loesch Frank's demonstration "Decorated and Illuminated Initials" on Saturday, July 7 at 2 p.m. in the Latino/Hispanic Community Meeting Room, Lower Level of the Main Library. While you're here, come up to the 6th Floor for Kalligraphia 13, an exhibition of modern calligraphy by members of the Friends of Calligraphy, a non-profit Bay Area organization. Kalligraphia 13 will be on view in the Skylight Gallery on the 6th floor of the Main Library through August 26.

Edward Johnston’s Foundational Script

Kalligraphia programs continued last Saturday at the Main Library, with calligrapher Antonia Smith demonstrating Edward Johnston's Foundational Script. For those of our readers who couldn't attend, we present here a couple of snapshots of Antonia at work, along with a few Edward Johnston items from the Richard Harrison Collection of Calligraphy and Lettering, located here on the 6th floor in Book Arts & Special Collections.

Antonia Smith discusses Edward Johnston with fellow calligraphers.

Edward Johnston based Foundational Script, aka Foundational Hand, on the script of the Ramsey Psalter, now held at the British Museum as " Illuminated Manuscript Harley 2904." As the British Museum so aptly puts it on their website, Foundational Hand "inspired a renewal in 20th-century calligraphy." From the enthusiasm of Saturday's participants, it seems that inspiration carries into the 21st!

Antonia Smith demonstrates how different calligraphers
vary in their execution of the Foundational Hand.

Cover of Edward Johnston's classic instructional manual, in its 5th (1922) edition.
 Edward Johnston File, Harrison Collection, San Francisco Public Library.

Page from Edward Johnston's Manuscript & Inscription Letters.
 Foundational Hand is shown at the top and described at the bottom.

Demonstration sheet, handwritten and printed,
showing Foundational Script at the top.
Edward Johnston File, Harrison Collection, San Francisco Public Library.

To learn more about Edward Johnston and his work, we invite you to visit the Book Arts & Special Collections Center here on the 6th floor of the Main Library.