John Lewis (1912–1996) was a Welsh typographer, printer, illustrator and collector of printed

ephemera Ephemera are items which were not originally designed to be retained or preserved, but have been collected or retained. The word is etymologically derived from the Greek ephēmeros 'lasting only a day'. The word is both plural and singular. On ...

Early life

Lewis was born in Rhoose, near

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

. The family moved to

Farnham Farnham is a market town and civil parish in Surrey, England, around southwest of London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, close to the county border with Hampshire. The town is on the north branch of the River Wey, a tributary of the ...

in 1920. He was educated at Charterhouse and Goldsmiths', where his contemporaries included Denton Welch and Carel Weight.

First career

Lewis set up as a freelance illustrator in 1935, but when the United Kingdom entered the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he became involved with developing camouflage working in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

and doing some work on secret devices in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. Through this work he met Victor Stiebel,

Oliver Messel Oliver Hilary Sambourne Messel (13 January 1904 – 13 July 1978) was an English artist and one of the foremost stage designers of the 20th century. Early life Messel was born in London, the second son of Lieutenant-Colonel Leonard Messel a ...

, Gabriel White, Lynton Lamb and Edward Ardizzone who was to become his brother-in-law.

Work with W. S. Cowell Ltd

Lewis joined W. S. Cowell Ltd. in 1946. The company published his first book, ''A Handbook of Printing Types with Notes on the Composition and Graphic Processes used by Cowells'' in 1947. The book featured illustrations by

Henry Moore Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi-abstract art, abstract monumental Bronze sculpture, bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. Moore ...

, John Piper,

Blair Hughes-Stanton Blair Rowlands Hughes-Stanton (22 February 1902 – 6 June 1981) was a major figure in the English wood-engraving revival in the twentieth century. He was the son of the artist Sir Herbert Hughes-Stanton. He exhibited with the Society of Woo ...

, John Nash.

Barnett Freedman Barnett Freedman (19 May 1901 – 4 January 1958) was a British painter, commercial designer, book illustrator, typographer, and lithography, lithographer. Biography Early life and education Barnett Freedman was born in Stepney, in the ea ...

Edward Bawden Edward Bawden, (10 March 1903 – 21 November 1989) was an English painter, illustrator and graphic artist, known for his prints, book covers, posters, and garden metalwork furniture. Bawden taught at the Royal College of Art, where he had be ...

, and

Graham Sutherland Graham Vivian Sutherland (24 August 1903 – 17 February 1980) was a prolific English artist. Notable for his paintings of abstract landscapes and for his portraits of public figures, Sutherland also worked in other media, including printmakin ...

, as well as a weather chart by the Isotype Institute.

Teaching career

From 1951 to 1963 he taught

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art that involves creating visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdisciplinary branch of ...

at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

. With

Michael Twyman Michael Twyman (born 1934) is a Professor Emeritus of the Department of Typography & Graphic Communication at the University of Reading. He joined the university staff in 1959. He established a BA (Hons) course in Typography & Graphic Communicati ...

and Maurice Rickards, he was a pioneer in the study of printed

, and in 1962 published the first major book in the field, ''Printed Ephemera: The Changing Uses of Type and Letterforms in English and American Printing''. In the 1960s Lewis also edited the influential Studio Vista/Van Nostrand Reinhold Art Paperbacks series for

Studio Vista Studio Vista was a British publishing company founded in 1961 that specialised in leisure and design topics. In the 1960s, the firm published works by a number of authors who went on to be noted designers. The imprint was later integrated into C ...

in the UK and Van Nostrand Reinhold in the US, including authors such as

Peter Cook Peter Edward Cook (17 November 1937 – 9 January 1995) was an English comedian, actor, satirist, playwright and screenwriter. He was the leading figure of the British satire boom of the 1960s, and he was associated with the anti-establishmen ...

, Theo Crosby, Alan Fletcher, Ken Garland, Bob Gill, Norman Potter, David Pye,

Paul Rand Paul Rand (born Peretz Rosenbaum; August 15, 1914 – November 26, 1996) was an American art director and graphic designer. He was best known for his corporate logo designs, including the logos for IBM, United Parcel Service, UPS, Enron, Morni ...

and

Alison and Peter Smithson Alison Margaret Smithson (22 June 1928 – 14 August 1993) and Peter Denham Smithson (18 September 1923 – 3 March 2003) were English architects who together formed an architectural partnership, and are often associated with the New Brutali ...

. The John Lewis Printing Collection of more than 20,000 items from the fifteenth to the twentieth century is held at

Reading University The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, ...

Selected works

* 1947 ''A Handbook of Printing Types'', Ipswich: W. S. Cowell Ltd. * 1954 ''Graphic Design: with special reference to lettering, typography and illustration'' * 1962 ''Printed Ephemera: the changing uses of type and letterforms in English and American printing'', Ipswich, Suffolk: W. S. Cowell Ltd. * 1964 (with Bob Gill) ''Illustration: aspects and directions'' * 1965 ''Typography: basic principles'' * 1966 ''Handbook of Type and Illustration'' * 1967 ''The Twentieth Century Book: its illustration and design'' * 1976 ''Collecting Printed Ephemera: a background to social habits and social history, to eating and drinking, to travel and heritage'' * 1978 ''Typography: design and practice'' * 1994 ''Such Things Happen: the life of a typographer''

References

External links

* * * 1912 births 1996 deaths English typographers and type designers English graphic designers 20th-century British designers People educated at Charterhouse School Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London Academics of the Royal College of Art {{graphic-designer-stub