Hornung, Clarence: TRADE-MARKS DESIGNED BY CLARENCE P. HORNUNG. New York: The Caxton Press, 1930. Signed/numbered edition.

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TRADE-MARKS DESIGNED BY CLARENCE P. HORNUNG 

Clarence P[earson]. Hornung

Clarence P. [Pearson] Hornung: TRADE-MARKS DESIGNED BY CLARENCE P. HORNUNG. New York: The Caxton Press, December 1930. First edition [limited to 750 copies/650 signed and numbered]. Small quarto. Line-ruled and embossed orange cloth. Decorative gilt to spine. Medallion tipped onto cover. Yellow endsheets. [ix] 63 pp. Watermarked Navarre wove antique sheets, single-color line engravings and hand-set Eve Heavy and Civilité typefaces. 53 trademarks. Colophon SIGNED and NUMBERED [205] by the author. Spine sunned and cloth lightly spotted. Tail cloth well worn. A very good copy.

7.25 x 8.25 hardcover book published in a limited edition of 750 copies, with 650 copies signed and numbered by Clarence Hornung. Preface by Harry Gage. Magnificent and finely produced keepsake from Hornung and the Caxton Press presenting 53 trademarks designed prior to December 1930.

The colophon stated that 750 copies were printed in December 1930, with 650 copies for sale; each volume was hand-signed and numbered by Hornung. The American Institute of Graphic Arts selected this title as one of their 50 Book of the Year in 1932.

Trademark collections occupy the shadow areas between Technical, Vocational and Artisan publishing. As such, many of these volumes are perceived as little more than textbooks. But a closer look often reveals a hidden gem.

A favorite example of the genre is TRADE-MARKS DESIGNED BY CLARENCE P. HORNUNG, published by the Caxton Press in 1930. If the elaborate gilt-stamping on the spine gets your interest long enough to pull this title off the shelf you will be immensely rewarded, starting with the revelation of a tipped-in decorative medallion on the line-ruled and embossed cloth front panel.

The small quarto is bound via simple french folded signatures, with watermarked Navarre wove antique sheets, single-color line engravings and hand-set Eve Heavy and Civilité typefaces.

Hornung's mark selection favored Advertising Agency Services, Typographers and Publishers: American Type Founders, Mergenthaler Linotype Company, Charles Scribners’ Sons, Doubleday & Doran Company represented four of the 53 marks.

Hornung studied at City College and Columbia University and proved himself a prolific designer and author, but little else is known about his background. If he had studied at the Bauhaus, worked in the Behrens atelier or embraced the European modernism that came into vogue in the early 1930s this book would be a legendary title and command top dollar at auction.

Instead this elaborate and heartfelt tribute to Hornung's design skills has passed into memory in the 80 years since its publication, with no known copies currently available.

Clarence Pearson Hornung [1899 -1997]  was a prolific American trademark and industrial graphic designer and illustrator who studied at City College and at Columbia University.

He was a designer for American Type Foundry and a member of the Society of Designers for Industry in New York City. In addition to designing several hundred trademarks, package designs and industrial designs, he designed book bindings for such clients as Harper's, Metropolitan Museum of Art, H. Wolff, Limited Editions Club, Encyclopedia Britannica, Heritage Press and DuPont. He created colophons for many contemporary publishers including the Book League of America, Farrar & Rinehart and Vanguard Press.

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