H. Lawrence Hoffman
H. Lawrence Hoffman (23 October 1911 – 20 January 1977) was a commercial book jacket designer, illustrator, and painter who worked in New York City. He illustrated book covers for over 25 publishing companies, including Alfred A Knopf, Pocket Books, Popular Library, Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, The Viking Press, and Random House. Over the course of his career, he illustrated over 600 book jacket covers.
Hoffman graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in 1934 and then completed two years of post graduate study in Commercial Art from RISD. His early work career was as an Art Director at the A.M. Sneider Advertising Company (1938-1941) and the Immerman Art Studios (1941-?). After leaving Immerman, he worked as a free-lance artist and book illustrator for the remainder of his career. He also taught illustration and lettering at The Cooper Union (1960-1967) and was a Professor of Art at C.W. Post University (1967-1976).
Hoffman began his career doing drawings for the pulp magazine, "Thrilling Mystery Magazine", A Ned Pines publication, and book cover illustrations for the emerging mass market paperback industry that included Pocket Books, Bantam Books, and Green Dragon. Beginning around 1943, Hoffman illustrated all but 11 of the first 125 paperback covers for Popular Library. Hoffman repeated the cover illustration as a smaller line drawing on the title page.[1]
In 1947, he won a prestigious commission to design the cover, frontispieces and 21 full or half page illustrations for “The Canterbury Tales of Geoffrey Chaucer: A New Modern English Prose Translation by R.M.Lumiansky” published in 1948 by Simon & Schuster. The book was selected as one of the 50 best books of the year by the American Institute of Graphic Arts.
Father to David Hoffman, filmmaker.
Illustrated[]
- The Canterbury Tales of Geoffrey Chaucer Translation by R.M. Lumiansky, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1948
- by Judith Merril, hard cover, Random House; 1st edition (November 1, 1954)[2]
- Father Marquette and the Great Rivers by August Derleth, Vision Books, 1955
- by , Vision Books 1956
- Jim Bishop and , Vision Books, New York, 1956
- by James A. Farley and , Vision Book, Farrar, Straus & Cudahy, New York, 1959
- by Ed Fitzgerald (1919-2001)(sports writer, editor Sport magazine), Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, 1959
- : a new modern English prose translation, translated by , Hoffman, Washington Square Press, 1960, 1967
- , by Gordon R. Dickson, hardcover, E. P. Dutton (1973) [3]
- The Building Book: About Houses the World Over by Evelyn E. Smith, Howell Soskin publishers, New York, 1972
Cover Art[]
Some of the numerous book covers that H. Lawrence Hoffman illustrated:
- , by Frances Crane, Random House, 1953
- , by William Hardy, A Red Badge Mystery, Dodd, Mead & Co, 1957
- , by B.A. Botkin, Random House, 1956
- , by Elsbeth Huxley, Popular Library, #100, 1946
- , by Gypsy Rose Lee, Popular Library #37, 1944
- , by Stuart Cloete, Popular Library #110, 1945
- , by John Rhode, Popular Library #56, 1945
- , by Alki Zei, E.P Dutton & co, 1972
- The Angry Hills, by Leon Uris, Random House, 1955
- , by Harold Berman (editor); MacKinley Kantor (introduction), Pocket Books, Inc., 1942
- by Phoebe Atwood Taylor aka Alice Tilton, Popular Library 14, 1943
- by Helen Reilly, Popular Library # 20 1st Printing, 1943
- Mutiny on the Bounty (novel) by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall, Pocket Books # 216, 1943
- , by Helen Reilly, Popular Library paperback, 1944
- The House on the Roof, by Mignon G. Eberhart, Popular Library #17, 1944
- , by David Frome, Popular Library paperback, 1944
- The Happy Highwayman, by Leslie Charteris, Pocket Books paperback (No. 272), January 1945
- by David Garth, Popular Library # 84, 1945
- , by , Popular Library paperback, 1945
- , by Rufus King, Popular Library paperback, 1945
- , by Octavus Roy Cohen, Popular Library, 1945
- , by Nicholas Blake, Popular Library paperback, 1945
- It Ain't Hay, by David Dodge, Simon & Schuster, 1946
- , by Max Brand, Popular Library paperback, 1946
- , by William MacLeod Raine, Popular Library paperback, 1946
- , by Mignon G. Eberhart, Popular Library paperback, 1946
- , by Octavus Roy Cohen, Popular Library paperback, 1946
- Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier, Pocket Books Inc. paperback, 1946
- by , Bantam Books # 76, 1947
- by Frank Gruber, New York: Rinehart & Company / Murray Hill Mystery 1st Edition 1948
- by Fannie Hurst, Popular Library #101, 1946
- City Boy: The Adventures of Herbie Bookbinder, by Herman Wouk, Simon & Schuster, 1948
- by Louise Dickinson Rich, Pocket Books, 1948
- Earth Abides, by George R. Stewart, Random House, 1949
- A Little Night Music by Mary Jane Ward, Random House, 1951
- The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Pocket Books, 1952
- The Bridges at Toko-Ri by James A. Michener, 1953
- by Lillian Brown, Dodd, Mead & Co, N . Y., 1956
- , by Kyle Hunt, Simon & Schuster; [Book club ed.] edition (1958)[4]
- by Robert L. Ripley, Pocket Books, 1959
- Widow's Mite by Elizabeth Sanxay Holding, Simon & Schuster, An Inner Sanctum Mystery,1953
- by , St. Martin's Press, New York, 1960
- The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene, Compass Books / Viking Press, New York, 1961
- by William Wood, Macmillan, New York, 1962
- , by , Macmillan (1963)[5]
- by Bernard Guilbert Guerney, The Viking Press., New York, 1964
- Modes of Thought by Alfred North Whitehead, New York: Free Press, 1968
- Operation Manhunt by Christopher Nicole, Holt Rinehart and Winston 1970
- Flight of Exiles by Ben Bova, E. P. Dutton & Co., New York, NY, 1972
References[]
- ^ Schreuders, Piet, Paperbacks, U.S.A., A Graphic History, 1939-1959, Blue Dolphin Enterprises, San Diego, 1981
- ^ Judith Merril. "Amazon.com: Beyond the Barriers of Space and Time". Retrieved 2010-12-29.
- ^ Gordon R. Dickinson. "Amazon.com: Alien Art". Retrieved 2010-12-29.
- ^ Kyle Hunt. "Amazon.com: Kill My Love". Retrieved 2010-12-29.
- ^ Elizabeth P. Heppner. "Amazon.com: Palace Under the Sea". Retrieved 2010-12-29.
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External links[]
- Cover photos of Hoffman's books vintage paperback books.
- https://www.flickr.com/photos/42080330@N03/albums/72157644712644134/ Cover photos of Hoffman's vintage paperback books
- American illustrators
- 1911 births
- 1977 deaths
- Rhode Island School of Design alumni