The Definitive Dwiggins no. 24—Talks on Dwiggins

For the past fifteen years I have been giving talks on W.A. Dwiggins as a means of spreading the discoveries I have made about his life and career while my magnum opus remains in gestation. Below is a chronological list of the talks I have already given, including some in which Dwiggins is a player but not the main subject. They cover a wide range of topics since Dwiggins had a multi-faceted career. There are many other topics* that I have yet to discuss, but I am eager and willing to speak on them to anyone interested—calligraphy societies, printing history organizations, graphic design associations, design schools, etc. To discuss a Dwiggins talk contact me at paulshaw@nyc.rr.com. Thanks.

2005
“W.A. Dwiggins’ Work for Daniel Berkeley Updike and the Merrymount Press 1906–1914: A Look at the Relationship between a Freelance Commercial Artist and a Printer”
[r]Evolution in Print: New Work in Printing History and Practice
American Printing History Association Annual Conference
Mills College
Oakland

Binding of Madame de Treymes by Edith Wharton (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1907). Design by W.A. Dwiggins. Printing by The Merrymount Press.

2006
“The Early Work of W.A. Dwiggins 1904–1929: The Intersection of Printing, Advertising and Commercial Art”
Printing: The Stuff of Life
Printing Historical Society Annual Conference
Reading, England

Advertisement for American Folding Machine Co. (1915). Lettering, illustration and possibly typography by W.A. Dwiggins. Printed by The Heintzemann Press.

2006
“W.A. Dwiggins: Act I 1880–1930”
TypeCon 2006
Boston

Cover of Direct Advertising (1926). Design by W.A. Dwiggins.

2006
“On the Paper Trail: Rediscovering the Early Work of W.A. Dwiggins”
The Museum of Printing
North Andover, Massachusetts

Advertisement for Old Hampshire Bond (Hampshire Paper Co.), 1923. Part of a series entitled “The Pageant of Color”. Illustration and lettering by W.A. Dwiggins.

2006
“From Milton to Mattresses: The Early Work of W.A. Dwiggins, 1905–1930”
The American Printing History Association (New York Chapter)
Grolier Club
New York

“Made in Our Factory” advertisement for Paine Furniture Company in Vogue (May 1916). Design, illustration and lettering by W.A. Dwiggins.

2007
“Play as Work and Work as Play. W.A. Dwiggins as a Model of Interdisciplinary Design Practice”
UQAM
Montreal

Pirate marionettes from The Mystery of the Blind Beggarman, or Billy Brown’s Bravery by William A. Crosby. First performed 28 May 1933. Marionette designs by W.A. Dwiggins.

2008
“W.A. Dwiggins and Hermann Püterschein: The Dimensions of an Alter Ego”
American Printing History Association (Chesapeake Chapter)
Catholic University of America
Washington, DC

Metaphlap-Jerbiam “Celebration” (Fiddlestrummings) by anonymous (possibly J.J. Phillips, Jr.). Illustration by Hermann Püterschei; calligraphy by W.A. Dwiggins (c.1915)

2008
“The Books of WAD: A Comprehensive Survey”
The King Library Press, Margaret I. King Library, University of Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky

Cover of Immensee by Theodor Storm; translated by Elmer O. Wooley (Boston: D.C. Heath, 1937) from the Heath Visible Vocabulary German Series. Design by W.A. Dwiggins.

2010
“Type Design as a Second Career: W.A. Dwiggins Starts Over at Age 49”
Type Americana
School of Visual Concepts
Seattle

Annotated drawings for a headline typeface by W.A. Dwiggins (1942). Never completed.

2011
“Type Design as a Second Career: W.A. Dwiggins Starts Over at Age 49”
Type@Cooper
Cooper Union
New York

Drawing for lowercase Electra m (21 June 1935). The annotations by W.A. Dwiggins were intended for Rudolph Ruzicka.

2012
“Oz Cooper: Attacked by an Itch to Work with Type”
Type Americana 2
School of Visual Concepts
Seattle

Detail of drawings of Cooper Black Condensed (1925). Type design by Oswald Cooper.

2012
“The Roots of the Big Three: Frederic W. Goudy, W.A. Dwiggins, Oswald Cooper and the Frank Holme School of Illustration”
Crossroads
American Printing History Association Annual Conference
Columbia College of the Arts
Chicago

Cover of The Inland Printer (July 1901). Illustration by W.A. Dwiggins; lettering and decorative border by Frederic W. Goudy.

2013
“The Roots of the Big Three: Frederic W. Goudy, W.A. Dwiggins, Oswald Cooper and the Frank Holme School of Illustration”
TPC 10: Tipocracia
São Paulo, Brazil

Mechanical for announcement card for Bertsch & Cooper (c.1905). Lettering by Oswald Cooper; decoration by Fred Bertsch.

2014
“The Golden Age of W.A. Dwiggins”
The Justin Howes Memorial Lecture
St. Bride Library
London

Opening page from America Conquers Death by Milton Waldman (New York: William Edwin Rudge, 1928). Initial, lettering and typography by W.A. Dwiggins.

2014
“W.A. Dwiggins and the Promotion of Paper 1915–1935”
Type Directors Club
New York

Cover of Alexandra Japan paper specimen for Strathmore Paper Company (1919). Design, illustration and lettering by W.A. Dwiggins.

2014
“W.A. Dwiggins and the Promotion of Paper 1915–1935”
Paper on the Press
Joint Annual Conference American Printing History Association and The Friends of Dard Hunter
Oakland, California

Cover of The Warren Standard no. 4 (1928). Design, illustration and lettering by W.A. Dwiggins.

2015
“Paper Is Part of the Picture”: Strathmore Paper Promotions from 1898 to 1934
HOW Conference
Chicago

Cover of brochure “Paper Is Part of the Picture” for Strathmore Paper Company (1923). Design, illustration and lettering by W.A. Dwiggins.

2015
“In Defense of Goudy”
Cary Library, Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester, New York

Title page of a Catalogue of a Loan Exhibition of Paintings by Old Dutch Masters (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1910). Design, initial and lettering by Frederic W. Goudy. The entire text is hand lettered.

2015
“Paper Is Part of the Picture”: Strathmore Paper Promotions from 1898 to 1934”
American Printing History Association (Chesapeake Chapter)
Corcoran School of Design Auditorium
Washington, DC

Second opening of “Paper Is Part of the Picture” promotion brochure (1923) designed by T.M. Cleland for Strathmore Paper Company.

2015
“The Complete Career of W.A. Dwiggins in Context”
CalArts
Valencia, California

Jacket for Mars in the House of Death by Rex Ingram (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1939). Design, lettering and ornament by W.A. Dwiggins.

2016
“DBU and WAD: W.A. Dwiggins and The Merrymount Press, 1906–1933”
Providence Public Library
Providence, Rhode Island

Jacket for A Tenderfoot Abroad by Justin Grayson (Boston: W.A. Butterfield, 1907). Design, illustration and lettering by W.A. Dwiggins. Printing by The Merrymount Press.

2016
“W.A. Dwiggins in His Time: From Mucha to Müller-Brockmann”
MICA (Maryland Institute College of Arts)
Baltimore, Maryland

Chapter opening from volume II of Droll Stories by Honoré de Balzac; translation by Jacques Le Clercq (New York: The Limited Editions Club, 1932). Illustration, initial and typography by W.A. Dwiggins.

2016
“Beyond the Spine: A Closer Look at the Book Designs of W.A. Dwiggins for Alfred A. Knopf”
Book Club of California
San Francisco

Chapter opening for A Fugitive Crosses His Tracks by Aksel Sandemose (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1936). Design by W.A. Dwiggins.

2016
“A Symbiotic Relationship: W.A. Dwiggins, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. and Mergenthaler Linotype”
The Printing Museum and AIGA Houston
Houston

Colophon for The Necessary Angel by Wallace Stevens (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1951). Design by W.A. Dwiggins.

2016
“W.A. Dwiggins: Commercial Artist”
Pratt Institute
Brooklyn, NY

Page 8 from Let’s Be Misers with Golden Selling Hours (S.D. Warren Co., 1925). Design and illustration by W.A. Dwiggins.

2017
“W.A. Dwiggins and the Evolution of American Graphic Design”
College Art Association 105th Annual Conference
New York City

“Paine’s Theatre of Home Decoration” advertisement for Paine Furniture Company (October 10, 1916). Illustration and lettering by W.A. Dwiggins. From microfilm.

2017
“The Suitable Motions of Manufacture: The Calligraphy & Lettering of W.A. Dwiggins”
Rhode Island School of Design
Providence, Rhode Island

Homer in the Sagebrush by James Stevens (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1928). Binding lettering by W.A. Dwiggins.

2017
“W.A. Dwiggins in His Time: From Mucha to Müller-Brockmann”
Museum of Printing
Haverhill, Massachusetts

Color woodcuts by Arthur Wesley Dow and W.A. Dwiggins compared.

2017
“The Evolution of Electra: Stencils, Marionettes, and a Buddhist Priest”
ATypI Montreal
Montreal

Boylston typeface by W.A. Dwiggins (Innes Alphabets, 1929).

2017
“W.A. Dwiggins as an Ornamentalist: An Argument for the Functionality of Ornament in Graphic Design”
University of Bridgeport
Bridgeport, Connecticut

Cover of The War against Waak by W.A. Dwiggins (Hingham, Massachusetts: Püterschein-Hingham, 1947). Design, ornament, and lettering by W.A. Dwiggins.

2017
“W.A. Dwiggins and the Promotion of Paper between 1912 and 1948”
Society of Printers
Boston

“The Personally Dictated Letter on Old Hampshire Bond” from 4-page Hampshire Paper Co. insert in Direct Advertising vol. 3, no. 3 (1915). Lettering by W.A. Dwiggins.

2018
“The Suitable Motions of Manufacture: The Calligraphy & Lettering of W.A. Dwiggins”
The Society of Scribes, Ltd.
New York

Opening page of The Parable of the Prodigal Son (Boston: Alfred Bartlett, 1905). Illustration, decorative initial and hand lettered text by W.A. Dwiggins.

2018
“W.A. Dwiggins: The Complete Book Designer”
New York Chapter of the American Printing History Association
New York

Spread from The Travels of Marco Polo (Rochester, New York: The Printing House of Leo Hart, 1933). Design, typography, lettering, illustration, and ornament by W.A. Dwiggins.

2018
“The Suitable Motions of Manufacture: The Calligraphy & Lettering of W.A. Dwiggins”
The Friends of Calligraphy
San Francisco

Cover of Making it Easy to Plan Printing [on Warren’s Library Text] (Boston: S.D. Warren Co., 1922). Design and lettering by W.A. Dwiggins.

2020
“The Lettering and Calligraphy of W.A. Dwiggins”
School of Art and Design
Northern Illinois University
DeKalb, Illinois

Old Kent Bank stock certificate (1929). Engraved. Design and lettering by W.A. Dwiggins. Image courtesy of the Letterform Archive.

*some of the aspects of Dwiggins’ career that have yet to be addressed: illustration, stencil designs, marionettes, designs for sheet music, publication design, maps and diagrams, and greeting cards.