THE LETTERING AND GRAPHIC DESIGN OF F.G. COOPER

Chronicles the life and artistic contributions of Fred Cooper (1883-1961), a prominent American cartoonist, designer, and founding member of the Society of Illustrators, where he notably designed the lettering for the plaque at its Manhattan headquarters. This lavishly illustrated book, featuring numerous pages in two colors, showcases Cooper's diverse body of work, including his iconic 'big-head' cartoon characters that populated popular magazines like Life, Colliers, and Liberty throughout the 1910s to 1930s.

His notable advertising cartoons for the New York Edison Company brought him fame, while his World War I posters garnered acclaim for their warm, all-lower-case hand lettering that negated the need for additional illustrations. Although F.G. Cooper did not design the typeface Cooper Bold, his work inspired Oz Cooper and a new generation of cartoonists and designers.

The book is rich with spot cartoons, full-page comics, lettering examples, personal photographs, and clever monograms created for notable figures like Rube Goldberg and Dwight D. Eisenhower, complete with preliminary sketches. In recounting the book's origins, Cabarga notes that his fandom for Cooper's work led him to reimagine an unpublished manuscript into this comprehensive volume, which was met with enthusiastic acclaim from the artistic community. Oswald (Oz) Cooper's compliment, calling Cooper's lettering "juicy," captures the essence of this book, laden with F.G. Cooper's vibrant examples of artistry.