Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

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Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Warren Chappell, Letters to James and Ruth McCrea, 1948-1991, Accession #10204-aq, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

This collection was given to the University of Virginia Library on April 21, 1994, by Mr. and Mrs. James McCrea, East Hampton, New York.

Biographical/Historical Information

The McCreas have produced children's books together, such as The Story of Olaf and The King's Procession , having written the stories, designed the books, executed the illustrations, and set the type, pulling the proofs on their own hand presses. The couple have also worked together on book jackets, advertisements, and other graphic materials. They are the parents of three children, James, Ruth, & Claire.

The McCreas first met Chappell during his night class in Book Design at New York University around 1950 and continued their friendship through an exchange of notes, cards, and greetings, and an occasional visit to the Chappell's homes in New York, on James Street in Norwalk, Connecticut, and in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Scope and Content Information

This addition to the papers of Warren Chappell (1904-1991), ca. 75 items, ca. 1948-1991, consists of notecards, letters, and Christmas cards illustrated by Chappell and sent to James and Ruth McCrea of Bayport, Long Island, New York, some of which have been mounted and matted.

Also present are several keepsakes from a dinner given in Chappell's honor at the Advertising Club of New York in September 14, 1955, including menus, an invitation, a program for a puppet show "Once There Was A River" by Robert Leighton Barret, and an article in The Publisher's Weekly (1955 Oct 1) "Designer, Artist, Illustrator: Warren Chappell" about the Dinner and Chappell's career. Sixty-three Drawings by Warren Chappell with a Comment by Isabel Bishop and a Checklist by Eleanor Steiner-Prag was also published on the occasion of the dinner for Warren Chappell.

Several items in the collection are related to the exhibition of Chappell's work in New York "Gallery 303 of The Composing Room, Inc. presents Warren Chappell a retrospective, October 7-November 20, 1970," including an invitation, an article in The Publisher's Weekly , November 9, 1970, "Chappell's Printing History Is Issued; His Work in the Book Arts Exhibited," and a keepsake about Chappell's work with Rudolf Koch at the Offenbacher Werkstatt in Germany.

Other items include The Author Looks at Format edited by Ray Frieman, Chairman, The Trade Book Clinic, and designed by Warren Chappell; the New York Times obituary of Warren Chappell (1991 Mar 29); Trajanus: Huxley House is pleased to present this showing of a new type face designed by Warren Chappell ([1948 ?]); several Woman's Day Calendars with Decorations by Warren Chappell, and an oversize engraver's proof of Prisoner of the Indies (1968) with a note from Warren and Lydia to the McCrea family.