George Abrams was an active member of the Grolier Club, as noted
below. He had a great collection of incunabula, sold at auction, in
one of those heavy hard-cover NY catalogues, a few years ago. He was
also a regular participant in the annual congresses and colloquia of
the Paris-based Association Internationale de Bibliophilie. He
himself was a delightful character, and he had the ability and good
fortune to attract lovely women. Both his late wife Joan, and his
more recent partner Jean Stephenson added luster to the weeks with
the AIB.
---Andrew and Eleanore Ramsey Nadell
The follow is from the New York Times, June 18, 2001.
George Abrams Dies at 81; Was a Master of Typefaces
By WOLFGANG SAXON
George Abrams, an artist and type designer whose distinctive
logotypes spelled out household names like B. Altman and Godiva
Chocolates, died on June 7 in Manhasset, N.Y. He was 81 and lived in
Great Neck Estates, N.Y.
Mr. Abrams and his company, Alphabets Inc., worked with many of the
largest advertising agencies, and while his studio boasted the latest
in computer technology, he called himself a boardman who spent much
creative time drawing and inking on paper.
Among his type designs are three known as Abrams Venetian, Abrams
Augereau and Abrams Caslon. He created the cover logos for a number
of popular magazines, notably the original one for Sports Illustrated
in 1954. Others he designed included those for Newsweek (1968), The
Saturday Evening Post (1965) and House Beautiful (1949).
His lettering showed up in the headlines and subheadings of Life
magazine. He created logos for the Singer Company; Reed & Barton, the
silverware maker; and Ballantine beer and ale. He also hand lettered
copy for corporate giants like American Express and General Foods.
George Abrams was born in Brooklyn, the son of artistically inclined
parents from Russia. (A brother was Harry N. Abrams, founder of the
art books publisher by that name, who died in 1979.)
He was self-taught, learning to draw while running errands for
printing companies. At 19 he began to work for publishers and
advertising agencies.
Mr. Abrams taught lettering and typeface design at the Parsons School
of Design, the New School for Social Research and Columbia University
Teachers College, where he was a professor of type design in the
1960's. He lectured widely in the United States and Europe.
He was a bibliophile with a large collection of rare books and
manuscripts, ranging from incunabula to the Russian avant-garde. He
was active in the Grolier Club and the New York Typophiles, and was a
fellow of the Pierpont Morgan Library and an honorary fellow of the
London Society of Typographic Design.
He served with the Third Armored Division during World War II,
earning five Battle Stars as a weatherman during the invasion of
Normandy and the advance into Germany, where he participated in the
liberation of the Buchenwald death camp. He also received the Caen
memorial invasion medal.
Mr. Abrams's first wife, Marion Cordes, died in 1971, and his second
wife, Joan Allen Walker, died in 1998. He is survived by a son,
Jeffrey, of Manhattan; three daughters, Vicki, Nancy and Lauren
Abrams, all of San Diego; eight grandchildren; and his companion,
Jean Stephenson of Bronxville, N.Y.