100 Alphabets. By Alf R Becker

1941. Soft cover, 116 pages. Good condition. Minor edgewear. Under 1kg.

Alf Becker (b. St. Louis, MO) was a sign artist in the 1930's and 40's. Beginning in January 1932, at the request of editor E. Thomas Kelly, Becker supplied SIGNS of the Times magazine 's new Art and Design section with an alphabet a month, a project initially predicted to last only two years. Misjudging the popularity of the series, it instead ran for 27 years, ending finally two months before Becker's death in 1959, for a total of 320 alphabets. In late 1941, just ten years after the first alphabet was published, 100 of those alphabets were compiled and published in book form under the title 100 Alphabets.

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" In 1941, his book, “100 Alphabets” was published by Signs of the Times, and all 3,000 copies that were printed were sold out long ago. Numerous requests have been received for a reprinting, but in view of the changes of time in lettering styles, it has not been considered advisable."