H. Lawrence Hoffman
H. Lawrence Hoffman (23 October 1911 – 20 January 1977) was a commercial book jacket designer and illustrator who worked in New York City. He illustrated book covers for over 25 publishing companies, including Pocket Books, Popular Library, Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, The Viking Press, and Random House. Over the course of his career, he created over 600 book jacket covers.
From 1941 to 1951, he was an art director and partner at Immerman Art Studios. From 1952 till the end of his career he worked as a free-lance artist and book illustrator. He taught illustration and lettering at The Cooper Union from 1960 to 1967 and commercial art at C.W. Post University from 1967 to 1976.
Beginning in 1943, Hoffman designed (sometimes along with Sol Immerman) all but 11 of the first 125 paperback covers for Popular Library. Hoffman repeated the cover illustration as a smaller line drawing on the title page.[1]
One of his most significant works was to design the dust jacket and the 21 illustrations for “The Canterbury Tales of Geoffrey Chaucer: A New Modern English Prose Translation by R,M, Lumiansky” published in 1948 by Simon & Schuster. The book was selected as one of the 50 best books of the year by the American Institute of Graphic Arts.
Father to David Hoffman, filmmaker.
Illustrated
- Beyond the Barriers of Space and Time by Judith Merril, hard cover, Random House; 1st edition (November 1, 1954)[2]
- Father Marquette and the Great Rivers by August Derleth, Vision Books, 1955
- Cross in the West by Mark Boesch, Vision Books 1956
- Fighting Father Duffy Jim Bishop and Virginia Lee Bishop, Vision Books, New York, 1956
- Governor All Smith by James A. Farley and James C. G. Conniff, Vision Book, Farrar, Straus & Cudahy, New York, 1959
- More champions in sports and spirit by Ed Fitzgerald (1919-2001)(sports writer, editor Sport magazine), Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, 1959
- The Canterbury tales of Geoffrey Chaucer : a new modern English prose translation, translated by R.M. Lumiansky, Hoffman, Washington Square Press, 1960, 1967
- Alien Art, by Gordon R. Dickson, hardcover, E. P. Dutton (1973) [3]
- The Building Book: About Houses the World Over by Evelyn E. Smith, Howell Soskin publishers, New York, 1972
Cover Art
H. Lawrence Hoffman illustrated the covers of the following books:
- The Pocket Book of Dog Stories, by Harold Berman (editor); MacKinley Kantor (introduction), Pocket Books, Inc., 1942
- The Criminal C.O.D. by Phoebe Atwood Taylor aka Alice Tilton, Popular Library 14, 1943
- Murder in Shinbone Alley by Helen Reilly, Popular Library # 20 1st Printing, 1943
- Mutiny on the Bounty (novel) by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall, Pocket Books # 216, 1943
- McKee of Centre Street, by Helen Reilly, Popular Library paperback, 1944
- The House on the Roof, by Mignon G. Eberhart, Popular Library #17, 1944
- Mr. Pinkerton Has the Clue, by David Frome, Popular Library paperback, 1944
- The Happy Highwayman, by Leslie Charteris, Pocket Books paperback (No. 272), January 1945
- Challenge for Three by David Garth, Popular Library # 84, 1945
- Sing a Song of Homicide, by James R. Langham, Popular Library paperback, 1945
- Murder in the Willett Family, by Rufus King, Popular Library paperback, 1945
- Sound of Revelry, by Octavius Roy Cohen, Popular Library, 1945
- The Smiler with the Knife, by Nicholas Blake, Popular Library paperback, 1945
- It Ain't Hay, by David Dodge, Simon & Schuster, 1946
- Timbal Gulch Trail, by Max Brand, Popular Library paperback, 1946
- Bucky Follows a Cold Trail, by William MacLeod Raine, Popular Library paperback, 1946
- Hasty Wedding, by Mignon G. Eberhart, Popular Library paperback, 1946
- Murder in Season, by Octavus Roy Cohen, Popular Library paperback, 1946
- Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier, Pocket Books Inc. paperback, 1946
- Drink to Yesterday by Mannining Coles, Bantam Books # 76, 1947
- Murder '97 by Frank Gruber, New York: Rinehart & Company / Murray Hill Mystery 1st Edition 1948
- City Boy: The Adventures of Herbie Bookbinder, by Herman Wouk, Simon & Schuster, 1948
- We Took to the Woods by Louise Dickinson Rich, Pocket Books, 1948
- Earth Abides, by George R. Stewart, Random House, 1949
- A Little Night Music by Mary Jane Ward, Random House, 1951
- The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Pocket Books, 1952
- The Bridges at Toko-Ri by James A. Michener, 1953
- Bring 'em Back by Lillian Brown, Dodd, Mead & Co, N . Y., 1956
- Kill My Love, by Kyle Hunt, Simon & Schuster; [Book club ed.] edition (1958)[4]
- RIPLEY'S BELIEVE IT OR NOT - 6th series by Robert L. Ripley, Pocket Books, 1959
- Now We Are Enemies: The Story of Bunker Hill by Thomas J. Flemming, St. Martin's Press, New York, 1960
- The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene, Compass Books / Viking Press, New York, 1961
- The News From Karachi by William Wood, Macmillan, New York, 1962
- Palace Under the Sea, by Elizabeth P. Heppner, Macmillan (1963)[5]
- The Portable Russian Reader: A collection Newly Translated from Classical and Present-day Authors by Bernard Guilbert Guerney, The Viking Press., New York, 1964
- Modes of Thought by Alfred North Whitehead, New York: Free Press, 1968
- Operation Manhunt by Christopher Nicole, Holt Rinehart and Winston 1970
- Flight of Exiles by Ben Bova, E. P. Dutton & Co., New York, NY, 1972
References
- Schreuders, Piet, Paperbacks, U.S.A., A Graphic History, 1939-1959, Blue Dolphin Enterprises, San Diego, 1981
- Judith Merril. "Amazon.com: Beyond the Barriers of Space and Time". Retrieved 2010-12-29.
- Gordon R. Dickinson. "Amazon.com: Alien Art". Retrieved 2010-12-29.
- Kyle Hunt. "Amazon.com: Kill My Love". Retrieved 2010-12-29.
- Elizabeth P. Heppner. "Amazon.com: Palace Under the Sea". Retrieved 2010-12-29.