Paul Shaw, graphic design historian The Book Jackets of Philip Grushkin: A Look at the Design Process in the Pre-Digital Era From the early 1940s through the late 1950s Philip Grushkin was one of the leading freelance book jacket designers in New York, working for a wide range of publishers.

He worked on jackets for a number of well-known authors, among them Simone de Beauvoir, Arthur Koestler, Truman Capote, Junichiro Tanizaki, Jean Stafford and Chester Himes. A student of George Salter at The Cooper Union, Grushkins jackets, often reflect his mentors approach, yet have their own distinctive style. The Philip Grushkin Archives at Columbia University contain a large number of these jackets. But more importantly, they are especially valuable for the presence of mechanicals, roughs and comps alongside printed jackets. In combination, these materials provide a vivid look at how Grushkin designed his bookjackets. His process and methods were not unique and thus they illuminate graphic design in the age before personal computers.

Paul Shaw is a lettering artist and graphic design historian. He teaches typography and calligraphy at Parsons School of Design and the history of graphic design at the School of Visual Arts. In 1980 he organized the George Salter Archives at the Newberry Library and recently he wrote the text of the catalogue for the Philip Grushkin Archives. Along with writing, teaching and designing Paul is the editor of Codex: The Journal of Letterforms.

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