Author: Cassel, Lili (born 1924). Calligrapher & book illustrator.
Title: Autograph Letter Signed by the Calligrapher & Book Illustrator LILI Cassel to Bookman Fridolf Johnson.
Description: No date. No date. Fine. - Over 118 words handsomely penned on both sides of her 11 inch high by 8- 1/2 inch wide personal cream stationary with her name and address tastefully printed in light brown on either side of an attractive red vignette at the top of the page. Thanking Fridolf Johnson for sending the "coin booklet to Eric", Lili Cassel goes on to relate that Irvin Kerlan, who established the Kerlan Children's Literature Collection at the University of Minnesota, wrote to thank her "heartily for the calligraphics" and, first quoting Kerlan, she writes: "'Incidentally, I learned that Fridolf has done 4 children's books. Have you seen them and are they available in first editions for my collection?' .. But instead of my replying, would you like to tell him the answers yourself? I am hardly necessary as a middleman for this." She informs Fridolf Johnson that she is going to Delaware and will call him about Jones Beach later. Closing with "Best Love" she signs herself "Lili" with a sketch of a woman's face within the loop of the "L" and a heart above the last "i". Folded for mailing, else fine.

Born in Berlin in 1924, the calligrapher and book illustrator Lili Cassel fled Germany with her family before the start of the Second World War. Emigrating to the United States in 1940, she attended New York's Art Students League and the Brooklyn Museum Art School. She worked as an assistant for Time magazine's Art Director Arnold Bank, taught calligraphy, and designed book jackets for World Publishing. In 1947 she illustrated her first children's book "The Rainbow Mother Goose" and went on to illustrate many more throughout her life. She met her husband Eric Wronker while spending a year in Israel and the two went on to publish books on their own private hand press. A member of the Typophiles, Lili Cassel was also a founding member of the Society of Scribes, New York. She created a video on the history of the Hebrew alphabet, a fitting subject for a calligrapher.

Chief of Medical Research for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Irvin Kerlan (1912- 1963) was a rare book collector who soon specialized in children's books. In addition to collecting the works of Newbery winners, he sought out source material and letters on the making of the books. In 1949, he made arrangements with the University of Minnesota to house his collection.

An illustrator and artist as well as a fine pressman Fridolf Johnson was an editor of American Artist Magazine until his retirement in the 1970's. As a graphic artist, he designed title panels for Hollywood movies and art & typography for advertising as well as dust jacket illustrations. He wrote and illustrated his own children's books in addition to other works. He compiled and edited the Knopf book "Rockwell Kent: An Anthology of His Work" and the significant reference work "A Treasury of Bookplates From the Renaissance to the Present". Fine .

Keywords: BOOKS-ON-BOOKS; CALLIGRAPHER; CHILDREN'S BOOKS; ILLUSTRATED; ILLUSTRATOR; LILI CASSEL; AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED; SIGNATURE; CALLIGRAPHY; ALPHABET; BOOKMAN; BIBLIOPHILE; FRIDOLF JOHNSON; TWENTIETH CENTURY; 20TH CENTURY; IRVIN KERLAN; KERLAN CHILDREN'

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