John Howard Benson was born in Newport, Rhode Island in 1901, attended the public schools, and, after five years of study at the Art Students League in New York, returned to live there. His mother, whose considerable artistic flair made her appreciate his similar inclination, was ambitious for him in this field. Disregarding the rather straightened circumstances of the family, she helped her son to leave Newport, and to acquire the training he needed in New York City.

As a boy he continually sketched with pencil, cutting wood blocks, and etching. His hand press was taken to the Newport Art Association, where he taught classes in etching and lithography for several summers. Examples of this early work remain: programs, announcements, and Christmas cards for the Art Association. His interest was definitely for black and white; its spacing, arrangement, and the balance between lettering and decoration.

A Christmas card

At the Art Students League he soon became monitor for Joseph Pennell’s classes. He took no formal courses in Lettering, which during that period had no place in Art Education. Like many another student he had to earn part of his fees, and this he did by designing title pages, bookplates, and layouts of various sorts. Placement of printed area on a page, margins, etc. were never dull or tiresome to him. At this point an old friend gave him Edward Johnston’s Writing, Illuminating and Lettering, which turned his mind forever to the creation of beautiful letters. He read and reread that book until the pages fell free from the stitching. Soon he was spending long hours in the Metropolitan Museum, in the Print room, or studying Manuscripts. From this time on Typography was one of his great loves, and he looked forward to working with it in the future.

Then a fluke changed his direction, not away from letters, for that could never be, but to the cutting of letters on stone with mallet and chisel. He was given a definite order to make a slate tombstone. He was told that he alone could do it in the 18th Century New England manner, and therefore he must do it. With much humility, but no hesitancy he bought the old John Stevens Shop, where such tombstones had been made for over two hundred years. Strangely enough, he had the background as well as the ability needed for a thorough understanding of the problem of gravestones. Like many another New Englander, he had made the yearly pilgrimage to the cemetery on Memorial Day with his grandmother, where the uneven rows of old slate headstones fascinated him. He had read their inscriptions, perceived the excellent letters, the rich ornament, and the sound design, realizing then that a gravestone could be, of itself, a beautiful, significant object. During 1925, he wrote a series of articles for the Newport paper, presenting his point of view, that the gravestones of New England were a part of our cultural heritage.

Sketch for President’s Address, Brown University (top); layout for cutting with chisel (below)

After three years of putting the old shop into good running condition, he was much pleased in 1930 to take over the lettering classes at the Rhode Island School of Design, in Providence. The pen in hand once more had the major part of his time. The required freshman course in lettering began with the making of the reed pen, continuing to its roper use. There followed a history of lettering, illustrated by slides, some of which were his own examples, others taken from manuscripts. The students were taught to write rustic capitals, Roman capitals, Carolingian, Uncials, Italics, even built-ups and modern sans serif letters. There was an elective for upper classmen, in which the various hands were perfected. As a result of this teaching, in 1939, Mr. Benson and his partner, A. Graham Carey, wrote the Elements of Lettering, which was printed at the Merrymount Press, in Boston.

Diploma for Rhode Island School of Design (top); library label (bottom, left); Alphabet stone cut in dark gray slate, letters then gold-leafed (bottom, right)

All this time the hand cut stones left the shop in increasing numbers, and he still had time to do calligraphy when asked; wedding certificates, written manuscripts, diplomas, and letterheads. His library at the shop grew into quite a collection of writing books, mostly given to him by friends. Among these were the Venetian Arrighi of 1533, Palatinos of three different dates, a Cocker, Tagliente, Tensini, and some of the early American writing masters.

Doodles, prior to the writing of the Arrighi ‘Operina’

In the spring of 1952 he attended the sale of the Ullman collection in New York, finding there a 1522 copy of the Arrighi, the finest he had ever seen. Among the collectors and dealers at the sale, only one bid against him, the agent for the Victoria and Albert Museum. The others, who knew him, wished John Howard Benson to own that book. The Englishman had only the small sum allowed to him by his country, so Mr. Benson bought the book for just over that limit. His delight and excitement at purchasing the Arrighi were intense. At once an earlier ambition revealed itself, as he started in on the translation of the Arrighi. Simultaneously he mastered the Italic hand for his own total use. In these two years every odd bit of paper lying around was covered with Italic doodling. Finally, all was complete; the translation checked by erudite friends, the notes organized to the greatest usefulness, and the writing of the text (the seventh time) as perfect as he could make it.

The publishing of this book in 1954, its immediate success, and the many friends he made in consequence, were a great satisfaction to John Howard Benson during the last two years of his life, when illness curtailed almost all of his activities.

Esther Fisher Benson

This article originally appeared in the Spring & Summer 1961 issue of The Committee for Italic Handwriting Newsletter.