Prior to working in publishing, way back in 1968, I was taking on a lot of freelance book jacket design - Which, coincidentally, is something I'm doing again since going solo - At the time there was one designer who I was really taken with. His name was Jack Larkin and here's some of his work from the mid-60's. This is the most recent one of Jack's work tucked away in a dusty secondhand bookshop...
1965
1967
I loved the fact his covers were instantly recognisable - with their recurring typefaces, colours and immediate looking stylised illustration. They all made up his very personal style. So enamoured by his work I tried to emulate him. Here is an example of one of my covers from 1966.
See what I mean? A bit embarrassing really. I recall the advice that Laurence Olivier gave to aspiring young actors, who would say to him, 'How can I become a great actor like you?.' He would reply, ' Steal dear boy, and then make it your own'. Well, I was doing exactly that and am not ashamed to admit it. I would love to know where Jack Larkin is now, or if he is still with us. I believe he went to live in Australia in the late 60s. If anyone reading this knows anything about him I would very much like to hear from you. A note on the above book jackets. They were once firmly attached to their respective hard cover cases, all sitting attentively on the shelves of my local library. That is until an obsessive book jacket collector liberated them into a world of design history.
Looking back 40 years to those events I figure they got the better deal. Had they stayed in-situ they would be long gone by now, instead of being cared for in a nice roomy plan chest.
Post Script.
Jack Larkin returned to Australia in the 1970s, where he became head of the Graphic Design department at Monash University in Melbourne. He held this post until the 1980s. He retired and spent the autumn of his years in his native Australia close to family. He died in 2012. He was an exceptional designer.
There is a Creative Review post on Jack Larkin's time as Art Director of Good Housekeeping here.