The Magician of Lublin (Three original title card maquettes for the 1979 film) - 1979

Los Angeles: Golan-Globus Productions, 1979. Three original draft title card maquettes hand lettered by Harold Adler for the 1979 film. Based on the 1960 novel by Isaac Bashevis Singer. The three sketches show different approaches to the title, all distinct from the final lettering design used. Harold Adler was a calligrapher who created hand lettered titles on over 100 films, worked frequently with Alfred Hitchcock, and was a favorite of legendary title sequence designers Saul Bass and Pablo Ferro. In addition to "The Magician of Lublin" his credits include "Comanche!" (1956), "The Man with the Golden Arm" (1955), "The Seven Year Itch" (1955), "Carmen Jones" (1954), "Psycho" (1960), "The Birds" (1963), "In the Heat of the Night" (1967), and "Finian's Rainbow" (1969). In 2012, an exhibition of Adler's work was organized by noted typographer and design historian Jill Bell at the American Advertising Federation, Kansas City. At the turn of the Twentieth century, a Jewish stage magician and con man, whose career has been ruined by womanizing, gets one more shot at the big time by attempting to pull off a never before seen trick. Two leaves. First leaf: 19 x 18 inches. About Near Fine with creasing to the edges. Two designs, executed in black ink on white paper with a manuscript notation to the side in blue pencil. Second leaf: 15.5 x 5.5 inches. Black ink on white paper. Near Fine, with manuscript annotations in blue pencil.