David Hockney: An alphabet - a typographical triumph

One of David Hockney's lesser known series 'An Alphabet’  is the late artist’s foray into the world of typography, channeling his unmistakable style into a series of 26 etchings and aquatints. Produced in 1991 for a children's book, the works have fast become a highly collectable set of prints due to their accessibility and wonderfully playful nature. 

Similar to Sir Peter Blake’s experiments in typography, Hockney’s alphabet series is a testament to the belief that art should be for all - at once both educational and blue-chip, they stand as a rare example of cross-generational appeal from the artist’s oeuvre. Produced as part of a limited run of 1000 pieces, copies in good condition are becoming more and more scarce as time goes on, with more and more collectors seeking to obtain works from the lower end of Hockney’s market, as signed pieces become out of reach. 

We’re proud to have a small number of each letter from this portfolio available for sale. Each one features an accompanying poem on the verso by a writer of the editor and artist’s choosing - this includes written contributions by Douglas Adams, Martin Amis, Julian Barnes, William Boyd, Margaret Drabble, Patrick Leigh Fermor, William Golding, Seamus Heaney, David Hockney, Kazuo Ishiguro, Erica Jong, Doris Lessing, Norman Mailer, Ian McEwan, Arthur Miller, Iris Murdoch, Nigel Nicolson, John Julius Norwich, Joyce Carol Oates, V. S. Pritchett, Craig Raine, Susan Sontag, Stephen Spender, John Updike, Anthony Burgess, Ted Hughes, Paul Theroux, Gore Vidal, and T. S. Eliot.