Mary Grabhorn Biography

Mary Grabhorn

American

1932-1981

Biography

Printmaker Mary Grabhorn was born in San Francisco, CA, on July 25, 1932. She was the daughter of Edwin and Marjorie Grabhorn, Edwin being one of two brothers (along with Robert) who founded the noted Grabhorn Press in San Francisco. Despite little information found on her life and education, she was one of the press's most prolific illustrators, creating color woodcuts at a fairly young age for all nine of the Grabhorn Press Shakespeare folios and a French illuminated Book of Hours, among many other publications. For a time she lived in London. She died in San Francisco on September 10, 1981.