July 2009 Archives

The U.S.S. Savannah was built in the Brooklyn Navy Yard and launched on May 5, 1842. The Savannah served as the flagship for the Pacific Squadron, with a crew of 480 officers under Captain Andrew Fitzhugh. In 1853, she sailed a three-year cruise on the Brazil Station, until 1856 when the frigate was struck by a heavy squall entering the harbor of Rio de Janeiro, as seen above. The Savannah was inactivated that fall but recalled for several additional missions before being taken out of service for good in 1862.

When this print was found in the department, it was so light damaged and water stained that we could barely see the image. After treatment by our senior paper conservator, Ted Stanley, it is again in good condition, although we still have no clue as to the artist.

Harry Rouclere Mind Readers, lithographic poster, ca. 1910. Printed by Henderson Achert Krebs. TC094 Theater Posters

Harry Rouclere Terhune (1866-1942), was born in Paterson, New Jersey and joined a national travelling circus act at the age of nine. Interestingly, his wife-to-be Mildred Searing (ca. 1880-1938), also began her stage career at the age of nine as a song and dance performer. Harry took Rouclere as his stage name and developed into a expert juggler, magician, and then gymnast.

When Mildred and Harry married, they devised a mind-reading act they billed as “Mildredism.” Then, in 1891, they startled the scientific world by producing a new version of hypnotic mental telegraphy, which they called “Pyschonotism.” In it they would demonstrate that one intelligent person could convey an idea to another without visable means of communication. This act created a sensation and made them headliners. The Terhunes retired from professional life around 1920 and Harry took over his father’s hotel in Ridgewood, New Jersey, which he called Hotel Rouclere.

Dolley Payne Madison (1768-1849)

James Madison, class of 1771, was forty-three years old when he asked Aaron Burr, whom he had known at Princeton, to introduce him to the attractive young widow, Dolley Payne Todd. They were married that same year; it was Dolley’s second marriage. Seven years later when Madison was appointed secretary of state they moved to Washington where Mrs. Madison frequently acted as hostess for the widowed President Jefferson. After her husband’s death, Congress voted her the franking privilege and a seat on the floor of the House, an honor which had never before been granted to a woman.

This miniature painting by Elizabeth (Milligan) Gulick (1813-1893) was painted on ivory in 1844. The image is 3 5/8 x 2 7/8 inches and was presented to the Library in 1924 by the Class of 1884, which purchased it from Joseph H. Gulick, a member of the class. The Library also owns an autograph collection formerly belonging to Mrs. Gulick, in which where are two letters from Dolley Madison to the artist dated 1844. Although they do not specifically mention this painting, Mrs. Madison praises the artist’s work and recommends her for another commission.

For more information, see Princeton Portraits by Donald Drew Egbert, p. 333-35. Firestone Oversize N6505 .E28q

Late in 1820 and early 1821, Blake put aside his own work to complete a commission for wood engravings to illustrate the third edition of Dr. Robert Thornton’s juvenile Virgil. Thornton claimed that his instructional volumes were meant to “enable youth to acquire ideas as well as words.” He had added a few illustrations to the Virgil second edition and sales were increased. Thornton hoped to build on this success with a fully illustrated edition.

Wood engraving was a new reproductive technique gaining in popularity for illustrating books and Blake, with no training or experience, was willing to try it. He made twenty drawings and from these, cut seventeen blocks illustrating Ambrose Philips’ Imitation of Eclogue, I (v. 1, p. 13-18). When they were delivered to the publisher, the blocks were rejected completely and Thornton was told that they should be completely recut. Happily, Thornton was persuaded by several other artists to keep Blake’s work but he did publish a caveat in his introduction, “The illustrations of this English Pastoral are by the famous Blake … They display less of art than of genius.” Three blocks were added, cut by an unidentified artist, clearly not equal to Blake.

Catalogue of the Engraved Work of Asher B. Durand. Introduction by Charles Henry Hart (1847-1918), (New York: Grolier Club, 1895). Graphic Arts (GAX) 2009- in process

In April of 1895, there was an exhibition held at the Grolier Club in New York City focused on the engravings of American artist Asher Brown Durand (1796-1886). 350 copies of the catalogue were printed in a large-paper edition in May of that year and circulated to the members of the Club.

A devoted fan of Durand’s work (as yet unidentified) took that catalogue and extra-illustrated it with all the original engravings he/she could acquire. This acquisition will provide Princeton researchers with not only a description of what Durand produced but also a copy of the actual print.

The term extra-illustrated refers to a book that has more prints or illustrations in it than when the book was published. These were usually added by trimming and tipping the prints onto extra pages (or sometimes right on top of the text) and then, rebinding the original text pages with the new plates.

The British term “Grangerizing” has a slightly different connotation, stemming from James Granger’s Biographical History of England (1769), which was published with blank leaves already provided for the reader to fill with prints. Grangerizing became a popular hobby in England and unfortunately, many other books were cut up to provide the extra prints for these homemade editions.

For more information on the difference between the two terms, and more history, see: H. J. Jackson, Marginalia: Readers Writing in Books (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001). Firestone Library (F) Z1003 .J12 2001

Suzanne Thomas, The Wine (Santa Cruz: the author, 2008). Edition of 150. Graphic Arts (GAX) 2009- in process
This miniature book includes a quotation from Homer’s Odyssey (Book XIV): “The wine urges me on / the bewitching wine/ which sets even a wise man to singing/ and to laughing gently/ and brings forth words / which were better unspoken.”

Artist unknown, Trip to Town (London: William Sams, 1822). Box embossed: E.P. Sutton & Company; Sangorski & Sutcliff. GA 2005.01039

Last August, we posted this twelve-plate panorama and asked if someone could confirm the attribution to Thomas Rowlandson, even though there is no artist’s signature on the item. Our London colleague Jonathan Gestetner has now written to us about his copy of the 29.5 foot panorama and confirms that it should not been attributed to Rowlandson. In fact, no artist can yet be credited for this comedy about Mr. and Mrs. O’Squat. I include Mr. Gestetner’s description below. His print is the same as Princeton’s except it was published the following year. Ours is housed in an elaborate viewing case and the London copy is in a hand-held drum.

Trip to Town (London: William Sams, 1822). Handcolored etching.

British satirical, narrative panorama consisting of twelve scenes rather than one continuous image. The coloured etching pasted to the drum consists of the title, and a view of a showman with two realistic puppets of a man and a woman who are made to dance. The showman attracts attention by blowing on a pipe and beating a tambourine. A second man blows on a bugle. A crowd watch the show with rapt attention. Above the image are four lines of verse: The Puppets thus unconscious move/ In shew of happiness and love,/ They raise a smile, a laugh, and roar,/ And then their giddy dance is o’er. Below is the imprint: Published by W. Sams, Bookseller to his R.H. the Duke of York, No. 1 St James’s St., London, 1823.

The stay is made of board; a silk tab attached to it also facilitates the panorama’s extraction. The story on the panorama itself advances from r. to l., each scene being introduced by lines of verse on draped cloth. On the first we learn that Mister O’Squat, quite full of Life/ Sought Widow Shanks to be his wife. Both seek matrimonial treat without any concern for money. In the later scenes O’Squat experiences a humiliating fall. The couple spurn the ‘rusticated state’, and head off on an irresponsible frolic for London.

On the way their gig falls apart, emptying them into a pond. In St James’s Park Mrs O’Squat flirts and her husband learns from his newspaper about sharps and flats whilst having his pocket picked. He gets drunk at a civic feast; with Mrs O’Squat apes delight at a concert, attends a masquerade, is accident prone at billiards, and promenades on Rotten Row. At a military review he has trouble with a bolting horse. Finally the couple are hounded by creditors, and O’Squat is attended by doctors. Mistress Squat in doleful dumps withdrew, we are told, But what became of Squat we never knew.

With apologies to the curator of rare books, in whose collection this book lives, I must mention John Heywood (1497?-1580?) and his obscure 1556 allegory of the Protestant spider and the Catholic fly. A trained singer and actor, Heywood was also a devoted Catholic who supported the religious beliefs of Queen Mary and dedicated several poems to her. Mary appears in the last portion of The Spider and the Fly, as the housemaid who cleans up the house of England.

Heywood’s illustrated poem has 98 chapters, each introduced by a woodcut. Running 456 pages, the parable has been called “the least-loved long poem of sixteenth-century England.” The fly, named Buz, gets caught in the web at the center of the window. Buz argues with a spider that flies (Catholics) have as much right to be there as the spiders (Protestants). Other insects join the fight: the ants come to support the spiders and the butterflies support the fly. This leads to a battle in which 5,000 flies and 5,000 spiders are killed.

Mary arrives, frees Buz, takes down the web, and crushes the Spider.

John Heywood (1497?-1580?), The Spider and the Flie (London: Tho. Powell, 1556). Robert Taylor Collection (RHT) 16th-49

For more information, read Judith Rice Henderson, “John Heywood’s ‘The Spider and the Flie’: Educating Queen and Country” Studies in Philology, 96, no. 3 (summer 1999): 241-274.

Hieronymus Hopfer (ca. 1500-1563), Die Macht der Liebe (The Power of Love), no date. B. 35. Engraving. Graphic Arts division (GAX) German Prints.

The German printmaker Hieronymus Hopfer (ca. 1500-1563), son of Daniel Hopfer (1470-1536), learned to print working with his father, who is credited with being the first to use etching in Germany. Daniel found it useful for ornamenting armor and guns. Like many artists at that time, they were both fluent in many printmaking techniques, including woodcutting primarily for book illustration. It is his elaborate engravings for which Hieronymus is best-known today, often copied for a German audience after Mantegna, Jacopo de’ Barbari, Nicoletto da Modena, and other early Italian engravers.

The creation date of this print, entitled Die Macht der Liebe (The Power of Love), is unknown. It is an allegorical scene, showing Venus standing at the center, holding a half moon. She is surrounded by various groupings of men, women, and children, each depicting a different form of love.

In 1813, printer Robert Harrild (1780-1853) joined the debated raging inside the London printing community as to the use of rollers rather than balls to ink a printing plate. The majority of hand-printers preferred inking balls but Harrild’s demonstration of his new roller was so successful that rollers became compulsory in every print shop throughout the city. Harrild established a company, located at 25 Farringdon Street, to manufacture the rollers and eventually all kinds of printing equipment.

His advertisements boasted: “Harrild and Sons’ Manufacture … have on sale every article connected with printing machinery; type, presses, machines…” Shortly before his death, Harrild’s rollers and Paragon platen press were exhibited in the Crystal Palace during the Great Exposition of 1851. His sons continued to run the company well into the twentieth century.

Graphic Arts recently acquired two of their equipment catalogues: Catalogue of Printing Machinery and Materials with Selected Type Specimens, ca. 1895, and Harrild & Sons’ Complete Illustrated Catalogue of Printers, Bookbinders’ & Stationers’ Machinery & Materials, 1892. Note in particular the machine to fold newspapers.