December 2010 Archives

In 1924, antiquarian Leon Gelber joined with businessman Theodore Max Lilienthal (1893-1972) to establish the Gelber-Lilienthal Book Shop at 336 Sutter Street in San Francisco. As recalled by James Hart in Rare Book Stores in San Francisco Fifty Years Ago, “That shop…was given character by an ingenious false front of a manufactured appearance, a pseudo half-timbered building with a projecting shingled and slanting roof … A small hallway led to a lofty ceiling, in old-English style and great rows of shelves for rare books. …They were two attractive, charming, and witty men, quite without the pressure of salesmanship ….”

The partners also established a publishing company under the imprint Lantern Press. Many of their editions were printed at Grabhorn Press, beginning with Hildegard Flanner’s A Tree in Bloom and Other Verses (1924). Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) PS3511.L28 T7 1924.

It was the Grabhorn Brothers who first introduced them to the illustrator and printmaker Valenti Angelo (1897-1982). Angelo moved to San Francisco when he was nineteen-years-old and ten years later, began cutting and printing book plates. In 1927, Angelo illustrated For Whispers & Chants by Jake Zeitlin, printed by Grabhorn Press and published by Lantern Press (Graphic Arts GAX 2007-1271N).

Throughout his long career, Angelo illustrated roughly 250 books, of which Princeton owns fifty-four. Above is his woodcut of the Gelber-Lilienthal Shop.

See more: Valenti Angelo: Author, Illustrator, Printer (San Francisco: Book Club of California, 1976). Rare Books (Ex) Oversize Z8036.483 .V34qr

See also: Robinson Jeffers (1887-1962), Theodore Max Lilienthal ([San Francisco: F. B. Lilienthal, Grabhorn Press], 1953).

Special thanks to Alastair Johnston of Poltroon Press for his help researching this post. http://www.poltroonpress.com/about.html

Beatrice Coron, Central Park Story, 1994. Pochoir print and stencil. Graphic Arts GA 2007.02453 and 02452. Gift of Beatrice Coron.

left: Beatrice Coron, Last Leaf of Central Park, 1990s. Stencil for pochoir print. Graphic Arts GA 2007.02453. Gift of Beatrice Coron.

right: Beatrice Coron, Lust, 1990s. Pochoir print. Graphic Arts FA 2007.02455. Gift of Beatrice Coron.

Over ten years ago, Graphic Arts was the fortunate recipient of a gift of art from the French paper architect Beatrice Coron, who has been living in New York City since 1984. Those who have ridden the subways in New York will recognize her black paper work from the poster “All Around Town” featured in the cars of the E, F, and 6 trains.

Her website http://www.beatricecoron.com offers additional images as well as a personal statement, which begins: “My work tells stories. I invent situations, cities and worlds. These compositions include memories, associations of words, ideas, observations and thoughts that unfold in improbable juxtapositions. These invented worlds have their own logic and patterns. Images are conveyed through words, whether automatic writing or premeditated scenes. My creative inspiration comes from a text, a poem, the news or from a philosophical concept that can be reduced to a mere title. I research collective memories and myths, questioning the notions of identity and belonging. For each theme, I explore various narratives: one story leads to the next, and the creation process weaves different layers of our relations to the world.”

Beatrice Coron will teach a class in paper cutting at the Center for Book Arts on March 26-27, 2011. For information, see: http://www.centerforbookarts.org/

In 1926, Esherick cut twenty-four vignette woodcuts for a volume of poetry by A.E. Coppard, designed and printed by Elmer Adler at the Pynson Printers in an edition of 500 copies. Esherick presented Adler with this signed copy of his Centaur Book Shop print, which was given to the graphic arts department when Adler formed it in 1940.

The colorful story of the Centaur Book Shop is being written by our colleague Lynne Farrington, Curator of Printed Books, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Pennsylvania, hopefully to be published soon.

Princeton holds twelve volumes published by Mason, including:
Walt Whitman (1819-1892), Song of the Broad-Axe, 1924. Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) PS3222 .S63 1924q
D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930), Reflections on the Death of a Porcupine and Other Essays, 1925. Rare Books (Ex) 3822.27.375
A.E. Coppard (1878-1957), Yokohama Garland and Other Poems, 1926. Graphic Arts Oversize 2007-0691Q
Song of Solomon, 1927. Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) BS1483 .E7 1927q
James House Jr., Fifty drawings, 1930. Rare Books (Ex) NC1429 .H78
Anthology of the younger poets, edited by Oliver Wells, 1932. Firestone 3588.964
Stanley Burnshaw (1906-2005), André Spire and His Poetry, 1933. Firestone Library (F) 3292.84.611
Sherwood Anderson (1876-1941), No Swank, 1934. Firestone Library (F) 3607.25.3675
Peyton Houston, Descent into the dust, 1936 Rare Books (Ex) PS3515.O7924 D4 1936
Tony sees the World, photographs by Arthur Neustadt; verses by Agnes Crozier [i.e. Grozier] Herbertson, 1936. Cotsen Children’s Library (CTSN) 84315
Stanley Burnshaw, Iron Land, 1936 Annex A 3658.06.349
James Daly (1901-1936), One Season Shattered, 1936. RECAP 3704.827.368

Donald Walker. British Manly Exercises: in which rowing and sailing are now first described; and riding and driving are for the first time given in a work of this kind; as well as the usual subjects of walking, running, leaping, vaulting, balancing, skating, climbing, swimming, wrestling, boxing, training, &c., &c., &c. Philadelphia: Thomas Wardle, 1836 [i.e., 1837]. Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) 2006-1726N

Donald Walker was the Jack Lalanne of the nineteenth century. An expert on physical fitness and training, his first book (for men only) was published in 1834 and quickly sold out. Ours is an American reprint from a few years later, at the same time that Walker adapted his training exercises for women and published a companion volume, “calculated to preserve and improve beauty.”

Donald Walker, Exercises for Ladies: calculated to preserve and improve beauty, and to prevent and correct personal defects, inseparable from constrained or careless habits. 2nd ed.: with great additions and improvements as well as original communications from Madam Dulcken on the proper seat at the pianoforte, from Mr. Bochsa on the proper seat at the harp, from Mr. Schulz on the proper seat at the guitar, &c. &c. &c. London: Thomas Hurst, 1837. Rare Books (Ex) 2005-2464N

This rare Czech serial (never went beyond the first issue) focuses on the career of the Bauhaus professor and modern artist László Moholy-Nagy. Through the words of the artist himself, the issue presents his theories on the plastic arts, film, theater, and in particular, photography as “the new vision.” There are 69 photographs, film clips, and reproductions of his work.

A collection of drinking songs (without music) by an anonymous author using the pseudonym Rumfusticus Bibulus. The text and songs are all attacks on abstinence by the fictitious Anti-Temperance Society. Here’s a piece:

“The Publicans, as well as every other branch of the community, were aware that recent improvements in modern science had effected a Rail Road from this Earth to the Moon, in which part of the Isle of Sky Bacchus has an airy summer residence; they therefore resolved to send up by the new Steam Coach, one of the Victualler Chiefs, to invite their jovial patron down to head their forces, and to fight their battles with their foes, The Tee-Totallers.”

Robert Riviere (1808-1882) established a bindery in Bath around 1829, moving to London eleven years later where he opened a shop on Great Queen Street, and then, on Piccadilly. Riviere was the top of the line and this small satirical volume must have had an important backer to finance a custom Riviere binding and six aquatinted plates by Cruikshank.

A Meeting of Victuallers

The Victuallers of old,
Were jolly and bold,
And quaff’d Brandy and Water gaily,
And were all well nurs’d
With a quart of the First,
To a pint of pump water daily!

Water when mix’d up with Spirits strong store,
No Publican dreams of scorning,
But of Water alone, why—he drinks no more,
Than his pots supply,
Of the drops that lie
In his pewter pints of a morning!

“Professionally, Ahern worked on numerous projects that combined planning and architecture …. Ahern also worked as an artist, producing thousands of drawings of buildings and places around the world during his lifetime, many of which were published as popular lithographs.”

Graphic Arts holds twenty-five lithographs by Ahern, dating from 1977 to 1993; including The Lawn of the University of Virginia, 1977; Sproul Plaza, The University of California at Berkeley, 1978; Congress Hall, Independence Hall, Old City Hall & Philosophical Hall, 1980; Duke University, Durham, N.C., 1980; Washington & Lee University, Lexington, Virginia, 1980; Congress Hall, Independence Hall, Old City Hall & Philosophical Hall, 1980; Harvard Yard in Autumn, 1981; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1981; and others.

Robert Seymour (1798-1836), Four New Ways of Paying Old Debts, 1829. Hand colored etching. Graphic Arts British Caricature

The Corinthian says “I’ll call and pay.” The regular bad one says, “‘Vy I did pay!!!” An unfortunate says, “I can’t pay!” And the Lawyer Shark says, “I shan’t pay!!!!”

The British humorist and illustrator, Robert Seymour led a cheerless life. Described as high-strung, Seymour suffered a nervous breakdown shortly after completing this caricature. He returned to work but six years later, committed suicide after he felt he had been humiliated while working on Pickwick Papers with Charles Dickens.

Be careful what you throw away after the holidays, it might be a great work of art. Here are some we have kept.

Glenn O. Coleman (1887-1932), The Season’s Greetings, 1933. Lithograph. Graphic Arts GA 2007.01009.

Mabel Dwight (1876-1955), Greetings from the House of Weyhe, 1928. Lithograph. Graphic Arts GA 2007.01212. Interior of Weyhe gallery in New York City with its director Carl Zigrosser.

Wanda Gag (1893-1946), Greetings from the House of Weyhe, 1927. Lithograph. Graphic Arts GA 2007.01313.

Lynd Ward (1905-1985), Greetings for the New Year from May McNeer and Lynd Ward, 1948. Woodcut. Graphic Arts GA 2007.02671.

His papers include bookplates by well-known Americans, Princetonians, and Europeans, with related correspondence and articles including “Modern American Book-plates” and “Three Victorian Book-plates.” We recently discovered nine additional leather bound volumes, each one dedicated to a single bookplate engraver with individual examples Carver trimmed and glued one per page. These volumes are on their way to MC010, where they will join the others in Carver’s archive.

Here are a few examples, first of Carver’s own bookplate and then, several from the volume dedicated to Charles William Sherborn (1831-1912), who specialized in heraldic designs.

Graphic Arts is fortunate to have a complete set of the journal, published monthly at $2.00/year (in advance please). The Philobiblion (New York: Geo. P. Philes & Co., 1861-1863). Graphic Arts GAX 2010- in process

The bookseller, for ready cash will sel
For as much profit as other traders will;
But then you must take special care and look,
You no new title have to an old booke,

For they new title-pages often paste
Unto a book, which purposely is place,
Setting it forth to be th’ Second Edition,
Or Third, or Fourth, with ‘mendments and addition.

When George Cruikshank (1792-1878) published a group of fairy tales using a form of social realism not previously seen by the Victorian public, his friend and sometimes collaborator Charles Dickens (1812-1870) objected. In his journal Household Words (no. 184, vol. VIII, 1 October 1853, pp. 97-100), Dickens wrote a humorous but heartfelt reply, titled “Frauds on the Fairies.” A complete transcript of Dickens’ essay is available at: http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/dickens/pva/pva239.html
but here is a taste.

“We must assume that we are not singular in entertaining a very great tenderness for the fairy literature of our childhood. What enchanted us then, and is captivating a million of young fancies now, has, at the same blessed time of life, enchanted vast hosts of men and women who have done their long day’s work and laid their grey heads down to rest.”

“…In an utilitarian age, of all other times, it is a matter of grave importance that Fairy tales should be respected. Our English red tape is too magnificently red ever to be employed in the tying up of such trifles, but every one who has considered the subject knows full well that a nation without fancy, without some romance, never did, never can, never will, hold a great place under the sun.”

“…We have lately observed, with pain, intrusion of a Whole Hog of unwieldy dimensions into the fairy flower garden. The rooting of the animal among the roses would in itself have awakened in us nothing but indignation; our pain arises from his being violently driven in by a man of genius, our own beloved friend, MR. GEORGE CRUIKSHANK. That incomparable artist is, of all men, the last who should lay his exquisite hand on fairy text. In his own art he understands it so perfectly, and illustrates it so beautifully, so humorously, so wisely, that he should never lay down his etching needle to “edit” the Ogre, to whom with that little instrument he can render such extraordinary justice. But, to “editing” Ogres, and Hop o’-my-thumbs, and their families, our dear moralist has in a rash moment taken, as a means of propagating the doctrines of Total Abstinence, Prohibition of the sale of spirituous liquors, Free Trade, and Popular Education.”

In fact, it was probably Hellenistic, from the second or at the earliest, the first century. The Tabula was well known in antiquity, and after the first modern publication in the late fifteenth century, popular in Europe through the eighteenth century (such as this example).

Pepoli’s bilingual text is a dialogue describing a vast panoramic painting of human life in allegorical terms, and depicting the dangers and temptations that the frail human pilgrims encounter. It is an attempt to show that only the proper development of our mind and the possession of real virtues can make us truly happy. Parallels are often drawn between this work and John Bunyons’ The Pilgrims’ Progress.

Frontispiece is based on a design by Hans Holbein (below), although Pepoli’s includes a key at the foot of the plate identifying the highlights and low points of human progress, such as genius, luck and happiness, but also misery, penitence, folly of love, and much more.

Below: Hans Holbein’s title page with the Tabula Cebetis, metalcut, 1521. Kunstmuseum Basel. First used in De patienta, in Quintus Septimius Tertullian’s Opera …, edited by Beatus Rhenanus, Basel: Johann Froben, July 1521.

Above: Cebes, of Thebes, Paráfrasis árabe de la tabla de Cebes. Traducida en castellano é illustrada con notas por Pablo Lozano y Casela. (Madrid: Imprenta Real, 1793). Rare Books (Ex) 2010-1020N

Below: Hendrick Laurenszoon Spieghel (1549-1612), H. L. Spieghels Hertspieghel en andere zede-schriften (Amsterdam: Hendrik Wetstein, 1694). Rare Books (Ex) N7710 .S64 1694

“The assault and the prosecution called universal attention to the affair; the dreams were published everywhere and produced great effect. About the same time another local excitement aided the general cause. Mr. Delavan exposed the methods of the Albany brewers, whom he charged with procuring water for their business from a foul pond covered with green scum and defiled with the putrid remains of dead cats and dogs. Eight brewers brought suits against him, claiming damages to the amount of three hundred thousand dollars, but did not succeed in recovering a dime.”

From Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, Volume 10 By John McClintock (Firestone library, BR95 .M335 1873)

As a pacifist, soon to be member of the French communist party, Masereel had great sympathy for the work of Henri Barbusse (1873-1935), who was also politically outspoken. Both campaigned in 1921 in favor of Sacco and Vanzetti. 1921 was also the year Barbusse completed Le Couteau entre les dents (The Knife Between My Teeth), which reflected his sympathy with Bolshevism.

Drawn to commemorate the opening of the British Parliament on 23 January 1787.

Such assemblies you, might swear,
Meet when butchers bait a bear;
Such a noise, and such haranguing,
When a brother thief is hanging:

Such a rout and such a rabble
Run to hear Jack-pudden gabble:
Such a crowd their ordure throws
On a far less villains nose.———

Let them with their gosling’s quills,
Scribble senseless heads of bills,
We may while they strain their throats,
Wipe our a———s with their votes.——— 23 January 1787

The Weekly Freeman was the weekend edition of the Freeman’s Journal, a nationalist daily broadsheet published in Dublin from 1763 to 1924, when it was merged into the Irish Independent.

In the 1870s, the Weekly began offering a large format political cartoon with each issue. These color lithographs featured the political figures and events of the day. Irish artist John Fergus O’Hea (ca.1838-1922) was responsible for these plates from 1881 to March 1892, when the job was handed to his assistant, Thomas Fitzpatrick (1860-1912). This collection of forty-five cartoons from 1892 includes the work of both artists.

Even if you don’t understand the politics of the day, you can recognize the figure of Erin, the female personification of Ireland, and Pat, the male personification of the Irish people (usually seen as a tenant farmer).

For more information, see: Lewis Perry Curtis, Apes and Angels: the Irishman in Victorian Caricature. Rev. ed. (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997). Firestone Library DA925 .C85 1997

Alphonse Pélicier, Dernières paroles de Louis XVI and Dernières paroles de Marie-Antoinette, 1830? Engravings. Graphic Arts GA 2010. in process

Each of these silhouettes was created by the French engraver Pélicier, from texts written by Louis XVI (1754-1793) and his wife Marie-Antoinette (1755-1793). The King’s words come from his will, written on Christmas Day, 1792. Marie-Antoinette is drawn from a letter to her sister-in-law, dated October 6, 1793.

Remember that an engraved plate must be laterally reversed, cutting the letters right to left, so that when it is printed the text can be read left to right. The only thing I know about Pélicier is that a number of early nineteenth-century maps credit him for the lettering: La Lettre gravee par A[lphon]se Pélicier.

The Tragedy of Louis Capet: Being a true and authentic narrative of the horrid and barbarous execution of the late unfortunate monarch, Louis XVIth of France, who was beheaded, on the twenty first of January, 1793. [Boston]: Sold next the venerable stump of Liberty-Tree [by Ezekiel Russell, 1793]. Printed and sold by Edward Gray, 1793. Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) Hamilton 1367

After being removed from the monarchy, Louis was given a commoner’s name, Louis Capet, and under that name was executed on January 21, 1793. The sheet sold for “Two Shilling and Eight per dozen and Four Pence single.” Also included are three poems, entitled Occasioned by the Death of Louis XVIth, On the Decolation of Louis 16, and The Queen’s Lamentation for the Death of her Beloved Louis.

Edition Schwarze Seite (Black Page Edition) is the small press of German artists Anne Buessow and Eckhard Froeschlin. http://www.froeschlin-buessow.de. Froeschlin writes “our books are a combination of original graphic art: etchings, woodcuts or lithographies, with letterpress, mostly handset texts.” For the last twelve years, Froeschlin has spent time each year in Nicaragua, holding printing workshops and collaborating with the TallerContil group in Matagalpa. Four artists’ books emerged from this project, specifically focused on the culture, poetry, and graphic arts of Nicaragua.

The TallerContil started with woodcuts printed in the most basic conditions and evolved to a well-fitted studio boasting an etching press and a Hollander beater, both built in Matagalpa. The two volumes seen here resulted from the Wuppertal-Matagalpa friendships. Note: There will be a workshop about this collaboration at the upcoming CODEX III conference. http://www.codexfoundation.org.

Above, Pablo Antonio Cuadra (1912-2002) [poetry], Eckhard Froeschlin [etchings], El Nicán-Náuat (Wuppertal: Editions Schwarze Seite, 2003). Edition: 25. Graphic Arts GAX 2010- in process

Below: Ernesto Soto [short stories], Eckhard Froeschlin [etchings], Casas Perdidas = Fundstücke [Lost Homes] (Wuppertal: Editions Schwarze Seite, 2010). Edition: 25. Texts in Spanish and German translated by Guenter Schmigalle. Handmade mould paper by Danilo Rivera, Matagalpa, using banana leaf fibers. Handbound by Roger Green using Nicaraguan coffee bags. Graphic Arts 2010- in process

At a time when most women barely left their parents house, the British/Italian artist Maria Hadfield Cosway (1759-1838) traveled the world, dined with royalty, inspired her fellow artists, and seduced at least one American president.

Cosway created several drawing series meant to be translated to engravings for wide distribution. These include her designs for Progress of Female Virtues (1800), and its complement Progress of Female Dissipation (1803), as well as a volume of Old Master paintings she spent two years copying at the Louvre, published as Gallery of the Louvre (1802).

Also a pioneer in women’s education, Cosway established a college for young ladies in Lyon, serving as its director from 1803 to 1809. This was followed by a convent school for young girls in Lodi, for which she was named Baroness of the Austrian Empire.

NOTE: The Cotsen Children’s Library has these two volumes copied exactly in pen, ink and wash by Antoinette de Chaponay, around 1810.

See also: Stephen Lloyd, Richard & Maria Cosway: Regency Artists of Taste and Fashion (Edinburgh: Scottish National Portrait Gallery, 1995) Marquand Library (SA) Oversize ND497.C75 L55 1995q
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), Jefferson in Love: the Love Letters between Thomas Jefferson & Maria Cosway (Madison: Madison House, 1999). Firestone Library E332.88 .C67 1999