May 2011 Archives

Graphic Arts recently acquired Pierre Bonnard’s personal copy of Parallèlement, his first and greatest livre de peintre. It comes with a four-page hand-written letter from Bonnard to his mother that includes a significant reference to the famous objection, and later rejection, by the French Government of the original wrappers. Also included is a letter from Madame Terrasse confirming that this copy passed down through the family from the painter to her husband, musician Claude Terrasse (1867-1923).

Verlaine’s poems Les Amies [The Girlfriends], the first section of Parallèlement, were published under a pseudonym in 1867 and then, immediately banned because they described lesbian sex. Ambroise Vollard (1866-1939), a Parisian art dealer, wrote that he was inspired to publish the poems as soon as he read them, probably in the second, 1899 edition (Ex PQ2463 .xP3 1899). Vollard sent the text to be printed at the Imprimerie Nationale, whose authorities had only the title of the book, Parallèlement, in their records and thought they were printing a geometry textbook.

When it became known that it was, in fact, poetry of a lesbian love affair, the book was immediately recalled. Vollard was forced to have the title-page and wrappers reprinted with the official “Republique Française” symbol removed. Our copy includes both sets of wrappers, plus a copy of the original printer’s prospectus.

Vollard continued undaunted. After Lucien Pissarro (1863-1944) turned down the project, the dealer commissioned lithographs from Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947) even though he had never worked in the medium. Bonnard sketched directly on top of the pages of Garamond type and then, recreated 108 of these drawings on lithographic stones in the studio of Auguste Clot, who pulled the edition.

“Parallèlement is the first great livre de peintre of the twentieth century, a Vollard creation that set the standard for innovative fusion of text and illustration. Bonnard’s seductive rose-coloured lithographs drape across the pages of text, making Parallèlement a full collaboration of writer, artist, publisher, and printer. Use of color such as this was not attempted again for many years.” The Arts of the French Book, 1900-1965 by Eleanor M. Garvey and Peter A. Wick (GA Oversize 2006-0065Q).

In December 1726, William Hogarth (1697-1764) designed an etching, entitled The Punishment Inflicted on Lemuel Gulliver, in response to Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels [below]. An enormous backside (Britain) is being given an enema by the Lilliputians (the Whig ministry and church). The Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole, supervises the action.

On July 30, 1746, a lawyer named David Thomas Morgan (1695-1746) was executed for his part in the second 1745 Jacobite Rebellion. Within days, an anonymous print, using Hogarth’s premise, was issued “for Jonathan’s father.” It is titled Orator H—y laying the Independent Rump Ghosts. A faithful narrative of the wonderful and surprising appearance of Counsellor Morgan’s ghost: at the meeting of the independent inhabitants of the city and liberty of Westminster, last Friday night being the first of August; Giving a full and true Account of the Behaviour of the Club upon that fearful Occasion; together with a genuine copy of the speech he made to them, without his head.

The title refers to Reverend John Henley (1692-1756) who performed monologues or lectures at a theater near Lincoln’s Inn Fields and was briefly arrested in 1746 for outspokenness supporting the Battle of Culloden (the last battle of the Jacobite uprising, won by the English in 40 minutes, leaving over 1,200 dead).

Henley is shown drinking and smoking with a political club whose chairman is at the head of the table, followed by Jakey of York, Baron Bumpe, Count Newport the Butcher, Henley, Esq’ Thrift ye Executioner, Charlton the Butcher, and Buckhorse the Bruiser. They are interrupted by several shrouded figures, described as the The Independent Rump Ghosts, led by Counsellor Morgan, who moons the club and then, farts “See What you shall all come to.”

As Sinclair Hamilton notes, on the verso of the title-page there is a woodcut which represents George Whitefield (1714-1770), the well-known Methodist preacher, in the pulpit. Whitefield had visited America on a number of occasions. This cut appeared on a Boston broadside containing A Poem, occasioned by hearing the late Reverend George Whitefield preach, which both Winslow and Ford date as 1771 although Evans dates it 1774.

The 1771 date would seem correct as Whitefield had died the year before and the cut is also found on the title of Jane Dunlap’s Poems, upon Several sermons, Preached by the Rev’d and Renowned George Whitefield, while in Boston, published in Boston in 1771. It also appears on the verso of the title-page in Watts’ Divine Songs, which was printed for John Perkins in Boston in 1771.

On the final leaf is a woodcut of The Destruction of Sodom by Fire, the word Sodom being torn out in this copy. This cut will also be found on a broadside, Oppression: A Poem. Or New England’s lamentation on the dreadful Extortion and other Sins of the Times probably published by Russell in 1777.

Graphic Arts collection

Firestone Library

Marquand Library

The Delaware Valley and the New York Chapters of the Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS NA) are being welcomed to Princeton University on Thursday, May 26, 2011, by local ARLIS members. The day will include presentations, viewings, and tours at the Marquand Library of Art and Archaeology, the Visual Resources Collection, the Index of Christian Art, the Princeton University Art Museum, Firestone’s Graphic Arts Collection and Cotsen Children’s Library; along with a rain or shine campus architecture walking tour.

The visit has been organized by Hannah Bennett, Librarian, Architecture Library, School of Architecture; Sandra Brooke, Librarian, Marquand Library of Art & Archaeology; Rebecca K. Friedman, Assistant Librarian, Marquand Library of Art & Archaeology; Trudy Jacoby, Director, Visual Resources Collection, Department of Art and Archaeology; and Julie Mellby, Graphic Arts Librarian, Rare Books and Special Collections. Enormous help has been provided by staff members at each of these collections and departments.

Quoting from the organization’s website “The Art Libraries Society of North America was founded in 1972 at the initiative of Judith Hoffberg by a group of art librarians attending the American Library Association annual conference in Chicago. This group realized that to fulfill the need among art librarians for better communication and cooperation, and to provide a forum for ideas, projects, and programs, an entirely new and separate organization was required. Inspired by the model of the Art Libraries Society, established in 1969 in the United Kingdom and Ireland, ARLIS/NA was created.”

http://www.arlisna.org/join.html

Maulana Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī (1207-1273), Fragments of Light 5. Translation by Zahra Partovi. Sculpture by Linda Schrank (New York, NY: Vincent FitzGerald & Company, 2010). Copy 12 of 35. Graphic Arts 2011- in process

A book of verse by the thirteenth-century Sufi philosopher and poet, Maulana Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī. The volume has been designed in the style of the Chinese slatbook, a format that is 3,000 years old. It contains thirty-two slats (or clear acrylic tiles) for the text in English and Persian, along with ten tiles for the title page and colophon.

The tiles are bound or sewed with blue and saffron fishing line, then fastened at end with small plastic disc so that ladder of tiles can be unfolded from an acrylic rectangular base. The English text is laser etched in Alcuin type on one side and the Persian script similarly printed on the other. The entire book is housed in a black suede foldover box by Hands On Bookbinding, lined with silver industrial Mylar.

The translator, Zahra Partovi, teaches at The New School for Social Research and is a leading interpreter of Rumi’s poetry for English-speaking readers. She has collaborated with Vincent FitzGerald on eleven previous limited-editions of Rumi’s work. This project paired her translation with the visual design of Linda Schrank, a New York artist and instructor at Pratt Institute.

See also: Maulana Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī (1207-1273), Ruminations: quotations from the writings of Jalaluddin Mohammad Rumi, translated from the Persian by Zahra Partovi (New York: Vincent FitzGerald & Co., 1998). Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) Z232.F524 J34

Paul-Albert Besnard (1849-1934), Souscrivez pour Hâter la Paix par la Victoire (Subscribe to Hasten Peace through Victory). Poster for the Third Loan of the National Defence. Paris: Maquet Gr., 1917. Lithograph. Graphic Arts French prints

During the First World War, the French government solicited funds from its people through National Defense Loans. Both the second and the third appeal, 1916 and 1917, were led by lithographic posters designed by Albert Besnard. As a decorative artist, Besnard worked on a large scale, creating frescoes at the Sorbonne, the Ecole de Pharmacie, the Salle des Sciences at the Hotel de Ville, and the ceiling of the Comédie-Francaise, among others.

At the time that Besnard designed these posters, he was the director of the École des Beaux Arts and one of the most sought after artists of the day. Two years later, he was one of the artists chosen to participate in the National Exhibition of French art held in the United States.

Attributed to J. G. Gibbes, Radical Members of the So. Ca. [South Carolina] Legislature, no date [ca. 1868?]. Albumen photograph. GA 2009.01025 and GA 2009.01024

Created to frighten the white population, this image was widely distributed in many sizes and formats. One of our copies includes the text: These are the photographs of 63 members of the reconstructed South Carolina Legislature, 50 of whom are negroes or mulattoes and 13 white. 22 read and write (8 grammatically), the remainder (41) make their mark with the aid of an amanuensis. Nineteen (19) are tax-payers to an aggregate amount of $146.10, the rest (44) pay no taxes, and the body levies on the white people of the State for $4,000.00.

These images were found in a scrapbook of engravings, with a note saying they “apparently belonged to Mrs. J.V. Stromeyer, 164 E. 94th St. N.Y. … probably put to-gether in the 1870’s.” The album was given to the library by Mrs. John N. Reynolds in 1943.

Over the past four years, Daniel Heyman, Princeton University Lecturer in Visual Arts, has been making images about the war in Iraq, specifically the abuse and torture of innocent Iraqis at Abu Ghraib and other prisons. For this work, Heyman traveled to Jordan and Turkey where he has talked face to face with over forty-five former detainees. As they spoke, Mr. Heyman created drypoint portraits, surrounded with the words of their testimonies. The resulting Amman Portfolio was acquired by the Princeton University Art Museum, among many others.

More recently, Heyman has been collaborating with another Guggenheim Fellow, New York City writer Nick Flynn, who was also in Istanbul for 2007 testimonies. The result (finished a few days ago) is an oversize livre d’artiste entitled Re d acted, containing nine hand printed portraits of Iraqi torture victims and seven poems by Flynn. The Graphic Arts collection is proud to own copy no. 1 of 8.

Heyman’s chine-collé images were drawn on copper plates while in Istanbul, during the interviews with former detainees of Abu Ghraib and other American run Iraqi prisons. Heyman shared the texts from these and other portraits with Flynn, who used them as inspiration for the suite of seven poems, Re d acted.

The chine-collé prints were editioned by Cindi Ettinger at CR Ettinger Studio (Philadelphia, PA). Flynn’s poems were designed by Daniel Heyman and Marisha Simons, and editioned by Brian Garner at Litho Shop, Inc (Baltimore, MD). The book was hand bound at Hope Bindery and Box Company (Providence, RI).

5
On the way to the toilet
count five & pee, —no one

told me why. One night I
woke up, they chose

& start giving, I had
five to forget—

they gave me three more.

Forty days later & he was
the one, he took the body of

the dead to the gates


For more about Heyman:
http://www.danielheyman.com/
For more about Flynn
http://www.nickflynn.org/
You might also want to read The Ticking is the Bomb, Flynn’s 2010 memoir, in which he talks about his experiences in Istanbul. (Firestone PS3556.L894 Z468 2010).

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), Le petit garcon au porte-plume (The Little Boy with the Pen), ca. 1910. Lithograph. Graphic Arts French Prints.

Renoir sketched his eldest son Claude as the boy was quietly writing in the artist’s studio one day. Drawing with a greasy crayon on special transfer paper, Renoir did not have to worry about the complex problems of lithography. When he was finished, he simply gave the drawing to the master printer Auguste Clot (1858-1936), who printed an unsigned edition of fifty.

See entry no. 55 in: Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), The Graphic Work of Renoir, catalogue raisonné́ compiled by Joseph G. Stella (Bradford: Lund Humphries, between 1971 and 1975). Marquand Library (SA) ND553.R2 S74

The Swiss graphic designer Warja Honegger-Lavater (1913-2007) created a series of fairy tales told in symbols, which were lithographed into accordion-fold books. Her first, William Tell in 1962, caught the eye of Parisian publisher Adrien Maeght, who supported the production of her books for the next thirty years.

In 1982, their Imageries were reissued in a lithographed box, including Le petit Poucet, Blanche neige, Le petit chaperon rouge, La fable du hazard, La belle au bois dormant, and Cendrillon. Princeton’s copy is a variant, with the artist’s The melody of Turdidi substituted for Le Petit chaperon rouge.

Three times, between 1777 and 1779, the German music publisher Johann Gottlieb Immanuel Breitkopf (1719-1794) set and printed a map with moveable type. It’s hard to imagine the time and trouble such type-setting would take. Breitkopf thought he had developed a method to speed map production but in the end, it took much longer and was discontinued. Princeton has just acquired a new volume with all three Breitkopf maps bound together.

According to Bigmore & Wyman’s Bibliography of Printing, “Breitkopf claimed to have been the inventor of map-printing by the use of types, or what is known as ‘typometry’. William Haas, a type-founder of Basle, appears to have previously published a method somewhat similar, but Breitkopf had been experimenting on the matter for some twelve years previously, and it was only his dissatisfaction with the result obtained that induced him to keep his achievements to himself.”

In the first book, Breitkopf gives an overview of the use of woodcuts and copperplate engravings for map printing. Then, he describes his own letterpress process, which is illustrated with a map of Leipzig and its surroundings.

In the second book is a map of the Empire of Love “written, drawn, composed, and printed within three days, on the occasion of a wedding.”

The third volume and its map illustrate the origin of desires, from enthusiasms to money, happiness to peace & quiet.

See also Edward Clements Bigmore (1838?-1899) and Charles William Henry Wyman (1832-1909), A Bibliography of Printing. 3rd ed. (New Castle, Del.: Oak Knoll Press, 2001). Graphic Arts: Reference Collection (GARF) Z117 .B59 2001

Johann Gottlob Immanuel Breitkopf (1719-1794), Ueber den Druck der geographischen Charten. Nebst beygefügter Probe einer durch die Buchdruckerkunst gesetzten und gedruckten Landcharte. Leipzig: Breitkopf, 1777.
bound with:
Beschreibung des Reichs der Liebe, mit beygefügter Landcharte. Ein Zweyter Versuch im Satz und Druck geographischer Charten durch die Buchdruckerkunst. Mit doppelblattgroßer kolorierter gestochener Karte. Leipzig: Breitkopf, 1777.
bound with:
Der Quell der Wünsche. Zum Neuenjahr. Nebst einer Landcharte. Mit kolorierter gestochener Karte. Leipzig, Breitkopf, 1779. Graphic Arts GAX 2011- in process

Graphic Arts is the fortunate new owner of proof prints, blocks, and drawings by the Brothers Dalziel (pronounced De el, rhymes with Real), previously owned by the bookseller Nigel Williams (1962-2010). The collection includes eighty-five proof wood engravings for the Bible, ca. 1860s; forty-three proofs of illustrations of children; and an uncut pencil drawing pasted to a woodblock, depicting wrecked ships below a cliff face and titled “Coast scene by Thomas Dalziel 1872-3” on the label pasted underneath.

The collection also has an engraved woodblock depicting the Adoration of the Magi in a fitted case with two proofs of the image and an early reproduction of the drawing for “Sampson carrying the Gates” by Frederick, Lord Leighton, reproduced as a wood-engraving in the Dalziel Bible Gallery, framed and glazed.

One hundred forty-six proofs illustrate The Arabian Nights, prepared from drawings by Thomas Dalziel and first published in 1877. Many include the aritst’s annotations for reworking (we are lacking only no. 8, 24, and 65 from the series numbered 1-148 and tailpiece).

Finally, twenty-nine wood-engraved proofs are by William Harvey to illustrate The History of Ancient and Modern Wines by Alexander Henderson (1824), one of the first books illustrated by Harvey. The proofs were formerly to property of Thomas Dalziel

This block gives us direct proof of the wood engraving process used by the Brothers Dalziel and others. A linear sketch was delivered by one of the artists, the drawing was pasted to a woodblock of the same size, and the engraver cut directly through the paper into the block, cutting away the white areas and leaving the black lines standing in relief.

Although this print was never cut and so, never published, the first long poem by Meg Blane in Robert Buchanan’s North Coast and Other Poems (1868) is set in a similar landscape. It’s possible that the drawing was designed for that publication.

Many of the proofs include handwritten comments indicating changes or correction still needed. Above on the right, there is a question about the intention of the artist. The man’s hand might be holding a torch or it might be handing food to a bird. Hopefully, the engraver clarified the image for the publication.

See also, Dalziel’s Illustrated Arabian Nights’ Entertainments (1865). EX 2263.2864
and
Dalziels’ Bible Gallery (1881). Graphic Arts GAX 203-0010F

In 1933, António de Oliveira Salazar (1889-1970) led a coup d’état and established the Estado Novo (New State) or the Second Republic in Portugal. Salazar’s authoritarian regime had remarkable longevity, lasting until 1968. One of his first undertakings was to establish the powerful Secretariado da Propaganda Nacional (SPN) to present a dynamic image of his country to the rest of the world. Within a year, Portugal 1934 was published.

This striking, oversize paperback is filled with high-quality graphics including photomontage, full-page bleeds, and multiple fold-outs, under the direction of Antonio Ferro, chief of propaganda and communication. To his credit, Ferro hired the best photographers and graphic artists of the time, including Alvão-Porto, A. Rasteiro, João Martins, Diniz Salgado, Ferreira da Cunha, Francisco Santos, Horácio Novais, Joshua Benoliel, and others.

There were at least three variations. Princeton’s copy has an orange cover, while others have black and green covers. There may have been more.

Portugal 1934 (Lisbon: SPN [Secretariado da Propaganda Nacional], 1934). Graphic Arts 2011-

Attributed to Francesco Bartolozzi (1728-1815) after Loraine Smith (1751-1835), The Game of Hazard, 1782. Etching with aquatint. Published by M. Rack, London. Graphic Arts GAX 2011-

In Smith’s design, we see (on the left) the Whig politician Charles James Fox (1749-1806) who was, at the time, the foreign secretary in Rockingham’s short-lived government, and (right) Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford (1732-1792), who had recently left office as Chancellor of the Exchequer and leader of the House of Commons.

They are busy playing the popular dice game called Hazard. The print is inscribed, “Here goes at the Treasury and all in the Ring, Seven’s the Main & Seven’s a Nick.” 1 May 1782

Born in Florence, the superb engraver Francesco Bartolozzi moved to London in 1764 and helped to establish the Royal Academy of Arts. While there, Bartolozzi did a number of commercial projects including the aquatinting of this print, working from in his large home in the North End, Fulham.

Robert Cruikshank (1789-1856), Going to a Fight. [Illustra]ting the Sporting World in all its variety of Style and Costume along the/ Road from Hyde Park Corner to Moulsey Hurst, 1819. Etching with aquatint and hand coloring. Box theater by Sangorski & Sutcliff. Graphic Arts 2011-

A series of eight prints by Robert Cruikshank (George’s brother) showing forty-one numbered scenes are joined together to form a panorama, reading right to left. The prints show a group of Londoners traveling to a boxing match in Moulsey Hurst (near East Molesey). Landmarks seen along the way include the White Horse Inn and the Diana Fountain at Hampton Court.

Princeton’s copy was originally in a hand-held cylinder, decorated with a hand colored and varnished print of two boxers by Cruikshank. Later, a box theater was constructed in wood and red leather so that the scroll could be viewed through a glass window. The box resembles one posted earlier for the panorama Trip to Town (GA 2005-01039). Both are embossed: E.P. Sutton & Company, Sangorski & Sutcliff.

The author of Boxiana, Pierce Egan (1772-1849), wrote Key to the picture of the fancy Going to a Fight at Moulsey-Hurst, (London, 1819) but no copy is held in graphic arts.

Thanks to the generous donation of W. Allen Scheuch II, Class of 1976, given in honor of Meg Whitman, Class of 1977, graphic arts is the proud owner of a watercolor portrait by the British artist Sarah Biffin (1784-1850). Born with no arms or hands or legs or feet, Biffin taught herself to perform a variety of everyday tasks using her mouth and shoulders. She developed a talent for drawing and painting; became an expert seamstress; and performed these abilities before a crowd of spectators.

Biffin’s family contracted with Emmanuel Dukes, a traveling showman, to make her one of his sideshow attractions. She traveled from town to town, painting or writing for the public’s entertainment. Dukes publicized her as “The Eighth Wonder!” and pocketed all the proceeds from the sale of her watercolors.

Thanks to the patronage from George Douglas, the sixteenth Earl of Morton (1761-1827), Biffin was finally released from her contract and established a studio in the Strand, London, where she painted miniature portraits.

A brief and unfortunate marriage left Biffin destitute. Her later years were spent in poverty, living in Liverpool, surviving thanks to the support from a public appeal led by Richard Rathbone. Biffin continued to paint and in 1844, completed this portrait of James West (1808-1884), captain of the U.S. Mail Steamship “Atlantic,” which sailed between New York and Liverpool.

For more details, see the entry on Biffin in: Stephen Lloyd and Kim Sloan, The Intimate Portrait ([Edinburgh]: National Galleries of Scotland; [London]: The British Museum, 2008. Marquand Library and Graphic Arts ND1314.4 .L56 2008.

Reverend John Trusler (1735-1820) published books on medicine, farming, history, politeness, law, theology, travel, and gardening. Not content with his work in the church, he studied medicine and may or may not have finished the degree. According to the Oxford DNB, he assumed the title Dr. and described himself as a medical gentleman. In 1766, Jane Hogarth, the artist’s widow, employed Trusler to write moral commentaries on William Hogarth’s prints, which she published as The Works of Mr. Hogarth Moralized.

Dr. Trusler’s preface begins: “So much having been said, in the course of this work, of Mr. Hogarth’s abilities, and excellence; any thing more, on that head, would be deemed tautology. I shall only say … lest I should be condemned for want of taste … that I never designed to point out that which stands so visible to the world, or, pay the public so ill a compliment, as not to imagine them as capable of judging of beauties and deformities, as one that never made them his study.”