December 2011 Archives

Colorful eruptions for New Year's Eve

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Attributed to Girolano Gianni (1837-1895), Eruze del 26 Aprile 1872, [late 19th century], gouache. Graphic Arts Italian drawings.


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Attributed to Girolano Gianni (1837-1895), La Generale di Napoli, [late 19th century], gouache. Graphic Arts Italian drawings.


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Attributed to Girolano Gianni (1837-1895), Eruzione dell’Anno 1806, [late 19th century], gouache. Graphic Arts Italian drawings.

Mount Vesuvius, a volcano in the gulf of Naples, is best known for erupting in the year 79 and destroying the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. According to T.A. Schneer’s The History of Vesuvius from A.D. 79 to A.D. 1907, there have also been major eruptions in 1794, 1822, 1834, 1850 and 1872. Almost a dozen of these explosions were depicted by Gianni for the local tourist market.

Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti (Maltese Heritage Foundation) identified this Neapolitan artist as Girolamo Gianni and mounted an exhibition of his paintings in 1994, providing the following biography:

Neapolitan artist Girolamo Gianni (1837-1895) first came to Malta in 1867, apparently to evaluate the local market. Evidently his stay was successful, as a year later he returned with his family. During the two decades of his Maltese sojourn, Gianni built up a profitable business running a busy bodega, producing small souvenir paintings and large commissioned works. His works feature topographically accurate landscapes, street scenes, and seascapes, and provide a romantic and idyllic record of daily life in Malta.

Soviet Anti-Religion Caricatures

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Belief is harmful, more harmful than wine
russian car6.jpgThe power of the engines which overcomes the power of the church
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russian car7.jpgHoly preachers who are kicked? with proletarian plasters?
russian car3.jpgMan does not need a heavenly reward


russian car5.jpgThe voice of god is destined for the rich
russian car8.jpgLava is coming with unscrupulous lies


Notes from the Library of Congress on the anti-religion campaigns in the Soviet Union.
“The Soviet Union was the first state to have as an ideological objective the elimination of religion. Toward that end, the Communist regime confiscated church property, ridiculed religion, harassed believers, and propagated atheism in the schools. Actions toward particular religions, however, were determined by State interests, and most organized religions were never outlawed. The main target of the anti-religious campaign in the 1920s and 1930s was the Russian Orthodox Church, which had the largest number of faithful. Nearly all of its clergy, and many of its believers, were shot or sent to labor camps. Theological schools were closed, and church publications were prohibited. By 1939 only about 500 of over 50,000 churches remained open.”

See also: http://www.soviethistory.org/index.php?page=subject&SubjectID=1924antireligion&Year=1924

Graphic Arts ephemera, GC149

Dietricy

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Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich (1712-1774). [A collection of 73 choice examples of the etched work of Dietrich]. [S.l.: s.n., 1741-1769]. [62] leaves of plates, 72 etchings, 1 relief print. Supplied title from auction catalogue clipping on upper paste-down. Bookplate of William Horatio Crawford, Lakelands, Cork. Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) Oversize 2008-0501Q



C.W.E. Dietrich, also known as Dietricy, was appointed court painter to Frederick-Augustus II and later, inspector of the Gemäldegalerie in Dresden. Near the end of his life, he accepted the position of professor of landscape painting at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste.

The Irish collector William Horatio Crawford (1812-1888) brought this set of Dietrich etchings together, most in their first state. A generous patron of the arts, Crawford lived in Ballinure, outside Cork on the Mahon peninsula, where he built a significant botanical garden and library.

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Witherspoon's five books

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The Scottish sculptor Alexander Stoddart (born 1959) created a 10-foot-tall bronze statue of our sixth president, John Witherspoon (1723-1794), which was unveiled in 2001 on the Princeton University campus east of East Pyne. It is described as “Witherspoon in vigorous middle age, preaching at a symbolic lectern on which an open Bible rests.

The shaft of the lectern is in the form of a “fasces,” a bundle of rods inset with rising arrows bound by two horizontal tapes. The fasces represents Witherspoon’s activities as a statesman. The Bible and Witherspoon’s pose portray his role as a clergyman. An eagle, positioned at the top of the fasces and under the Bible, symbolizes both the state and the church.”

At his feet are five books. Four have their spines to the front, so that we can see they are the works of Cicero, Principia, Locke, and Hume. What is the fifth book? (Why Newton isn’t listed instead of his book, Principia, is a question for another time). We finally climbed to the top of the 7-foot-7-inch plinth on which the statue stands to look behind Witherspoon’s feet.

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The answer: the sculptor never finished the carving of the backs of the books. Or in the case of the fifth book, the spine, so we will never know what Witherspoon’s fifth book is.
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Boekdruckereye te Haerlem

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Unknown artist after Jan van de Velde II (ca. 1593-1641) after Pieter Jansz Saenredam (1597-1665), Boekdruckereye te Haerlem gevonden ontrent het Jaer 1440, no date [original 1628]. Collotype of etching. Graphic Arts GA2011- in process

Graphic Arts holds a collotype of Jan van de Velde’s etching after Saenredam’s illustration of a fifteenth-century print shop. This is one of seventeen prints, most drawn by Saenredam, for the 3rd edition of Samuel Ampzing’s Beschryvinge ende lof der stad Haerlem… (Description and Praise of the City of Haarlem) (1628).

Three men are depicted including a compositor working in the back at the type cases, a printer in the foreground comparing two proof sheets, and barely visible behind him, another pressman operating the press.

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Saenredam and Velde created a second view of the same shop (at the left). This is meant to be the printing shop of Lourens Janszoon Coster (ca. 1370-ca. 1440), an early Dutch printer of incunables. The second print asserts that Coster was the inventor of printing in Europe, a claim that has long since been dropped.


See also: Douglas C. McMurtrie (1888-1944), The Dutch Claims to the Invention of Printing (Chicago, 1928). Graphic Arts Collection (GA) 2006-1281N

Lucian Bernhard

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On February 19, 1923, the Germany artist Lucian Bernhard (1885-1972) arrived in New York City, already a successful graphic designer. The next year, when Elmer Adler (1884-1962) arranged to rent the seventh floor of the New York Times Annex for Pynson Printers, Bernhard sublet rooms from Adler and hung out his sign along the same hallway. Together, they designed beautiful books, invitations, and other printed material.

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Bernhard continued to work for the Bauersche Giesserei (Bauer Type Foundry) and so, returned to Germany each year until 1927 when the firm opened a New York office with Bernhard and Adler at the Times Annex. Now permanently based in New York, Bernhard established the Contempora Studio with Rockwell Kent, Paul Poiret, Bruno Paul, and Erich Mendelsohn, expanding on his talents as an interior designer.

A number of typefaces named for Bernhard continue to be used today, including Bernhard Gothic, Bernhard Fashion, Lucian, Bernhard Tango and Bernhard Brushscript. Here are a few of the specimen books offering samples.

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bernhard7.jpg In 1928, Bernhard was asked to write an article for House and Garden on “Modernism in the Home,” in which he promoted his own work along with that of his German colleagues.
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The artist isn't Remington, she's Connie Warren.

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Constance Whitney Warren (1888-1948), Bronco Rider, 1921. Bronze. 46 x 49 x 16 cm [approx.]. Museum Objects Collection.

We are often asked, “Who is the artist of the western sculpture in the classroom? Is it Remington?” Students are usually surprised to learn the work is by a woman. Constance Whitney Warren was one of the first women to produce large scale bronze sculptures in the early twentieth century.

Born in the heart of New York City to wealthy family, Warren grew up hearing stories from her father, Henry Warren, about his years as a mining engineer in the American West. She loved to draw horses and cowboys. Later, living in Paris, Warren learned the art of sculpture and designed a number of large-scale works now seen around the United States. This work may have been the model or maquette for one of those larger works.

Also on display in our west classroom: Constance Whitney Warren (1888-1948), Untitled [Bronco Rider], ca. 1921. Bronze. 47 x 32 x 18 cm [approx.]. Museum Objects Collection.

Vic Payne (born 1960), There’s a Valley Ahead, 1994. Bronze. Edition: 50. Museum Objects Collection. Depiction: Stage coach with four-horse team, cowboy, and woman. 44 x 108 x 48 cm [approx.]

Clea rsky and Laair

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Bruce Nauman (born 1941), Clea rsky ([New York: Leo Castelli Gallery, 1968/69]) Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) oversize 2010-0182Q

Graphic Arts is fortunate to hold most of Bruce Nauman’s works on paper, including these rare artists’ books.

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Clea rsky has been called a finite view of infinite space. Nauman said “Clea rsky was a way to have a book that only had colored pages—pictures of the sky. I like the idea that you are looking into an image of the sky but it is just a page; you are not really looking into anything … LA Air was the same idea, but it was also a response to Clea rsky using polluted colors instead.”

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Bruce Nauman (born 1941), Laair ([S.l. : Multiples, 1970]). Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) Oversize 2006-0327Q






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On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong took his first steps on the moon, as many people watched. Around this time, Nauman moved from Northern California to Pasadena and was working on his sky sculpture, Untitled 1969. While the piece was never realized in 1969, Nauman’s work was performed by ForYourArt Skywriters over the Arroyo Seco on September 12, 2009. Curator Andrew Berardini arranged it for an exhibition at the Pasadena Armory Center for the Arts. See the video:

Adler Advertising

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Before Elmer Adler (1884-1962) came to Princeton University and before he entered the world of publishing, Alder worked in the family business, L. Adler Brothers & Co., a Rochester, N.Y. clothing manufacturer. As salesman and later, advertising manager, Adler promoted and defined their men’s line to gentlemen “with whom correctness of clothes is a creed.” To give the advertising a unique style, Adler hired designers T.M. Cleland, Walter Dorwin Teague, and James Montgomery Flagg, among others. Here are a few examples of their work.

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Le Hanneton

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Le Hanneton: illustré, satirique et littéraire (Cockchaffer: Satirical and Literary Comics) (Paris: [s.n.], 1962-1868). Complete run of the weekly magazine with stenciled color. Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) 2011- in process

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The artists for this satirical weekly include Honoré Daumier (1808-1879), André Gill (1840-1885), Alfred Le Petit (1841-1909), and Philippe Auguste Cattelain (1838-1893), among others. Cattelain published his first drawings in Le Hanneton and worked regularly until his career was interrupted by a three-year jail sentence for his part in the Paris Commune.

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Le Hanneton is a large French beetle

Pynson Printers' Logo

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Boris Atzybasheff (1899-1965)

Elmer Adler (1884-1962) formed the Pynson Printers in 1922 with his partners Walter Dorwin Teague, David Silve, and Hubert Canfield. They opened for business on the second floor of a garage on East 32 Street that belonged to W. Goadby Loew. Adler had three presses and one customer.

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Two years later when Arthur Sulzberger invited Adler to move into rooms at the New York Times Annex on 43rd Street, Adler marked their floor with a new logo, inspired by the design of Charles Lebrun (1619-1690), Mercury and Pegasus, ca. 1680. It was Walter Teague, Adler’s partner, who finalized the Pynson pressmark but several others played with the concept.




pynson printers7.jpg Rockwell Kent (1882-1971)
pynson printers14.jpg Wharton Esherick (1887-1970)
pynson printers13.jpg Donald McKay (1914?-2006)
pynson printers12.jpgLucian Bernhard (1883-1972)
pynson printers15.jpgCarl Noell (active 20th century)
pynson printers8.jpgArthur Allen Lewis (1873-1957)
pynson printers5.jpgWalter Dorwin Teague (1883-1960)
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Pynson Printers original drawings, GC049.

Lurline, the Nymph of the Lurlei Berg

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Unidentified artist, Mrs. Honey as Lurline the Nymph, ca. 1834. Etching with hand coloring and beading. Graphic Arts 2011- in process.

Laura Honey (1816?-1843) played the part of Lurline, the Nymph of the Lurlei Berg in the fairy drama of the same name from January 13 to March 22, 1834 at the Theatre Royal, Adelphi. The play began every evening at 6:45, and a second, half price show was performed at 8:30. Ticket prices: box 4/-, pit 2/-, gallery 1/-.

“Laura Honey, a delightful vocalist, and comedy actress, first appeared at the Strand in a piece of Leman Rede’s Loves of the Angels. Mrs. Waylett sang a telling ballad, directed to Mrs. Honey’s eyes: ‘Those eyes, those eyes, so beautiful and rare!’ Yates engaged her for the Adelphi. Her progress speedily attracted the notice of Bunn and Charles Kemble. A ballad, O My Beautiful Rhine, with imitations of Tyrolese singers, attracted great attention. Endowed with rare musical gifts and a lovely face, Mrs. Honey had not long to woo fortune: it wooed her. She retired from the stage and died at an early age (thirty-two), lamented by all who knew her kindly nature and real worth.”—obituary.

This print is also know as a tinsel print. Tinseling enthusiasts bought plain or colored prints, then added costumes made of die-cut metal foils (tinsel) as well as bits of fabric, leather, feathers, and any other suitable material.


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J.S. Dalrymple, Lurline, or, The Revolt of the Naiades: a Romantic Opera, in Three Acts (London: J. Cumberland, [1835?]). Frontispiece by C.W. Bonner, after a design by Robert Cruikshank. Graphic Arts Collection (GA) Cruik R 1830.9

Davenport as Brutus

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C.H. Hemenway (active 1870s), E.L. Davenport as Brutus, March 1876. Plaster. Graphic Arts GA 2011- in process. Gift from the children of Joan Davenport Field Newbury.


Shakespearean actor Edward Loomis Davenport (1815-1877) began his career in 1835. However by 1875, “he was out of the fashion so long that until a far-sighted management engaged him to play the part of Brutus during the famous run of Julius Caesar at Booth’s Theatre, he was only known to the younger generation of theatre-goers, when known at all, as Miss Fanny Davenport’s father!”—Harper’s Magazine

Davenport played Brutus to Lawrence Barrett’s Cassius for 222 performances, performing over a year on Broadway and then, on tour all along the east coast. A special celebration was held March 22, 1876, for which this bust may have been sculpted.

To see one of Davenport’s personal prompt copies, see: John Howard Payne (1781-1852), Brutus, or, The Fall of Tarquin (London: T. Rodwell, 1819). ThX TC023 Box 104.

Visit to Hongkong in 1869

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John Thomson (1837-1921) and Rev. William R. Beach, Visit of His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh, K.G., K.T., G.C.M.G., to Hongkong in 1869: Compiled from the Local Journals, and Other Sources (Hongkong: London: Printed by Noronha and Sons, Government Printers; Smith, Elder and Co., 1869). Graphic Arts GAX 2011- in process.

The Scottish photojournalist John Thomson was one of the first Western photographers to travel to the Far East. In 1862, Thomson left Edinburgh for Singapore, where he and his brother William manufactured optical and nautical instruments. While there, he also opened a photography studio, shooting portraits of the European visitors and native residents.

After a year back in Edinburgh, Thomson returned in 1868, this time settling in Hong Kong. Over the next four years, he traveled throughout the country, photographing the people of China and recording Chinese culture.

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In 1869, His Royal Highness Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, sailed to the Far East in HMS Galatea (seen above). The Anglican Colonial Chaplain, William Beach, hired Thomson to provide photographs of the visit for a commemorative book, with the profits promised to the Building Fund for the new choir in St. John’s Cathedral, Hong Kong.

Thomson wrote: “He was the first English Prince who had roamed so far and wide … and who, according to the Chinese notion, had braved the dangers of the deep in order that he might, for once, feast his vision on the glories of the ‘Great Middle Kingdom.’”

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“… I well remember his landing. Ships of all nations vied in the splendour of their decorations; long lines of merchant boats guarded the approach to the wharf; and on a thousand native craft … swarming over the decks or clinging to the rigging of their vessels… . Nor can I forget the regret expressed by some at finding he was only a man and a sailor after all… . A different being, this, surely, from the offspring of their own great Emperor, who is brother of the Sun, and full cousin to the Moon, and on whose radiant countenance no common mortal may look and live.”— John Thomson, The Straits of Malacca, Indo-China and China (London: S. Low, Marston, Low, & Searle, 1875). Graphic Arts (GAX) 2006-2337N

Back in Scotland, Thomson’s images of China found wide distribution and earned him the nickname of ‘China’ Thomson. Near the end of his life, Thomson made plans to sell his 650 glass negatives to the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum but died before the sale could be completed. Eventually Henry Solomon Wellcome (1853-1936), the American-born pharmacist and philanthropist, bought the negatives from Thomson’s heirs.

See also:
John Thomson (1837-1921), Illustrations of China and Its People: a Series of Two Hundred Photographs (1873). Rare Books (Ex) DS709 .T475f

John Thomson (1837-1921), Spain (1876). Rare Books (Ex) 1521.286q

John Thomson (1837-1921), History and Handbook of Photography (1877). Firestone Library (F) TR149 .T513 1877

John Thomson (1837-1921), Street Incidents: a Series of Twenty-One Permanent Photographs (1881). Marquand Library (SAX) DA683 .T463 1881

John Thomson (1837-1921), Through China with a Camera (1898). Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) 2006-2368N

Criminal Conversation

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Crim Con!! Damages Fifteen Thousand Pounds! Fairburn (Senior’s) Edition of the Trial Between Lord Roseberry [sic] and Sir Henry Mildmay, for Criminal Conversation with the Plaintiff’s Wife: Before J. Birchall, Esq. at the Sheriff’s Court, Bedford-Street, on Saturday, December 10th, 1814: including the Attorney-General’s Speech and Mr. Brougham’s Reply, at Full Length: Taken in Short-Hand … Fourth edition including the Love Letters (London: John Fairburn, 1814). Frontispiece by George Cruikshank. Graphic Arts Cruik 1814.5


This is the court record of the 1814 trial accusing Sir Henry Mildmay (1787-1848) of “crim com” or adultery with his deceased wife’s sister Harriett Bouverie (died 1834). At the time, Bouverie was the wife of Sir Archibald John Primrose, 4th Earl of Rosebery (1783-1868) and mother of their four children. While the charges were not contested, a trial was held to assess the damages. The jury awarded Rosebery the sum of 15,000 pounds, the highest damages ever given in a case of Crim Con.

Rosebery divorced his wife the following month and Mildmay married her the following year in Germany, “by special permission of the King of Wurttemburg.” Harriett had three more children with her second husband and they lived happily together for nearly twenty years.

The Political "Siamese" Twins, 1864

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The Political “Siamese” Twins: The Offspring of Chicago Miscegenation, 1864. Lithograph. Published New York: Currier & Ives. Graphic Arts GA 2011- in process.

The firm of Currier & Ives produced this caricature around the Chicago Democratic National Convention in 1864. The oddly-paired democratic ticket included George B. McClellan (1826-1885) and “Gentleman” George Hunt Pendelton (1825-1889), shown here as Siamese twins. They are held together by “the party tie.” McClellan says, “It was not I that did it fellow Soldiers!! but with this unfortunate attachment I was politically born at Chicago!” Pendleton says, “I dont care how many letters Mac writes, if it brings him votes; for every vote for him, count one for me!!”

Marcus Junianus Justinus

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Marcus Junianus Justinus, Des Hochberümptesten Geschicht schreybers Justini, warhafftige Hystorien. Translation by Hieronymus Boner (ca. 1490-1556) (Augspurg: Durch Heynrich Steyner, 1531). Woodcuts by Hans Weiditz (ca. 1495-ca. 1536), Jörg Breu the Elder (ca. 1475-1537), Jörg Breu the Younger (1510-1547), and an unknown artist or artists. This copy was bound by Christine Hamilton (died 1968). Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) Oversize 2004-1242Q. Gift of Sinclair Hamilton.
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Graphic Arts holds the first German edition of Historiae Philippicae. For the 1470 Venice edition, published by Nicolas Jenson, see Rare Books: Kane Collection (ExKa) Incunabula 1470 Justinus. The original unabridged work was written in forty-four books by the Augustan historian Pompeius Trogus.

This edition has a large woodcut on the title page, 49 text illustrations, and 21 chapter tailpieces, chiefly by Wieditz and Breu the elder. Hans Weiditz II was a German woodcutter born sometime before 1500 and died sometime around 1536. The Getty’s union list of artists’ names notes that he was probably, but not certainly, the son of the German sculptor, Hans Weiditz I (ca. 1475-ca. 1516) and that he may have been born in Freiburg im Breisgau. Although many scholars (Dodgson, Friedländer, Fraenger) agree that Hans Weiditz II and the Master of Petrarch are the same artist, there is still debate about this issue. Musper and Buchner, for example, distinguish two hands when contrasting work from Strasbourg with that from Augsburg.

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We know very little about Justin (Marcus Junianius Justinus), a Latin historian who lived under the Roman Empire. In his preface, he described this book as a collection of the most important and interesting passages from the voluminous Historiae philippicae et totius mundi origines et terrae situs, written in the time of Augustus by Pompeius Trogus.

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Leech on Fishing

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John Leech (1817-1864), Fishing is the Best Sport for a Retired Schoolmaster - As He Can Still Exhibit his Partiality for the Rod, 1850. Watercolor on paper. Graphic Arts GA 2006.02346.

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John Leech (1817-1864), Contemplating a Day’s Fishing, Mr. Briggs Gets His Tackle in Order, and Trys the Management of His Running Line, ca. 1860. Watercolor on board. Design for plate one in Mr. Briggs & His Doings. Fishing (London: Bradbury & Evans [1860]). Graphic Arts GA 2006.02345

For the book, see:Mr. Briggs & His Doings. Fishing. Rare Books: Otto von Kienbusch Angling Collection (ExKi) Oversize 2003-0004F

Expositor of Imposture and Folly

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George Cruikshank (1792-1878), "The Antiquarian Society" in Scourge, or, Monthly Expositor of Imposture and Folly (June 1812): 431. Graphic Arts GA Cruik 1811.2.

One of George Cruikshank's early jobs was creating the frontispiece caricatures for William N. Jones's satirical journal The Scourge; first subtitled: Monthly Expositor of Imposture and Folly and then, Literary, Theatrical, and Miscellaneous Magazine, and finally, Monthly Expositor of Literary, Dramatic, Medical, Political, Mercantile and Religious Imposture and Folly (1811-1816).

These large hand-colored foldouts were often attacks on the royal family and leading politicians, although this 1812 satire looks at book collectors. An accompanying article notes that antiquarians "collect materials without any regard to their utility, and without attempting to facilitate the study of antiquities, by arranging them in classes, and by pointing out their dependence on each other, or their connection with collateral branches of investigation." It goes on.

Brandeis wrote a nice piece about Scourge in their blog: http://brandeisdigitallibrary.blogspot.com/2011/03/scourge-or-monthly-expositor-of.html

Balloon in the Pantheon

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Valentine Green (1739-1813) after a design by Frederick George Byron (1764-1792), A Representation of Mr. Lunardi’s Balloon, as Exhibited in the Pantheon, 1784. Aquatint. GC014 Aeronautical Illustrations Collection.

The Balloon Stone (Lunardi Monument) at Standon Green End reads: “Let posterity know, and knowing be astonished, that on the 15th day of September 1784 Vincent Lunardi of Lucca in Tuscany, the first aerial traveller in Britain, mounting from the artillery ground in London and traversing the regions of the air for two hours and fifteen minutes, in this spot revisited the earth.” Lunardi flew twenty-four miles with a dog, a cat, and a pigeon. The cat got airsick. His balloon was then exhibited in the Pantheon.

This print is one of 400 in the Aeronautical illustration collection, collected by Harold Fowler McCormick and given to Princeton University by Alexander Stillman of Chicago, a relative of the McCormick family. Here are a few others.

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Grand Jubilee in Honour of Peace, 1814. Published by John Pitts (1765-1844), Engraving with printed color. GC014 Aeronautical Illustrations Collection. This Jubilee on Augt. 1, 1814 was to Celebrate the return of Peace and the centenary of the reign of the illustrious House of Brunswick and to commemorate the glorious battle of the nile.

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Thomas Shotter Boys (1803-1874), Piccadilly Looking Towards the City published in London As It Is, 1842. Lithograph. GC014 Aeronautical Illustrations Collection

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Paul Gauci (active 1834-1866), A View in the Neighbourhood of Sevenoaks Selected by Mr. T. R. Jolliffe and Professor Cornillot for the Scene of Their First Aerial Ascent, no date (after 1825). Lithograph. GC014 Aeronautical Illustrations Collection

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Thomas Rowlandson (1756 or 1757-1827), The Departure of the Balloon from Dover, 1794. Etching. GC014 Aeronautical Illustrations Collection

S.J. Woolf: Drawn from Life

woolf15.jpgSamuel Johnson Woolf (1880-1948), Self-portrait, 1938. Charcoal and white chalk on paper. Graphic Arts collection 2006-02518

In December of 1949, The New York Times ran an article announcing a new exhibition at the Princeton University Library entitled “Drawn From Life: Original Portraits by S.J. Woolf.” Woolf had died of Lou Gehrig’s disease the year before and the show was undoubtedly organized by Elmer Adler (1884-1962), who also exhibited Woolf’s portraits in 1930 at his Pynson Printer’s gallery, located in the New York Times building.

“It represents three decades of Woolf’s activities in catching the celebrities of this generation in the mirror contrived by his pencil and his pen,” writes H. I. Brock. “The subjects are men and women famous in many walks of life…. And it is not less interesting because most of the portraits … were made originally for the [New York] Times .”

Brock’s only complaint was that Woolf’s most famous portrait, that of George Bernard Shaw, was not included. Days later, in a letter to the editor, Howard C. Rice, Jr. of Princeton’s Department of Rare Books & Special Collections reported that Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Colen of Holicong, PA had read the story and loaned the drawing, which they owned, to the University exhibition.

After the close of the exhibition, all the charcoal drawings were returned to Woolf’s widow. Now, over sixty years later, thanks to the generous gift of Sue Kessler Feld and Stuart P. Feld, Class of 1957, we again have a substantial collection of Woolf’s portraits. Here is a small selection.

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Aristide Briand (1862-1932). Served eleven terms as Prime Minister of France. Drawing published on the front page of The New York Times, May 25, 1930.

woolf1.jpgSamuel John Gurney Hoare, 1st Viscount Templewood (1880-1959). British Foreign Minister; authored the Hoare-Laval Pact with French Prime Minister Pierre Laval. Published in Newsweek Aug. 31, 1935
woolf5.jpg Helen Rogers (Mrs. Ogden Mills) Reid, (1882-1970). President of The New York Herald Tribune; Herald Tribune Corporation; and Chairman of the Board. Published in Newsweek Nov. 23, 1935.

woolf10.jpgEdouard Herriot (1872-1957). French politician, served three times as Prime Minister and President of the Chamber of Deputies. Published in NY Herald Tribune, Feb. 17, 1929.
woolf3.jpgHugh Gibson (1880-1948). American diplomat, active in Poland 1919-1924. Published in NYT Magazine, June 21, 1931.


woolf8.jpgDr. Graeme M. Hammond (1858-1944). Neurologist and professor of nervous diseases at NYU Medical School. Published in NYT Magazine Mar. 13, 1938.
woolf9.jpg Margaret Grace Bondfield (1863-1935). English Labor politician, the first woman Cabinet Minister and one of the first three female Labor MPs. Published in NYT Magazine July 28, 1929.
woolf6.jpgLeonor Fresnel Loree (1858-1940). President of the Delaware & Hudson Railroad, among others. Chairmain of the Rutgers Board of Trustees Committee on New Jersey College for Women (now Douglass College). Published in Newsweek Sept. 14, 1935.
woolf12.jpgEvangeline Cory Booth (1865-1950). Founder of the British Salvation Army and later General of the United States Salvation Army. Raised over $12,000 for relief work after SF earthquake. Published in Newsweek Nov. 10, 1934.

woolf7.jpg Maude Royden (1876-1956). England’s most famous woman preacher and suffragist; first woman to receive a Doctor of Divinity. Published in Newsweek, Jan. 23, 1937.
woolf4.jpg J. Ramsay MacDonald (1866-1937). British politician who was the first Labor Prime Minister. Published in NY Herald Tribune Magazine, Sept. 1, 1929.
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Was there an argument about which articles to run above the fold?

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