Yearly Archives: 2014

Good-bye to Gretchen Oberfranc, editor of the Princeton University Library Chronicle

“I have worked with books most of my life,” wrote Gretchen Oberfranc, introducing herself in the Winter 2002 Friends of the Princeton University Library Newsletter. “My first job, at age 14, was as a shelver in the children’s book section of my hometown public library . . . . A job as editorial assistant to the Atlas of Early American History project at the Newberry Library eventually led to a copyediting position at Princeton University Press–where I stayed for twenty-four years.”

When Gretchen moved from the Press to Rare Books and Special Collections in Firestone Library, her first issue of the Princeton University Library Chronicle featured a cat, in connection with the commemorative edition of Adlai Stevenson’s veto message rejecting Senate Bill No. 93, entitled, “An Act to Provide Protection to Insectivorous Birds by Restraining Cats” or the so-called “Cat-Bill.” Thanks to Gretchen, this tiny book in Mudd Library became popular across the campus.
Over the years, Gretchen produced over 40 issues of the Princeton University Library Chronicle (with a few more almost ready for the mail), not to mention dozens of keepsakes, exhibition catalogues, newsletters, and other print material for the department. I would not want to count the tens of thousands of labels she patiently proofed and corrected for the curatorial staff.
When asked to mention some of her most memorable issues, Gretchen points out the first wrap-around cover design; the first issue offering original fiction (published in honor of the Leonard L. Milberg collection of Irish novelists); and an issue dedicated to film. The latter included an essay by Maria DiBattista entitled “The G-String Letters” featuring a photograph of Gypsy Rose Lee from the Theater Photographs Collection.

Gretchen also pointed to the issue featuring Johanna Fantova’s introduction to her “Conversations with Einstein,” along with Alice Calaprice’s “Einstein’s Last Musings.” This, paired with the diary and short story by Ginevra King, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s first love, edited by James L.W. West III, made for an outstanding publication in the autumn of 2003.
Gretchen leaves the department of Rare Books and Special Collections this week. For the many of us who benefited from her scholarship, good taste, and clever turn-of-phrase, we wish to express our thanks and appreciation. She has been endlessly generous with her time and patience with our lack of timeliness. Gretchen was always willing to do whatever was necessary to ‘get it just right’ and we were always the better for it.

It is hard to imagine the department without her. Thank you Gretchen and best wishes in your many new endeavors.

A Lesson in Brushwork with Elizabeth Yeats

The Graphic Arts Collection recently acquired two copy books by Elizabeth Corbet Yeats (1868-1940), the sister of W.B. Yeats. In the 1890s, Elizabeth was living in London, teaching art to children and involved with the Royal Drawing Society of Great Britain and Ireland. The Society’s director, Thomas Robert Ablett, wrote the introduction to her 1896 edition:

Miss Yeats, who is the daughter of an artist and a skillful kindergarten mistress, has proved that she can make good use of the subject. For several years her pupils’ brush work has obtained high awards at the Annual Exhibition of the Royal Drawing Society of Great Britain and Ireland . . . In this volume, Miss Yeats gives her experience for the benefit of others, wisely choosing her subjects from the flowers of the field, so that any teacher may paint from the growing plants themselves, with the help of the advice freely given and the chance of comparing the results obtained by Miss Yeats.

In 1901, the Yeats family moves back to Ireland and Elizabeth learns printing. Her imprint, Dun Emer Press, begins in 1903 with the letterpress printing of her brother’s book In the Seven Woods.

Elizabeth Corbet Yeats (1868-1940), Brush Work (London: George Philip & Son, 1896). Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2014- in process

Elizabeth Corbet Yeats (1868-1940), Brushwork studies of flowers, fruit, and animals for teachers and advanced students (London: George Philip & Son, 1898). Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2014- in process

Winslow Homer at Petersburg?

Winslow Homer (1836-1910), Untitled [Sketch of Abraham Lincoln and his son Tad with Ulysses S. Grant], 1865. Pencil drawing. Graphic Arts, GC040 Winslow Homer Collection. Gift of Mrs. David A. Reed.

After several years of extensive travel capturing Civil War scenes for Harper’s Weekly, Winslow Homer (1836-1910) stopped feeding the magazine images almost entirely in 1864. Out of the 52 issues that year, the only Homer drawings published were Anything for Me, if You Please? (a Brooklyn post-office scene) and Thanksgiving Day in the Army. In 1865, with the dramatic end to the war and the death of Lincoln, Homer only sketches three events for Harper’s: Holiday in Camp, Soldiers Playing Football; and the pair: Our Watering-Places, Horse-Racing at Saratoga, and Our Watering-Places, The Empty Sleeve at Newport.

Nearly twenty years later, The Century Magazine published Admiral David Dixon Porter’s account of “Grant’s Last Campaign,” illustrated with a number of wood engravings, including several previously unpublished drawings by Homer. One is in the Graphic Arts Collection, seen above, clearly initialed by Homer and dated 1865. These drawings are specifically cited as drawn from life.

Was Homer invited along with Abraham Lincoln when the president visited general Grant after the battle of Petersburg in April 1865? And if so, why weren’t his drawings of this historic meeting either published or incorporated into oil paintings?

According to the National Park Service report on the Battle of Petersburg (http://www.nps.gov/pete/index.htm) “On the morning of April 3, Lincoln was informed that Petersburg had finally fallen to Federal troops. He decided to go into the city and was accompanied by Admiral David Porter, Captain John Barnes, William Crook, and Lincoln’s son, Tad on a special train. Upon arriving at the station along the U.S. Military Railroad, Lincoln took his seat on Grant’s horse, Cincinnati and with the others rode into the city over the Jerusalem Plank Road.”

“Lincoln and his entourage arrived at the Thomas Wallace house and, while Lincoln and Grant discussed that Grant should defeat Lee and allow Sherman to defeat Joseph Johnston’s army in North Carolina, Tad grew restless until Federal general George Sharpe produced sandwiches. Tad eagerly grabbed them as he exclaimed that being hungry was what had agitated him. Thomas Wallace invited the President and General Grant inside but they opted to remain on the porch. After an hour and a half in the city, Lincoln left to return to City Point.”

Porter’s account in Century Magazine notes, “Mr. Lincoln soon after arrived, accompanied by his little son “Tad,” dismounted in the street and came in through the front gate with long and rapid strides, his face beaming with delight. He seized General Grant’s hand as the general stepped forward to greet him, and stood shaking it for some time and pouring out his thanks and congratulations with all the fervor of a heart which seemed overflowing with its fullness of joy. I doubt whether Mr. Lincoln ever experienced a happier moment in his life. The scene was singularly affecting and one never to be forgotten.”

Winslow Homer (1836-1910), President Lincoln, General Grant and Tad Lincoln at a Railway Station. Reproduced in The Century Magazine (November 1877), p. 134.

Progressive Series Showing Japanese Papermaking

Process of Japanese Paper Making of Japanese Shrubs. 16 hand colored collotypes. Graphic Arts Ephemera collection.

This inexpensive souvenir pack of cards shows the steps of traditional papermaking in Japan. Although the color is decorative, the photographs capture a great deal of useful information.

Henry P. Moore

Negative by Henry P. Moore (1835-1911), positive print by John M. Slaney (active 1860s), [Going into the Field], 1862, printed 1865. Albumen silver print. Published in Philadelphia Photographer by Edward L. Wilson.

New Hampshire photographer Henry Moore traveled to South Caroline in 1862 to photograph the Civil War victories of the 3rd New Hampshire Regiment. Among other campaigns, they had been part of the November 7, 1861 takeover of the sea islands. Moore spent much of his time photographing the newly freed men and women who had subsequently taken over the plantations where they once worked as slaves.

Edward Wilson (1838-1903) was also photographing the Civil War in 1862 and may have come in contact with Moore. When Wilson began publishing the Philadelphia Photographer in 1864, he looked for images he could include as original prints in each issue. Wilson purchased one of Moore’s glass plate negatives and had John Slaney edition enough prints to paste one into each copy of his September 1865 issue.

“Now our dreadful civil war is ended,” wrote Wilson, “every one is anxious to possess some relic or remembrance of it. Photography has done much to cater to these desires in the way of views of ransacked, burned and deserted cities, fields of battle, and of the dead martyrs, and portraits of the various officers of rank and merit on both sides.”

“Views may yet be taken, such as we have described, but such a one as we present in this issue can never more be taken . . . The jaded donkey and the sable field-hands with their implements, all explain themselves. When they were taken, they were slaves; now they are free men and women. The view was made (in 1862) with a single Jamin View lens, by Henry P. Moore, of Concord, N. H., on Edisto Island, S.C., at the plantation of James Hopkinson. The planters on this island left their homes at the time Port Royal was taken. About fifty slaves were found on this plantation at the time our view was made, living in the parlors of the mansion, and some of them sleeping on the piano . . . .”

Wilson continued, “As there will doubtless be a demand over and above our issue for this picture, we can only supply them to our subscribers.” The prints are made from Moore’s negative by John M. Slaney of Camden, and additional copies were sold at Wilson & Hood’s shop on Arch Street. Wilson was right about the popularity of the image. Most of the copies of this magazine have had the photograph removed, including the digital copies available from online sources.

Freedom, Friendship, and Charity

The Trail. Freedom, Friendship, & Charity. Improved Order of Red Men (Boston: Designed and published by T.C. Fielding, 1888). Engraving. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2008.00908

The Graphic Arts Collection holds this elaborate broadside published for the fraternal organization known as the Improved Order of Red Men (IORM). According to their literature:

“The fraternity traces its origins back to 1765 and is descended from the Sons of Liberty. These patriots concealed their identities and worked “underground” to help establish freedom and liberty in the early Colonies. They patterned themselves after the great Iroquois Confederacy and its democratic governing body. Their system, with elected representatives to govern tribal councils, had been in existence for several centuries.”

“Today, The Improved Order of Red Men continues to offer all patriotic Americans an organization that is pledged to the high ideals of Freedom, Friendship, and Charity. These are the same ideals on which the American nation was founded. By belonging to this proud and historic organization you can demonstrate your desire to continue the battle started at Lexington and Concord to promote Freedom and protect the American Way of Life.”

While this is a male only organization, there is an auxiliary unit called the Degree of Pocahontas for women. The artist, Thomas C. Fielding is listed in business directories as “steel engraver and chart publisher,” specializing in prints for fraternal organizations such as the Masons, IORM, and others. He left publishing in the 1890s to bottle and market spring water.

See also:
Improved Order of Red Men. Great Council of Indiana. Records of the … Great Sun Council of the Great Council of Indiana, Improved Order of Red Men ([Indiana] : The Council, no date). Rare Books Off-Site Storage E78.C6 xI41.

Conestoga chief (Philadelphia, Pa.: H.L. Goodall, 1857). “Devoted to the Improved Order of Red Men — popular literature, instruction and amusement.” Rare Books: Western Americana Collection (WA) Oversize 2008-0020E

Improved Order of Red Men. Cherokee Tribe, no. 19 (Philadelphia, Pa.). Constitution, by-laws and rules of order of Cherokee Tribe, no. 19, Imp’d Order of Red Men (Philadelphia: [s.n.], 1897). Rare Books Off-Site Storage, HS1510.R32 P4 1897s

Published on Aug 27, 2012 by “Big Something” interns Jake Brownell and Brian Wray.

Panorama photographic de Portugal

Augusto Mendes Simões de Castro, Panorama photographico de Portugal (Coimbra [Portugal]: Typographia do Paiz, 1871-1874). 4 v. in 2. 48 gelatin silver prints. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2014- in process. Purchased with the support of the Maxwell Fund.

The introduction to this book points out that the arts and culture of Portugal are not well-known in other countries and so, these volumes are meant to promote the country’s artistic treasures. Forty-eight parts were issued over four years, each containing one original albumen photograph by the Portuguese artist Carlos Relvas (1838-1894). The scenes included city views; principal monuments, churches, chateaus, and castles; landscapes; and a few portraits. The first two books include descriptions by various authors, while the images in the last two have no identification.

Harvard University and the University of California Berkeley are the only other American institutions with a copy of these volumes. Here are a few images.

Industrious Fleas

Monsieur Auguste Reinham’s Curious and Amusing exhibition of industrious fleas (broadside), [London, 1852]. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2014- in process.

Reinham’s flea circus on Leicester Square was one of many such entertainments in the mid-19th century. This rare broadside announces a troop of 100 fleas, which have been “taught to go through a variety of Performances truly wonderful…”

The program featured two fleas enacting a duel with swords “deciding an affair of honour”; a sybil or fortune-teller flea who promised to answer the visitor’s questions in six different languages; and California fleas digging, washing, and sifting for gold. A railway train of ten carriages (along with flea passengers and their luggage) was pulled by a single flea weighing 5000 times less than the train. Unfortunately, there are no pictures of the acts.

Here is a video of a 1950 flea circus from Birmingham: http://www.britishpathe.com/video/flea-circus

In the United States, Professor Roy Heckler was the sole trainer, keeper, and curator of Hubert’s Museum on 42nd Street where he ran a flea circus from 1925 to 1956. After that, he packed the circus into one suitcase and moved to Sarasota, Florida.

For another view, borrow the video Midnight Cowboy. Located at Mendel Music Library (MUS) (DVD 208 ). The museum appears briefly.

Jonathan Swift and tipping

Alfred Mills (1776-1833), Dean Swift and the Post Boy, February 3, 1806. Hand colored etching. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2014- in process

The text below this caricature reads:
“A Gentleman employed a Post Boy to carry a present of a Turbot to Dean Swift, who seldom gave the bringer anything for his Trouble, the Boy knowing this delivered it in an awkward & careless manner which discomposed the Doctor, who thereupon determined to teach him good Manners: “sit down in my Chair” said he “and suppose yourself to be the Dean and I will represent you” – on which the Dean delivered the Turbot and Message with great Politeness, – “well done” said the Boy “you are a very civil Fellow, here is five shillings for you and pray give my Compliments to your Master” – the Dean took the Hint, smil’d at the Joke, and rewarded him with half a Guinea.”

Note the manuscript on the table is Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift, who was Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin.

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World: In four parts by Lemuel Gulliver, first a surgeon, and then a captain of several ships. [3rd ed.] (London: Printed for Benj. Motte, 1726). Rare Books (Ex) PR3724 .G7 1726c

College Composites or Digital Humanities in the 1880s

In October 1885, a brief notice in The Princetonian mentioned that the Harvard Crimson was promoting “the advisability of securing a composite photograph of the Senior Class.” The technique of superimposing multiple photographic portraits of one entire class was being attempted at Smith College and the students from other universities were encouraged to undertake similar studies.

By June 1887, it was noted that Harvard seniors were preparing the photography for such a project, as were the students at Wellesley College.

http://smitharchives.wordpress.com/tag/john-tappan-stoddard

The March and November 1887 issues of The Century Magazine contained a two-part article entitled, “College Composites,” with illustrations of portrait photographs created from the classes of students at Harvard, Amherst, Bowdoin, Cornell, Smith, Williams, and Wells.

By late fall 1887, Princeton had still declined to join this endeavor. One last attempt was made to convince their fellow students when the May 1889 Princetonian pointed out that Cornell Juniors were also having a composite photograph taken. Princeton opted out.

It is not known why Princeton decided not to undertake composite photographs, which were extremely popular at the time. Above are a few from the other institutions.

We are all interested in typical representations. The novelist or poet holds and gratifies us as we feel that the character which is portrayed with skillful words is the type of a class. The artist draws an ideal head, his expression of a type for which no single model will serve, and we look with satisfaction and pleasure at the product of his fancy. Both artist and author seek to sketch a face or character that has grown in their minds by the blending of impressions gained from the observation of many individuals. The result at which they aim is a generic portrait which shall retain the typical characteristics of the class for which it stands, while the peculiarities and idiosyncrasies of the individuals are left out.

The generalized image, which the creative mind is able to seize upon and express, rises with more or less vividness in the mind of every one as the representative of the class or group of objects which is present in his thought. This image is often a vague and unsatisfactory one, and the mind, in its efforts to gain clearness, runs rapidly over the more distinct images of members of the class, and not infrequently ends in selecting some one of these to stand as the type of all. . . — John T. Stoddard, College Composites, Century Magazine 1887.

The Century illustrated monthly magazine (New York : The Century Co., 1882-1913). http://digital.library.cornell.edu/c/cent/index.html

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: