Yearly Archives: 2014

Masqueronians, in English and in French

Joseph Grego writes “On August 15, 1800, Mr. Ackermann issued at his Repository of Arts, 101 Strand, a series of six plates designed and etched in [Thomas] Rowlandson’s boldest and most spirited style, and finished and coloured in almost exact imitation of the original drawings. Each plate contains three large distinct heads, festooned with attributes peculiar to the respective designs.”

“It is not very clear whether these symbolical groupings, which are superior in execution to the average of Rowlandson’s published works, were devised to be cut up for scrap-books, screens, or wall borderings, but they have become remarkably scarce since the date of publication, and sets of these typical heads (eighteen in all) are rarely met with at the present date.”

The Masqueronians are named:
Plate one: Philosophorum, Fancynina, Epicurum
Plate two: Penserosa, Tally ho! Rum!, Allegoria
Plate three: Physicorum, Nunina, Publicorum
Plate four: Funeralorum, Virginia, Hazardorum
Plate five: Battleorum, Billingsgatina, Trafficorum
and Plate six: Barberorum, Flora, and Lawyerorum.

In 1814, a possibly forged set of Rowlandson’s designs was released by the Parisian publisher Vallardi, under the title Caricature Anglaises. The sheets held at Princeton, under the heading Symbolical groupings, [Grego’s words] are two per page and several of the figures are laterally reversed, presumably traced from the original.

Dorothy George describes one plate as from “a group of Caricatures Anglaises that was listed by Vallardi in the Bibliographie de France for 10 September 1814. It is a partial copy of a print by Rowlandson with heads titled Billingsgatina and Battleorum, from the series Masqueronians (1800).”

“The French series has copies after most of the Masqueronians, other known titles as follows (from impressions in the collection of Nicholas Knowles):
No. 8, Mons. Friteur gargotier ambulant, La fantasie (Epicurum, Fancynina)
No. 9, Mons Craque Perruqier Mad. Flore (Barberorum, Flora)
No. 10, Mons. Sabbat Avocat. La religeuse (Lawyerorum, Nunina)
No. 12, La comedie. Mons. Taiant chasseur (Allegora, Tally! Ho! Rum!)
No.14, La Tragedie Le croque Morts (Penserosa, Funeralorum)”

Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827), Masqueronians ([London, Ackermann, 1800]). 8 col. pl. Graphic Arts Collection (GA) Oversize Rowlandson 1800.71f

Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827), Symbolical groupings ([London, Ackermann, 1814]). 3 col. pl. Graphic Arts Collection (GA) Oversize Rowlandson 1800.7f

Tempesta, “Raging death steers the boat”

Antonio Tempesta (1555-1530), Vita et miracula D. Bernardi Clarevallensis abbatis. Opera & industria Congregationis regularis obseruantiae eiusdem Hispaniarum ad alendam pietatem Vniuersi Ordinis Cisterciensis. Aeneis formis expressa. Pars prior. Cum priuilegio, & superiorum permissu. = The Life and Miracles of Lord Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux. The Works and Diligence of His Regular Observant Congregation of Spaniards for the Spiritually Nourishing Piety of the Whole Cistercian Order. Printed with copper plates. Part one. With the privilege and permission of the superiors (Rome, 1587). 56 engravings depicting the life of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090 or 1091-1153), 11 with monograms identifying various printmakers.

Bound with: Les Portraits de quelques personnes signalées en piété … de l’ordre des minimes (S.l., 1668) and Les figures et l’abrégé de la vie, de la mort et des miracles de S. François de Paule (Paris, 1664). More about these two in other posts.

Antonio Tempesta (1555-1630) was a multifaceted Baroque artist who worked both large and small, in color and in black & white, designing enormous wall frescos as well as modest, albeit complex, book illustrations. In Rome, he was one of the artists Pope Gregory XIII selected to decorate the Loggia Gallery of the Vatican Palace, among many other projects. At the same time, he produced over 1,500 engraving, released in portfolios and as bound plates.

For his first published book, Tempesta was commissioned by the Cistercian Order to tell the story of the French abbot Bernard of Clairvaux, (1090-1153) who founded a monastery known as Claire Callée or Clairvaux. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, Bernard “began that active life, which has rendered him the most conspicuous figure in the history of the 12th century. He founded numerous other monasteries, composed a number of works, and undertook many journeys for the honor of God.”
Custodit Dominus animas sanctorum suorum. Psal. 96. Lib. I. Cap. XII. Aduersa laborans valetudine uno tempore, & de daemone, & de morte triumphat. = [The Lord] preserveth the souls of his saints. Psalms 97:10. Book 1, ch. 12. Struggling simultaneously against disease, the devil, and death, he triumphs.

For the text, the Jesuit, humanist and polygraph Giulio Roscio (1550-1591) was selected, a specialist in religious poetry. He wrote six lines of verse at the bottom of each of Tempesta’s plates. This one translates:

Lying sick in bed, Bernard sees both the horrors of the enemy, and the face of the one who is gentle in judging. / This one befriends, that one flees; now the nether regions themselves hold no terrors; he, however, stands; and raging death steers the boat. / The boat also departs, and sets sail far from shore. A double crown encircles Bernard’s head.

See more of Tempesta’s work:

Antonio Tempesta, Metamorphoseon, siue, Transformationum Ouidianarum libri quindecim, æeneis formis ab Antonio Tempesta Florentino incise… (Amsterodami, Wilhelmus Ianssonius excudit [1606?]) Rare Books (Ex) NE662.T45 O94 1606

Antonio Tempesta, Septem orbis admiranda ex antiqvitatis monimentis collecta, et oblectationi pvblicae in aereas tabvlas ab Antonio Tempesta Florentino relata (Antuerpiae, Venduntur apud I.B. Vrintium [1608]) Marquand Library (SAX): Rare Books NE662.T24 A3

Otto van Veen, Batavorum cum Romanis bellum, engraved by Antonio Tempesta (Antuerpiae: Apud auctorem vaeneunt, 1612) Rare Books (Ex) Oversize 2009-0462Q

Steel-engraved advertisements

Wrightson’s New Triennial Directory of Birmingham . . . . Embellished with plates, engraved purposely for this work (Birmingham [England]: Printed and published by R. Wrightson, 1823). [76] leaves of plates (9 folded) “R. Wrightson, printer, Birmingham.”–colophon. Plates are mostly engraved advertisements, three printed in colored inks; some are letterpress. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2014- in process.

“The term ‘trade card’,” writes Michael Twyman, “already ambiguous in its first usage (historically it referred to an item of paper), has become doubly ambiguous through its use to denote multicoloured collectable give-aways. The bubble-gum card, and all its related phenomena, must be clearly distinguished from the original tradesman’s name-and-address slip.”

The Graphic Arts Collection recently acquired an extraordinary business directory for the city of Birmingham, which includes large format, engraved advertisements bound with the address listings. These are too large, for the most part, to be re-printed trade cards and so, must have been separately designed and steel-engraved plates that were specifically created for this publication by the entrepreneur Robert Wrightson (active 1805-1850).

According to The Book Makers of Old Birmingham (1907), “In 1818, Robert Wrightson of 7 New Street, Birmingham, published his New triennial directory of Birmingham, in which were listed ‘the merchants, tradesmen and respectable inhabitants’ of the town (or, more precisely, such of them as had thought it worth their while to pay for an entry).”

These directories, which continued until 1846, were “profusely adorned with illustrated advertisements, many of these, as the work of well-known engravers, being of interest and value. … Besides the Triennial series, Robert Wrightson was one of the first to introduce lithographic printing to Birmingham…. He designated his shop “The Athenaeum” and preserved the somewhat distinctive character of his business to the end.”

Joseph Hill, The Book Makers of Old Birmingham (Birmingham: Printed at the Shakespeare Press for Cornish Bros., 1907). http://books.google.com/books?id=MmEbAQAAMAAJ

The Encyclopedia of Ephemera: a guide to the fragmentary documents of everyday life for the collector, curator, and historian by Maurice Rickards; edited and completed by Michael Twyman, with the assistance of Sally De Beaumont and Amoret Tanner (New York: Routledge, 2000). Graphic Arts: Reference Collection (GARF) Oversize NC1280 .R52 2000q

The Elysium of Animals: A Dream

“The Knacker’s Yard,” by George Cruikshank (1792-1878), second state, in Egerton Smith, The Elysium of Animals: a Dream (London: J. Nisbet … 1836). Frontispiece by W. Harvey, the other illustration by Cruikshank. Originally published in The Melange. Prospectus of the Late Association for Promoting Rational Humanity towards the Animal Creation, and of its quarterly periodical, The Voice of Humanity, issued together. Arts Collection (GA) Cruik 1836.9. Gift of Richard Waln Meirs, Class of 1888.
The Knacker’s Yard, First state. (c) British Museum

The Monthly Review for 1836 commented on the book,

“That the author has succeeded in his endeavour to exhibit to the reader the odious character of wanton severity towards the lower animals, in a more forcible light than the common observer would discover for himself we admit. He has also put the subject upon such a ground, and treated it in such a shape as will naturally arouse the attention of the young, and the unreflecting. At the same time, we feel that he sometimes pitches his appeals too high, and that thereby he has run the risk of defeating the very object he had in view. For instance – and we care not by what human authority he backs his conjecture – it seems to us quite unnecessary, in pleading in behalf of the inferior animals, to suppose that they may enjoy a future state of existence.”

Cohn 758: Egerton Smith, The Elysium of Animals. A Dream. 8vo. London: J.Nisbet, Berners Street. 1836. Etched plate at p.83 of “The Knacker’s Yard” in second state (see note to no. 825). There is a frontispiece by W. Harvey.

Cohn 825: The Voice of Humanity: For the Communication and Discussion of all Subjects Relative to the Conduct of Man towards the Inferior Animal Creation. 3 Vols. 8vo. London: J. Nisbet, Berners Street. 1830-1833. The first volume was issued in four quarterly parts, the second and third volumes in white-grey printed cloth boards. The title of the second and third volume was changed to The Voice of Humanity: for The Association for Promoting Ratinal Humanity toward the Animal Creation. In the second volume the publishers’ name upon the title is spelt “Nisbett” instead of Nisbet as in the first and third volumes.

Part 4 of Vol. 1 contains the famous etching of “The Knacker’s Yard” in its first state before its alteration; and the same plate, in the second state, with the addition of more chickens, the notice, and writing above the window, in the centre of the plate, is at p.134 of Vol. 4. Douglas states that there is a still earlier state of the plate with the date at the bottom of the plate in the right-hand corner, and this state should be in Part 4 of Vol. 1. I am very doubtful of this, however, especially as he gives the date 1931, instead of 1830. Certainly it is not so in my copy of the parts, which belonged to Mr. Truman, and in which he has placed an autograph note, stating it to be first state, while the etching in Vol. 3 he designates second state. I have never seen copies with the date as mentioned by Doubglas. The plate appears int he second state in ‘The Melange,’ ‘The Elysium of Animals,’ and ‘Address of Earl Stanhope,’ . . .”

4 Japanese Rhythms

In 1933, while most Greenwich Village residents were struggling to pay their rent and feed their families, Lew Ney (Luther Widen, 1886-1963) divided his time between fund raising and typesetting fine press poetry.

The sale of his latest newssheet, The Sunday Bruncheon: Another wee magazine done by Lew Ney (1932-1933) funded his Sunday Breakfast Club, where free meals were offered throughout the day to the neighborhood writers and artists.

Around once a month, Lew Ney designed, printed, and published a letterpress edition commissioned by a local poet, under the imprint Parnassus Press. One of the most lyrical and visually appealing was 4 Japanese Rhythms by Sadakichi Hartmann (1867-1944), typeset in a coldwater studio on Furman Street, along the Brooklyn waterfront. The edition of 100 copies was advertised at the inexpensive cost of $1, with the overly optimistic comment “and hurry-hurry or they will all be gone.” Today, only Princeton University Library holds a copy of this book by a noted art historian and poet (donated by Lew Ney), leaving the actual print run in doubt.

Hartmann’s book was followed by 8 Bells by John Cabbage, one of several volumes Lew Ney published for the New York City sanitation inspector who spent his days among the garbage scows on the East River. Cabbage’s fine press editions are surprisingly well represented in academic libraries across the country, including Princeton.

The New York Herald Tribune failed to review either book, preferring to comment on Lew Ney himself, always a figure of public interest. “Lew Ney and Ruth Willis Thompson have moved their private press over to Brooklyn and set up housekeeping with a ship’s bell, a spinning wheel, shaker chairs, and skis. . . contributions of cash or provisions are invited, to help feed the hungry literati who come in on Sundays… this is not a joke; actual relief is being given.” (“Turns with a Bookworm,” New York Herald Tribune, March 5, 1933).
See also: Rudolf Eickemeyer (1862-1932), Winter, introduction by Sadakichi Hartmann (New York: R. H. Russell, 1903). Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) Oversize 2006-1032Q

Sadakichi Hartmann (1867-1944), 4 Japanese rhythms (Brooklyn: Parnassus Press [1933]). Graphic Arts collection in process

Adler Prize Winners 2014

Jacob Scheer ‘2015 and Rory Fitzpatrick ‘2016 at the Friends of the Princeton University Library’s 2014 winter dinner.

The winners of the 2014 Elmer Adler Undergraduate Book Collecting Prize were announced at the Friends of the Princeton University Library’s winter dinner on January 26, 2014. The committee awarded first and second prize as well as two third prizes.

THIRD PRIZE was awarded to Jacob Scheer, class of 2015, for his essay “Stopping Climate Change: One Book at a Time.” In his essay, Jacob talks about book collecting as an environmental activist. Jacob likes to give hard-won volumes books from his collection away to young environmentalists in the interest both of sustainability and to inspire new readers. As he explains,

“I believe that this ‘revolving door’ book collection of mine could serve as a model for other social activist-book collectors… the best gift one can give is the gift of knowledge and I have never felt that as strongly as I do now that I have this powerful tool for creating social change.”

Jacob received a check for $1000 and the book The Two-Mile Time Machine: Ice Cores, Abrupt Climate Change, and Our Future by Richard B. Alley.

THIRD PRIZE was also awarded to Noah Fishman, class of 2016, for his essay “Collecting Tunes: My Musical Passport.” Noah collects volumes of folk tunes from all over the world in order to learn, perform, and experiment with the music. In his words,

“My collection of tune books is my musical passport. It gives me license, resources, the inspiration to dive into melodies from different cultures, and no matter how often I flip open a book of tunes, there’s always something new for me to discover in my collection.”

Noah received a check for $1000 and the book The American Popular Ballad of the Golden Era, 1924-1950: A Study in Musical Design by Allen Forte.

SECOND PRIZE went to Kamna Gupta, class of 2014, for her essay “Pour aimer comme l’on doit aimer: a musical autobiography.” Kamna, who is herself a conductor and composer, collects sheet music. In her essay, she quotes a French choral piece to capture the essence of his collection (Kamna’s translation): “And to love / The way you’re supposed to love / When you really love, / Even in a hundred years, / I will not have the time, I will not have the time.” She explains that “This song never was about the limit of time, but rather about the abundance of wonderful things in the world, so much so that even in one hundred years we cannot truly appreciate all of them.”

Kamna received a check for $1500 and the book Unsung Voices: Opera and Musical Narrative in the Nineteenth Century by Carolyn Abbate.

FIRST PRIZE was awarded to Rory Fitzpatrick, class of 2016, for her essay “The search for the shape of the universe, one book at a time.” Rory has accumulated a 200 titles-strong collection of science-themed books ranging from fiction to biography. It is complemented by a small collection of scientific instruments that includes an abacus, various slide rules, a compass, a scale, and a sextant. In her essay, Rory says what drew her to the topic is that

“there’s character development as we define principles and axioms, then the plot rises as you start to make calculations…. Sometimes, you begin to see where the plot is headed…but other times, the result can sneak up on you… and suddenly, your picture of the world is a little more complete.”

Rory received a check for $2000 and the book The Mathematical Career of Pierre de Fermat, 1601-1665 by Michael Sean Mahoney (updated 2nd edition, which covers the solution to Fermat’s Last Theorem).

Congratulations to all our winners.
Regine Heberlein, Administrator of the Adler Prize and Processing Archivist, Rare Books & Special Collections Department

Mary Darly

darly learned antiquarians2

The Learned Antiquarians Puzzl’d (by an English Epitaph), January 1, 1770. Etching. Published by Mary Darly in Darly’s Comic Prints. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2014- in process. Four antiquarians puzzled by an inscription, which reads: Beneath this stone reposeth Claud Coster, tripe-seller of Impington, as doth his consort Jane.

The Graphic Arts Collection recently acquired an album of eighteenth-century caricatures published by MDarly. Mary Darly (active 1757-1776) and Matthew Darly (ca.1720-1781 or later) married around 1760 and together, ran an active London printshop. Their advertisement read: “where may be had the greatest Variety of Comic Prints by several Ladies, Gentlemen, and the most Humourous Artists.”

According to the British Museum, most prints inscribed MDarly are published by Mary Darly, while Matthew acted as the shop’s engraver. It is unfortunate that the museum chose “for simplicity” to list all these works under only the husband’s name. Mary Darly’s responsibility is further confirmed with the British Museum’s title page for Darly’s Comic-Prints, which specifies “Pubd by Mary Darly.”

Our volume, an amalgamation of several series with no title page, contains 78 prints on 47 leaves (including some not held by the British Museum). Our earliest print dates from 1770 and the collection includes one print by Henry Bunbury not published by Darly. A number of them are after designs by Richard St. George Mansergh St. George, who worked with the Darly’s during the 1770s.

Chevalier de l’Etoil Polaire, March 7, 1773. Etching. Published by Mary Darly, in Darly’s Comic Prints. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2014- in process. Inscribed: “From North to the South, I came forth right, / By favor in duplici modo a Knight, / In primis an Ass, secundus a Bear, / The one is a Fact, the other is Fair.”

According to Dorothy George’s Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum this is a “satire on Sir William Chambers, illustrating in detail Mason’s ‘Heroic Epistle to Sir William Chambers, Knight,…’, which had just appeared and opens Knight of the Polar Star. It is both a political satire and an attack on Chambers’ Dissertation on Oriental Gardening and on the Chinese pagoda which he had built at Kew for the Princess Dowager of Wales.” The print is signed with two fictitious names, Juen-Ming del and Li Tson sculpt.

After Richard St. George Mansergh St. George (1750-1798), An Old Macaroni Critic at a New Play, November 16, 1772. Etching. Published by Mary Darly, in Darly’s Comic Prints. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2014- in process. The book on the floor is inscribed: “The Critical Quadrant or Rules for Judging of the Sublime in Tragedy by Benj. Bombas.”

After Richard St. George Mansergh St. George (1750-1798), Matthew Manna, A Country Apothecary, October 11, 1773. Etching. Published by Mary Darly, in Darly’s Comic Prints. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2014- in process.

The Connoiseurs. The Head is undetermined, some taking it for Julius Caesar, some for Holifernes, others for an Antideluvian Law-Giver &c., September 1, 1771. Engraving. Published “by MDarly, Engraver, Strand, where may be had the greatest Variety of Comic Prints by several Ladies, Gentlemen, and the most Humourous Artists” in Darly’s Comic Prints. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2014- in process.

The Macaroni Cauldron, March 9, 1772. Etching. Published by Mary Darly, in Darly’s Comic Prints. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2014- in process. Inscribed with four lines from the Epilogue to the Grecian Daughter and lines from Macbeth on the table cloth.

A Macaroni French Cook, August 9, 1772. Etching. Published by Mary Darly in Darly’s Comic Prints. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2014- in process.

Sir Robert Ker Porter

Giovanni Vendramini (1769-1839) after drawings by Robert Ker Porter (1777-1842), A Series of Engravings after Drawings … from the Celebrated Odes of Anacreon, translated by Thomas Moore, Esq. (London: John P. Thompson, [1805]). Soft-ground etchings.
Graphic Arts Collection 2014- in proces

This suite of 26 soft-ground etchings by Giovanni Vendramini reproduces the drawings of Sir Robert Porter. The plates are variously dated 1803 to 1805 although Porter may have begun the drawings as soon as the Moore translation was published in 1800.

The Scottish artist Sir Robert Ker Porter (1777-1842) had an international life and career. He served with the British army in Spain before being knighted by Gustav IV of Sweden (1806); by the Prince Regent (1813); and receiving the order of the Lion and the Sun by the Qajar ruler Fath Ali Shah.

Give Me the Harp of Epic Song by Anacreon (570-488 B.C.E.) translated by Thomas Moore

Give me the harp of epic song,
Which Homer’s finger thrill’d along;
But tear away the sanguine string,
For war is not the theme I sing.

Proclaim the laws of festal rite,
I’m monarch of the board tonight;
And all around shall brim as high,
And quaff the tide as deep as I!

And when the cluster’s mellowing dews
Their warm, enchanting balm infuse,
Our feet shall catch th’ elastic bound,
And reel us through the dance’s round.

Oh Bacchus! we shall sing to thee,
In wild but sweet ebriety!
And flash around such sparks of thought,
As Bacchus could alone have taught!

Then give the harp of epic song,
Which Homer’s finger thrill’d along;
But tear away the sanguine string,
For war is not the theme I sing!

Anacreon (570-488 B.C.), Odes of Anacreon, translated into English verse with notes by Thomas Moore (London: Printed for John Stockdale, 1800). Rare Books: Oversize (Exov) 2571.2800

The Life, Death, and Miracles of Saint Francis of Paula

Les figures et l’abrégé de la vie, de la mort et des miracles de S. François de Paule instituteur et fondateur de l’ordre des minimes recueillies de la Bulle de Léon X et des enquestes faites pour procéder à sa canonization. Text by Antoine Dondé (Paris: François Muguet, 1664). Engraved vignettes by Adriaen Lommelin (1637?-1673), Nicolas de Poilly (1627-1696), F. Campion, Abraham Bosse (1602-1676) Jean Bollanger (1607-16??); Michael Noël Natalis (1610-1668); Etienne Picart (1632-1721); Nicolas Pitau (1632-1671); Pierre Petit; Gérard Scotin (1643-1716); and Antony van der Does (1606-1680). Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2014- in process

Bound with: Antonio Tempesta (1555-1530), Vita et miracula D. Bernardi Clarevallensis abbatis (1587) and Les Portraits de quelques personnes signalées en piété … (1668). More about these in other posts.

The Graphic Arts Collection recently acquired three books bound as one, each book presenting a set of engraved plates depicting the life of one or more saints. This post shows the second book with an incomplete life of Saint Francis of Paula (1416-1507). Our volume holds only 8 plates with 4 scenes each offering a total of 32 scenes. The complete copy in the Bibliothèque nationale shows 20 plates with a total of 80 scenes, along with preparatory material. http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8452395k

The project is closely related to Jacques Callot’s Les images de tous les saincts et saintes de l’année completed almost thirty years earlier. The Fine Art Museums of San Francisco have a nice set of these: http://art.famsf.org/jacques-callot/st-phocas-martyr-march-5-st-theophilus-bishop-march-5-st-conon-martyr-march-6-sts

At the age of fourteen, Francis returned to Paula. “…he selected a retired spot on his father’s estate, and there lived in solitude…. Here he remained alone for about six years giving himself to prayer and mortification. In 1435 two companions joined him in his retreat, and to accommodate them Francis caused three cells and a chapel to be built: in this way the new order was begun. The number of his disciples gradually increased, and about 1454, with the permission of Pyrrhus, Archbishop of Cosenza, Francis built a large monastery and church.

…The rule of life adopted by Francis and his religious was one of extraordinary severity. They observed perpetual abstinence and lived in great poverty, but the distinguishing mark of the order was humility. …In 1474 Sixtus IV gave him permission to write a rule for his community, and to assume the title of Hermits of St. Francis: this rule was formally approved by Alexander VI, who, however, changed their title into that of Minims. After the approbation of the order, Francis founded several new monasteries in Calabria and Sicily. He also established convents of nuns, and a third order for people living in the world, after the example of St. Francis of Assisi.
–Hess, Lawrence. “St. Francis of Paula.” The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909.

Printed in Hopewell, New Jersey

C.K. Williams, Sixty ([Hopewell, New Jersey]: Pied Oxen Printers, 2014). Printed by David Sellers. Copy 4 of 60. Graphic Arts Collection 2014- in process

On the afternoon of 9 March 2014, pianist Richard Goode and poet C.K. Williams took the stage of the Richardson Auditorium in Princeton University’s Alexander Hall. The event, billed as “A recital with poetry,” sold out almost immediately and every seat in the auditorium was filled.

Williams, only recently retired from Princeton University, read his poem “Beethoven Invents the Species Again,” which he wrote for the occasion. In addition, he read from his most recent collection of poems All at Once (New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 2014), including the series that is shown here, first published as Sixty. Goode played ten pieces, including works by Schumann, Mozart, Chopin, Brahms, Bach, Janácek, and Beethoven.

The Graphic Arts Collection is fortunate to have acquired one of the limited-edition, fine-press copies of Williams’ Sixty, with prints by David Sellers. The artwork, letterpress-printed from type-high magnesium photo-engravings, was created by the printer from a detail of an original Edo period Zen Buddhist hanging scroll: a negative mirror image for the title page, the original sumi-e ink design following the title poem, and an overlapping image at the center of the book.

Princeton Magazine published a profile of the Sellers’ press nearby in Hopewell, New Jersey, and you can read the article at: http://www.princetonmagazine.com/pied-oxen-printers-the-art-of-devotion/

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