Category Archives: Acquisitions

new acquisitions

Self-Portrait by Guy Davenport, age 19

Guy Davenport (1927-2005), Self-Portrait, 1946. Oil on board. Graphic Arts Collection. Gift of Jacqueline Brown, given in honor of Clarence Brown. Reproduced with permission from the Davenport estate.

Thanks to the generous donation of Jacqueline Brown, we have acquired of a wonderful 1946 self-portrait by the American essayist, fiction writer, poet, translator, and painter Guy Davenport (1927-2005). The painting had been a gift by the artist to Clarence Brown (1929-2015), professor of comparative literature at Princeton University, who was a classmate of Davenport’s at the Anderson Boys’ High School in South Carolina and his life-long friend.

The recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “genius award,” also named a Distinguished Professor at the University of Kentucky, Davenport is remembered more for than his fifty published books than his visual art. Happily, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt titled his obituary for the New York Times, “Prolific Author and Illustrator.”

In his remembrance, Roy Behrens, University of Iowa, wrote, “Guy had drawn and painted since childhood (at age eleven, he had started an amateur newspaper in his hometown of Anderson, South Carolina, for which he wrote and also drew the pictures for all of the stories). As an adult, he used a crow quill pen to create the accompanying images for his own and the writings of others (I think the first of these I saw were in Hugh Kenner’s The Counterfeiters), in which he nearly always used a tedious method called “stippling” (still used today in scientific illustration), which is the “line art” equivalent of Georges Seurat’s pointillism.”

Davenport drew illustrations for Hugh Kenner’s The Stoic Comedians (1962) and The Counterfeiters (1968), as well as his own publications, Tatlin!: Six Stories (1974); Da Vinci’s Bicycle: Ten Stories (1979); Apples and Pears and Other Stories (1984); The Lark (1993); and Flowers and Leaves (1961). A prolific author, if we have missed some, please let us know.

For more, see Erik Anderson Reece, A Balance of Quinces (1996), Rare Books: Leonard Milberg Coll. of American Poetry (ExRML) PS3554.A86 B34 1996; the only book so far about Guy as a visual artist.

Also The Guy Davenport reader; edited and with an afterword by Erik Reece (Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint, [2013]). Firestone Library (F) PS3554.A86 A6 2013

 

For more author’s portraits in the Graphic Arts Collection, see https://blogs.princeton.edu/graphicarts/2009/12/the_authors_portrait.html

 

A (new) Modest Proposal


Jonathan Swift, Gerald Scarfe, and Fintan O’Toole, A Modest Proposal, 2017. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2017- in process


To celebrate the 350th anniversary of the birth of Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), Stoney Road Press has published a limited, boxed edition of the satirical essay A Modest Proposal, illustrated with three etchings by satirical cartoonist Gerald Scarfe and an introduction by Fintan O’Toole, The Irish Times literary editor and Princeton University Visiting Lecturer in Theater; Acting Chair, Fund for Irish Studies (Spring 2018).

A launch party was held June 17 at the Dalkey Book Festival, hosted by O’Toole, His remarks were followed by a reading of Swift’s essay by actor Nick Dunning.

It was noted that  Dunning got further than Peter O’Toole did in 1984. As Fintan O’Toole wrote, “When the Gaiety Theatre held a gala performance to mark its reopening after refurbishment, Peter O’Toole was invited to do the opening turn. Presumably, the expectation was that he would do a bit of Shakespeare, perhaps, or a Yeats poem. He decided to read, slowly and deliberately, Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal, with its suggestion that the children of the Irish poor be sold as food for their landlords, ‘who, as they have already devoured most of the parents, seem to have the best title to the children.’ Some members of the dress-suited audience began to heckle; others walked out. RTÉ, which was broadcasting the show live, cut O’Toole off in the middle of the reading and went to an ad break.“ –Fintan O’Toole, “The Genius of Creative Destruction,” New York Review of Books, December 19, 2013

 

 

 

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People from being a Burthen to Their Parents or the Country: and for Making Them Beneficial to the Publick ([London]: Dublin, printed, and reprinted at London, for Weaver Bickerton, in Devereux-Court near the Middle-Temple, 1730). Rare Books (RB) RHT 18th-587

 

 

 

“In the large body of stories about him in the collections of the Irish Folklore Commission,” O’Toole continued, “Swift is almost always ‘the Dean’ or, in popular pronunciation, ‘the Dane’. The name shows immediate awareness that he was a high functionary of the established, Protestant, Church of Ireland—an institution unpopular with the oppressed Catholic majority. Yet he transcends these sectarian divisions. He was revered by middle-class Protestants, who named inns and ships after him and built bonfires to celebrate his birthday. Catholics, meanwhile, attached to ‘the Dean’ many of the common trickster stories that circulated around Europe. Swift and his servant, usually called Jack, form a comic double act.”

Five Dials

http://dataspace.princeton.edu/jspui/handle/88435/dsp01zp38wg21x

Hamish Hamilton is one of London’s oldest publishing houses, founded by Jamie Hamilton in 1931. Home to authors such as J.D. Salinger, Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, W.G. Sebald and Truman Capote, their aim remains to publish the very best literary writers from around the world, from Alain de Botton to Zadie Smith.

They also publish the online literary magazine Five Dials, available directly to your email free of charge. To make the publication searchable and easily available to our students, the dspace (read digital) team and especially Kim Leaman, Special Collections Assistant V, is uploading the run into our catalogue. You can also use the permanent URL:
http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp010z709004v

Literary magazine is named after the old red-light area Five Dials in London—-notably the area Hamish Hamilton’s offices on 80 Strand overlook. In his Letter from the Editor, Craig Taylor writes “we’re hoping Five Dials will be a repository for the new, a chance to focus on ideas that might not work elsewhere, a place to witness writers testing new muscles, producing essays, extracts and unexplainables.” –Five Dials, no. 1, http://fivedials.com/

Each issue has a separate title and theme, such as no. 30: A Stranger Again (The Camus Issue) or no. 10, Celebrating the life and work of David Foster Wallace 1962-2008. The upload should be complete next week.

Special housing for Mr. Ervin

We recently announced a gift from Newcombe C. Baker III, Class of 1974, and his family, who donated his great-grandfather Spencer Ervin’s death mask. The material just returned from our conservation lab and we thought it might be interesting to show how this generous gift has been processed, making it ready for future researchers.

Lindsey Hobbs, Collections Conservator for Rare Books & Special Collections, had an acid-free custom box built to house all the parts to this gift together in one place. The box was designed with a drop-down side for easy access to the material inside. Special packing was created to cushion and separate the plaster mask from the original wood carrying case. Finally, individual boxes were built to house each of the extra plaster parts that came with Mr. Ervin’s death mask.


The mask will join the collection of life and death masks formed by Laurence Hutton (1843-1904). To see the other faces in this collection, take a look at the website built by John Delaney: http://library.princeton.edu/libraries/firestone/rbsc/aids/C0770/

 

The Kalevala

The Graphic Arts Collection recently acquired a small volume that probably should have been on our shelves many years earlier. First published in 1835, the Kalevala is complete in 22,795 verses, divided into fifty songs of Finnish folklore, compiled thanks to Elias Lönnrot (1802-1884).

This contemporary presentation of one section was printed in 1992 by the Maine artist David C. Wolfe, “arranged for oral presentation” by Anne Witten. The book has only 15 pages but they are beautifully printed letterpress with original woodcuts by Wolfe, bound in handmade cream and brown Lokta paper over boards.

This project was published at Wolfe Editions in the Bakery Studios on Pleasant Street in Portland, Maine. The building is also home to White Dog Arts, Peregrine Press, Art House Picture Frames, and 16 studio spaces making it a center for artistic activity in the city.

Many fine press books in our collection were printed by Wolfe, through his association with Anthoensen Press, Shagbark Press, Stinehour Press, and finally Wolfe Editions. Wolfe teaches letterpress printing from his own studio and the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, an international craft school located in Deer Isle, Maine.

The Kalevala: a Creation Myth ([Portland, Maine]: David Wolfe, 1992). Copy 12 of 25. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2017- in process

http://wolfeeditions.com/

Saint Savvas

Kyrillos (Cyril), Translation from the Greek: Saint Savvas, the Sanctified [Depictions from his life with, in foreground, monastery of Saint Savvas in Jerusalem]. Engraved at Mount Athos by Kyrillos, with expenses defrayed by Paisios, 1847, November 14. Engraving printed on cloth. 51.5 x 82.5 cm. (image: ~50 x 70 cm.). Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2017- in process

We recently acquired another printed icon of the monastery of Saint Savvas near Jerusalem, this one depicting the building compound and its early church patron saint (439-532) with scenes from his life. The engraving was made at Mount Athos by the monk-engraver Kyrillos or Cyril, with expenses defrayed by another monk, Paisios. The plate is now preserved in the Saint Savvas monastery in the Holy Land, presumably indicating that this work was commissioned as a religious souvenir for that monastery.

The inscription below the frame reads: This icon of our Holy and Sanctified Father Savvas was engraved with the assistance of the most holy Athonite Kyrios Hatzihilarion and defrayed by Kyrios Paisios monk and bursar of the same monastery 1847 November 14 hand of Kyrillos Monk of Athos.


This is the description that comes along with the engraving:

The triangular fortress-like arrangement of buildings comprising the monastery of Saint Savvas in Palestine lying beside a torrent bed fills the entire width of the lower part of the engraving. A tall tower stands at the apex of the triangle; the katholikon and domed sepulchre of Saint Savvas occupy the inner courtyard. Fifteen male figures stand on the ramparts of the monastery walls, lower right. In front of the monastery are two kneeling Arabs, two pilgrims on horseback, and a couple of monks. A cameleer stands with three camels in the stream bed; above them are two monks strolling, another on horseback holding an umbrella, and a youth. In the distance is a tower.

The imposing full-length figure of Saint Savvas stands at the rear of the monastery; with his right hand he gives a blessing, and in his left holds an inscribed scroll: “Whosoever conquers the flesh has conquered nature. He who has conquered nature has set himself over nature.”

On either side of Savvas is the inscription “Saint Savvas” and in the upper right-hand corner a small bust of the Virgin carrying a scroll with an inscription (not translated). Either side of the saint are eight miniature scenes from his life; they are accompanied by the following captions:

Left: The Fiery Column, Which the Saint Saw One Night in Church Saint Savvas in the Lions’ Den Miracle Worked By Saint Savvas Concerning the Camel the Dormition of Saint Savvas

Right: He Administers the Eucharist to the Tired Fathers through His Prayers, The Saint Enables the Martyrs in the Fortress to Escape the Saint Addresses the Emperor the Murder of the Fathers

Below the miniatures, on the right: Monastery of Saint Savvas; and on the left: Saint Savvas’ Brook

This is one of 23 known engravings by Kyrillos, the most prolific of the engravers of Mount Athos, who was working on the Greek holy mountain between 1834 and 1862. An engraving tradition began on Mount Athos in the last quarter of the eighteenth century, and continued until a ten-year hiatus over the Greek War of Independence. In the period following, to which our print belongs, a “distinctive Athonite style” – noted to be entirely separated from western engraving traditions – was achieved, which “was to persist unaltered, without any radical changes, until the end of the century” (Papastratou).

See: Dore Papastratou, Paper icons: Greek orthodox religious engravings 1665-1899 (2 vols., Athens 1990) 524-5 (#558), see also 27-31. Marquand Library Oversize NE655.2 .P3713 1990q

Post, then Publish

Last February, Cuban American artist Edel Rodriguez drew the image of Trump beheading the Statue of Liberty (left) and then, posted it on his various websites and feeds. It was downloaded and reproduced by protesters worldwide. After it was already public, Der Spiegel‘s art editor saw it and asked Rodriguez if they could use it for their upcoming cover. The rest is history and the most talked about design of 2017.

These issues are going out to be bound, covers included.
Time ([New York, etc., Time Inc.]) Firestone Library (F) DeLong Room (RACK-PR)
Der Spiegel (Hamburg: R. Augstein, 1947- Oversize AP30 .S654q. DeLong Room (RACK-PR)

Note, the artist has just posted a number of new designs online, which may turn up soon on paper and ink publications.

Time won the American Society of Magazine Editors Cover of the Year award for its Oct. 24, 2016, cover with art by Edel Rodriguez.

The word magazine shares a root with the medieval French word for a warehouse, a treasury, or a place to store ammunition. It suggests a container for that which is useful, valuable, sometimes dangerous. This is where we all live now, and why magazines matter more than ever. Last summer when candidate Trump was in a battle with everyone from a gold star family to leaders within his own party, I asked Time Creative Director D.W. Pine to help us find the image to capture this moment which he produced with artist Edel Rodriguez, which we returned to again in the fall after the release of the “Access Hollywood” tapes. In the end, that which melted returned to form, and won the day, and it is the story of a lifetime. It is unfolding hour by hour, week by week, tweet by tweet; he has come after us, he has come after us all, he has come after the very principles of truth and accountability, and we intend to cover, and uncover, and capture all of this, to speak to everyone, to listen to everyone, because what we do is useful, and valuable, and sometimes dangerous. —Time Editor-in-Chief Nancy Gibbs delivered the following remarks at the American Magazine Media Conference in New York in February 2017.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/edel-rodriguez-n752381
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/edel-rodriguez-trump-illustration_us_590cbdede4b0104c734eb8d9
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/02/03/trump-beheads-the-statue-of-liberty-in-striking-magazine-cover-illustration/?utm_term=.5293fa704dba

 

Ashadh Sud Poonam

 

July 4 is also Ashadh Sud Ekadashi (Devpodhi Ekadashi), the first day of Chaturmas (the four holy months). During these months, extra devotional observances are undertaken by Hindus worldwide.

Next Sunday, July 9, 2017, Guru Purnima (Vyas Purnima) is celebrated on Ashadh Sud Poonam, the day of the full moon in the month of Ashadh. According to Shri Swaminarayan Mandir [above], our local Hindu temple just down the road from Princeton, “On this day, Hindus remember Ved Vyas, the eternal guru of Hindu Sanatan Dharma, as he classified the 4 Vedas (Rig, Yajur, Sama, and Atharva) and wrote the Mahabharata and 18 Puranas.”

 

 

Guru, a Sanskrit word, comes from the root words ‘gu’ meaning darkness or ignorance, and ‘ru’ meaning remover of that darkness. A guru is one who removes our darkness in the form of ignorance.


See also: Hindu Gods ([India?: s.n., ca. 1850]. [78] leaves with hand colored drawings of Hindu gods. Copy formerly in the library of Caspar William Whitney. Gift of Hibben (Class of 1924) and Mrs. Ziesing. Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) ND2047 .H562 1850

 

The construction for the site of the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Robbinsville, New Jersey began in early 2010, around the same time as Firestone Library’s renovation. Chiseled entirely of Italian Carrara marble, the Mandir or temple was build in the Nagaradi style, standing 42 feet tall, 133 feet long, and 87 feet wide (68,000 cubic feet); only the third Mandir of its kind.

Spencer Ervin

In 1895, Spencer Ervin (1856-1897), on the board of the New York & New England Railroad Company, was given an honorary A.M. degree by Princeton University.

Two years later, Mr. Ervin died and a death mask was made for the family to remember him by. Recently, his great-grandson Newcombe C. Baker III, Class of 1974, and their family generously donated the death mask along with its original carrying case to the Graphic Arts Collection.

The mask will join the collection of life and death masks formed by Laurence Hutton (1843-1904), who was also given an honorary A.M. degree by Princeton University in 1897.

 


The makers of the death mask took special care to carve the mustache, eye brows, and hair into the cast of the face. They also took separate casts for the ears and carefully wrapped in the carrying case, we found extra plaster ears, in case the others were damaged.

Pickwick Papers Iconography

The image of Samuel Pickwick, the protagonist of The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, drawn and etched by Robert Seymour (1798-1836) had an immediate and lasting impact, reaching beyond the pages of Dickens’ novel. Seymour committed suicide shortly after the creation of this character and the iconography of the series—19 issues over 20 months between March 1836 and October 1837—went through several visual adaptations before it was completed. As new editions continued to appear, variant designs were used to present the words to the reading public, although none has yet to improve on Seymour’s original character.

No one understood the power of the visual image better than the advertising executive Samuel William Meek (1895-1981), Vice President at the J. Walter Thompson Company, who along with his wife Priscilla Mitchell Meek (1899-1999), collected Dickens. Mr. Meek helped build a worldwide advertising empire for the Thompson Company while manager of Thompson’s London office. He handled campaigns for the General Motors Corporation, Pan American World Airways, and Reader’s Digest among many others.

Meek assembled a collection of Pickwick iconography, including a unique binding proof, title pages, advertising designs, and subsequent promotional use of the Pickwick figures outside the world of literature. Thanks to the discerning eye of our generous donor Bruce Willsie, Class of 1986, two volumes of this valuable material have come to the Graphic Arts Collection. Here is a quick list (Pickwick Papers iconography ) and are a few samples: