Category Archives: Illustrated books

illustrated books

Die Quelle (The Source)

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The Graphic Arts Collection holds the second portfolio in the series Die Quelle, along with a set of pen and ink drawings for the series. These volumes provide color and gilt designs for books covers, wall papers, upholstery, and other decorative materials. Volume 2 is predominately the work of the Austrian artist Max Benirschke, while volume 3 (not owned by Princeton) was primarily the work of Koloman Moser.

 

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quelle 2dMax Benirschke (born 1880). Buchschmuck und Flächenmuster (Book Decoration and Patterns). Series: Quelle 2 ([Wien u. Leipzig]: Herausgegeben von Martin Gerlach, [1900]). 1 portfolio (30 leaves of plates) and 1 portfolio ([12] leaves of drawings). Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) Oversize 2006-0347Q and Oversize 2006-0026E
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Tracts and Satires on King George IV

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byron's corsair This note was published in Notes and Queries (October 1885) by Alfred Wallis:

A Catalogue of William Hone’s Publications is appended to The Political Showman at Home, 1821. This is a tolerably full list, and others may be found at the end of his various tracts. Pamphlets similar to those of William Hone were published about that period by Dolby, Fairburn, Robins, Johnstone, Benbow, &c. The brothers George Cruikshank and Isaac Robert Cruikshank found plenty of employment in drawing caricatures for these publications, and the work of the two artists is so much the same in style and manner at this epoch that one finds some difficulty in assigning the specimens to which no initials are affixed.

I believe that George Cruikshank alone illustrated Hone’s publications and Robert Cruikshank those of Dolby; but both the brothers worked for Fairburn and for Robins & Co. More information upon this subject will be found in the various biographies and bibliographies produced since the death of George Cruikshank. The artist is said to have asserted his claim to be considered the originator of some of Hone’s most successful publications, especially to the Bant Note—not to be imitated; it is, however, tolerably certain that this claim, in common with the pretence that every author with whom Cruikshank had relations “wrote up to” his designs, must be referred to a morbid exaggeration of his characteristic vanity.

The idea of publishing such a caricature, in the form of a bank-note, was attributed to Hone in all the public prints; and as it only illustrated an extended pamphlet “by the author of The Political House that Jack Built,” dealing with “the effects on society of the bank-note system and payments in gold,” the Examiner was most likely right in saying, “This bank-note is by Mr. Hone, and ought to make the hearts of the bank directors (if they have hearts) ache at the sight.” Some of Hone’s political tracts are common, others are very difficult of procurement in a perfect state; for instance, the step-ladder is rarely to be found with The Queen’s Matrimonial Ladder. A complete set is a valuable possession to the student of contemporary life and manners.

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life of billyMultiple copies of these and other rare tracts are held in various collections at Princeton, including this set in the Graphic Arts Collection given by Richard W. Meirs, Class of 1888. Although several sets are bound together, each title can be searched separately in http://catalog.princeton.edu. Such as:
A Groan from the Throne (London: Printed and published by John Fairburn, 1820). A satire in verse on King George IV, with woodcut title vignette by George Cruikshank. GA copy: No. 7 of a volume of pamphlets. Graphic Arts Collection (GA) Cruik 1817.28. Gift of Richard W. Meirs, Class of 1888
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Beardsley oddity

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Curt Moreck [pseudonym for Konrad Haemmerling, 1888-1957], Meister der Erotik in der Kunst (=Master of Eroticism in Art). Aubrey Beardsley. Ein Blatt zu Lukians wahrer Geschichte. Zwei Blätter zu Wilde’s Salomé. Juvenal geisselt das Weib. Ein Blatt zu Lysistrata Vignete … (Privatdruck, MCMXX [1920]). Graphic Arts Collection 2015- in process

The Graphic Arts Collection recently acquired a privately printed limited edition of prints by Audrey Beardsley. This small (229 × 225 mm) volume in a dark green paper wrapper holds five prints from different series and a few pages of text.

The item was ingeniously found by Simon Beattie, who notes that the previous year Haemmerling had produced a new German translation of Oscar Wilde’s Salomé, which was published, with Beardsley’s illustrations, by Heinrich Böhme in Hanover. Here, Haemmerling writes about sin and sensuality, championing Beardsley’s work for its “way of viewing the world and people with alarming insight.”

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Lettre de Dulis à son ami

mercier lettre3Louis Sébastien Mercier (1740-1814), Lettre de Dulis à son ami. Etchings designed by Gabriel de Saint-Aubin (1724-1780) (London and Paris: Nicolas Bonaventure Duchesne, 1767). Bookplate of the opera singer Emmy Destinn (1878-1930). Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2015-in processmercier lettre4

“A unique chronicler of bohemian Paris under the reign of Louis XV, Gabriel de Saint-Aubin was a marginal artist who roamed the streets of the capital his entire life, a sketchbook in his hands.

Since his rediscovery by the Goncourt brothers, admiration for his keen eye, liveliness of execution, sensuous use of materials and freedom of expression has never waned.”–Louvre 2008 exhibition.

When a second “corrected and enlarged” edition was planned immediately after this one, Saint-Aubin’s designs were removed and new plates created by the much sought-after artist Jean-Michel Moreau le jeune (1741-1814), who also illustrated the writings of Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

mercier lettre2                                          mercier lettre

Nagmusiek

musik africaanIs it a novel or a biography or an artists’ book hybrid? The three-volume set is from the wonderful South African publisher Fourthwallbooks. I will quote the prospectus because I could not do better.

Nagmusiek is a startling addition to contemporary South African fiction and biography. The book is both a scholarly study of the Afrikaans composer Arnold van Wyk and a work of fiction in which the author/biographer—who is and is not Stephanus Muller—highjacks his own literary undertaking. It is an extraordinary meditation on the art of biography, on South African classical music under the apartheid regime, and on the complicated relationship between life and fiction.

Van Wyk’s musical composition, for which this book is named, is a ‘modernist poem of loss, of pain, of flickering memory, of dignified death’. Muller sets out to explore Van Wyk’s work and in the process creates an epic and genre-defying work of his own. This is an important book, a profoundly scholarly undertaking that will be a vital contribution to the field of Van Wyk studies in South Africa, but at the same time a groundbreaking work of experimental fiction.

Stephanus Muller was raised in the Karoo and studied music and musicology at the universities of Pretoria, South Africa and Oxford. He teaches musicology at the University of Stellenbosch, where he is also the founder and head of the Documentation Centre for Music (DOMUS).

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musik africaan6Stephanus Muller, Nagmusiek (Johannesburg: Fourthwall Books, 2014). Graphic Arts Off-Site Storage RCPXG-8841451

 

Yeats

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The Graphic Arts Collection recently acquired a first edition of a 1935 selection of William Butler Yeats’ poetry, privately printed by the Cuala Press, 133 Lower Baggot Street, Dublin, for Eleanor Lady Yarrow. Its pages are, as yet, uncut and it is still bound in its original light blue paper wrappers.

Not only is our book one of only 30 copies printed by the poet’s sister, Elizabeth Corbet Yeats (1868-1940) but it is Miss Yeats’ own copy, with her bookplate inside the cover [pictured to the left].

The hand colored frontispiece [seen below] was designed by Dublin artist Victor Brown, a frequent Cuala Press contributor, then heightened with gold. Miss Yeats added hand drawn initials and ornaments throughout the volume.

The collection includes nine W.B. Yeats’ poems: “The Lover Tells of the Rose in his Heart,” “Into the Twilight,” “He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven,” “The Fiddler of Dooney,” “The Lake Isle of Innisfree,” “When You are Old,” “A Faery Song,” “The Song of Wandering Aengus,” and “The Pity of Love.”

This book is considered one of the rarest and most desirable of all the Cuala Press books (only one copy is known to have appeared at auction in the past thirty years) and we are thrilled to add it to Princeton University Library’s already extensive Irish collection.

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William Butler Yeats (1865-1939), Poems (Dublin: Cuala Press, 1935). One of 30 copies. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2015- in process.

For more on Elizabeth Yeats and the Cuala Press, see the exhibition website:
http://libweb2.princeton.edu/rbsc2/ga/unseenhands/printers/yeats.html

 

yeats poems6The Lake Isle of Innisfree
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin built there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine been rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

 

The Clipper Quartette

songerster bookletThe Clipper Quartette Songster: containing the first and only edition of these most elegant singers’ original songs now being sung by them throughout the United States … together with a number of the latest hits … (Pittsburgh, Pa.: American Publishing Company, 1883). Lyrics without music. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2015- in process

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In the fall of 1880, the Detroit Free Press announced, “The four gentlemen who disguise themselves under the title of the Clipper Quartette deserved what they received, round after round of applause and four encores to which they responded. Their Laughing chorus and going to the picnic were especially fine.” The Clipper Quartette was formed by [John] McIntire, Frank T. Ward, Campbell, and Hayward. They were billed as “the only organized vocal Quartette on the stage doing their line of business.”

Later, the Quartette worked for Thatcher, Primrose & West’s Minstrels, now including “sweet-voiced John P. Curran, Frank T. Ward, Al Hart and W. H. White.” By the 1890s, Curran and Ward were the listed as the 2 Clippers, performing as a duo.

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Congratulations to the students of VIS 415

class9Congratulations to the students in VIS 415, Advanced Graphic Design under the 2013-15 Princeton Arts Fellow Danielle Aubert, who held a launch party at the Princeton Public Library tonight.

class7Each student wrote, designed, and produced a complete book. In addition, a class book entitled Princeton Places, combined elements from each of the individual projects.

Each book uses both words and images to examine a different site in the area. The students made their own selection and researched the history, geography, and sociology of their chosen site, such as the Princeton Airport, Palmer Square, the Delaware and Raritan Canal towpath, the YMCA and YWCA, Princeton Running Company, and others.

class8Aubert’s fall semester studio course was structured around three studio assignments that connected graphic design to other bodies of knowledge, aesthetic experience, and scholarship.

VIS 415 always takes a local concept or event as the impetus for investigations. Last semester they took New Jersey, as a place and an idea, as a starting point. It was a nice complement to the Firestone Library exhibition of historic New Jersey maps.

We are happy to have acquired a copy of Princeton Places for the Princeton University Library and the Graphic Arts Collection. Hopefully, this will be the first of many books the students produce (even if they don’t sew every one individually).

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This spring, the students in VIS 321 will explore Words As Objects with Joseph S. Scanlan and Susan Wheeler. “This course will explore ways that language can take on material properties and how objects can have syntax and be “read”. Through studio assignments, readings, and discussions, students will investigate the idea of language as a tangible material that can be sliced, bent, inserted, reproduced, embedded, and scattered, as in the work of such modern artists as Guillaume Apollinaire, Susan Howe, Marcel Broodthaers, or Jenny Holzer.”

We wish them equal success and enjoyment.
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Bunbury’s designs after Tristram Shandy

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Henry William Bunbury (1750-1811), “The Siege of Namur by Captain Shandy and Corporal Trim” from Life and opinions of Tristram Shandy, gentleman, no date [1772]. Hand colored etching. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2011.00548.

 lwlpr03585 thomas_rowlandson_the_siege_of_namur_by_captain_shandy_and_corporal_tr_d5771657hUndated etching from the Walpole Library attributed to Thomas Rowlandson [left] and a drawing sold by Christies also attributed to Rowlandson [right]. After Bunbury’s design but note the difference on the door on the far right.

Laurence Sterne is “the most illustrated novelist of the eighteenth century,” writes Peter de Voogd. “The English language editions alone yield well over 1,300 different illustrations and the field is so vast that it must be subdivided.” [“Sterne and Visual Culture” in The Cambridge Companion to Laurence Sterne (2009)]. Sterne’s The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman was published in nine volumes, the first two appearing in 1759 and the last in 1767.

A series of etchings were designed in 1772 by the amateur draughtsman Henry William Bunbury, including “The Overthrow of Dr. Slop,” “The Battle of the Cataplasm,” “The Siege of Namur,” and “The Damnation of Obadiah.” This set was inspired by Sterne’s book but never bound with the text. They were published by James Bertherton in 1773; re-etched and published in 1799 by S.W. Fores; and then, lithographed in 1815-17.

Princeton’s Graphic Arts Collection owns several prints etched by Bunbury before the Bertherton edition, including one laterally reversed from the final published print. Although Thomas Rowlandson prepared two plates for a later bound edition of Tristram Shandy, they are different images, not the same as Bunbury’s designs.
bunbury shandy3Henry William Bunbury (1750-1811), “The Damnation of Obadiah” from Life and opinions of Tristram Shandy, gentleman, no date [ca.1772]. Hand colored etching. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2011.00546. Gift of Dickson Q. Brown, Class of 1895.

bunbury shandy4Henry William Bunbury (1750-1811), “The Overthrow of Dr. Slop” from Life and opinions of Tristram Shandy, gentleman, no date [ca.1772]. Hand colored etching. GA 2011.00547. Gift of Dickson Q. Brown, Class of 1895.

bunbury shandy2James Bretherton (active 1770-1781) after Henry William Bunbury (1750-1811), “The Overthrow of Dr. Slop” from Life and opinions of Tristram Shandy, gentleman, 3 February 1773. Etching. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2011.00506. Gift of Dickson Q. Brown, Class of 1895.

Beneath the design is engraved, “When Obadiah & his Coach Horse turn’d the Corner rapid, furious, pop, full upon him – nothing I think in Nature can be supposed more terrible than such a rencounter – Obadiah pull’d of [sic] his Cap twice to Dr Slop, once when he was falling & again when he saw him seated.”

 

bunbury shandy1James Bretherton (active 1770-1781) after Henry William Bunbury (1750-1811), “The Battle of the Cataplasm” from Life and opinions of Tristram Shandy, gentleman, 3 February 1773. Hand colored etching. Graphic Arts Collection, GA 2011.00505. 1773/02/03. Gift of Dickson Q. Brown, class of 1895.

Beneath the design is engraved, “Susannah, rowing one way & looking another, set fire to Dr. Slop’s Wig, which being somewhat bushy & unctuous withal was as soon burnt as kindled – You impudent Whore cried Slop (for what is passion but a wild Beast) You impudent Whore cried Slop getting upright with the Cataplasm in his hand – I never was at the destruction of any body’s nose said Susannah, which is more than you can say; – Is it? cried Slop, throwing the Cataplasm in her face – Yes it is cried Susannah returning the Complement with what was left in the pan”

A look inside Charlie Hebdo

image002Today’s issue of Charlie Hebdo sold out but the Irish Times posted a pdf of the centerfold. Here is a higher resolution version: http://www.irishtimes.com/polopoly_fs/1.2065387.1421224156!/menu/standard/file/CHARLIE_HEBDO.pdf. Additional copies of the weekly magazine are already being printed.