Anton Margarita (born around 1490) was the son of a rabbi who converted first to Catholicism and then became a Protestant. He published Der gantz Jüdisch glaub [The Entire Jewish Faith] in 1530, which had a second edition the same year and a third in 1531. Princeton recently acquired a copy of the rare 1531 edition.

Margarita illustrated his text, a sort of encyclopedia of Judaism, with the same series of woodcuts used by Johann Pfefferkorn (1469-1523) who similarly renounced Judaism and wrote about it in 1508. The cuts were designed for Pfefferkorn’s Ich heyss ein buchlein der iude[n] beicht, and twenty-two years later, possibly traced (laterally reversed) and re-carved. The cuts have too many small discrepancies to be printed from the same woodblock. The title page cut for Margarita’s book was designed separately and has been attributed to the German painter Jörg Breu the Elder (ca. 1475–1537).

          Ich heyss ein buchlein (1508) on the left and Der gantz Judisch glaub (1531) right

Margarita’s book and his misinterpretation of the Jewish traditions led to enormous controversy. The author was imprisoned and later, banished from Augsburg. For better or worse, his book was reprinted many times and was widely read.

R. Po-chia Hsia comments about it in The Myth of Ritual Murder: Jews and Magic in Reformation Germany: “The intention of composing The Entire Jewish Faith, as Margaritha informed his readers, was to depict the ceremonies, prayers, and customs of the Jews based on their own books; he wanted to “expose” the “false beliefs” of the Jews and to show how they curse the Holy Roman Empire and Christians in their liturgy.”

“Margaritha’s ultimate goal was the conversion of his fellow brethren to the new faith, which he himself had accepted. The main body of the book consists of a German translation of the liturgy and prayers used by the Jewish communities in the Holy Roman Empire, spiced with extensive commentaries on the history and meanings of Jewish feasts, ceremonies, and customs, lengthy diatribes against usury and rabbinic authority, and a cornucopia of anecdotes and descriptions of contemporary Jewish communal life.”

Ich heyss ein buchlein (1508) on the left and Der gantz Judisch glaub (1531) right

“For the first time, Christians could read in German the liturgy and prayers of Jews; find out in detail the observance of the Sabbath, the Passover, Yom Kippur, the performance of circumcision, [and so on]… The Entire Jewish Faith exerted a profound influence on the evaluation of Jews by the new Lutheran church: Luther read it, praised it, recommended it, and was confirmed in his belief that both Jews and Catholics were superstitious and relied foolishly on good works for their salvation.”–R. Po-chia Hsia, The Myth of Ritual Murder: Jews and Magic in Reformation Germany (Firestone BM585.2 .H74 1988

Johann Pfefferkorn (1469-1523), Ich heyss ein buchlein der iude[n] peicht (Getruckt zu Nurnberg [Nuremberg]: Durch herr Hansen Weissenburger, Im funffhunderte[n] vn[d] achte[n] iar [1508]). Rare Books (Ex) 1580.152 nos. 86-99. On the left

Anton Margarita, Der gantz Jüdisch glaub [The Entire Jewish Faith] [Augsburg: Heynrich Steyner], 1531. Six woodcuts. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2013- in process. On the right

Arnaud Sorbin (1532-1606), Bishop of Nevers. Tractatus de monstris [The Treatise on Monsters] Paris: Apud Hieronymum de Marnef, & Gulielmum Cavellat, 1570. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2013- in process.

The Catholic Bishop Arnaud Sorbin chose fourteen monsters to promote his religious faith. Fourteen woodcuts were designed to accompany fourteen short stories, all intended to entertain a general public audience.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines monster as “a mythical creature which is part animal and part human, or combines elements of two or more animal forms. Later, more generally, as any imaginary creature that is large, ugly, and frightening.”

Printed by Gulielmum Cavellat (died 1576 or 77) and Hiérosme de Marnef (1515-1595), these cuts include a variation of Martin Luther’s monk-calf (half man half donkey); the hairy female; conjoined twins; and other prodigious births thanks, according to Sorbin, to Protestant heresy. This is one of many 16th-century volumes featuring so called monstrous births. For others, see the New York Academy of Medicine’s Telling of Wonders site: http://www.nyam.org/library/rare-book-room/exhibits/telling-of-wonders/ter4.html#sthash.aAdBRqzt.dpuf

Princeton’s volume was owned in the 17th century by P. Marie Boschetti and later, by Dr. François Moutier (1881-1961), master of the French gastroenterology, laboratory head of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris (1946-1950).
                   

Le monde fantastique, illustré par Hadol (The Fantastic World, illustrated by Hadol) (Paris: Degorce-Cadot, 1874-75). Paul Hadol (1835-1875) illustrator and Léon Beauvallet (1829-1885) editor, Graphic Arts Collection 2013- in process.

Ghouls are nothing new nor is fantasy literature. This French periodical offered amazing stories for the whole family featuring witches, sorcerers, outrageous monsters, and tales of evil things.

The illustrator was Paul Hadol (1835-1875) who created designs for many 19th century magazines including Le Gaulois, Le Journal Amusant, High Life, Le Charivari, Le Monde comique, La Vie Parisienne and L’Eclipse.

Hadol, like many of his contemporaries, worked on a variety of commercial assignments including not so fantastic novels, posters, and advertising brochures. Our Cotsen Library holds an accordion folded alphabet book designed by Hadol: Le jardin d’acclimatation ([Paris]: Au Journal amusant, 20, rue Bergère : Et chez H. Plon, éditeur, 8 rue Garancière, [186-?]). 1 folded sheet 16 x 252 cm., folded to 16 x 11 cm. Cotsen Children’s Library (CTSN) Moveables 19 317.

A few of his plates are below. Note in particular the ghoul eating the heart of a just-married woman, reminiscent of The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli (1741-1825) from 1781.

Herman Mellville (1819-1891), Mobi Dik, ili Belyi kit [Moby Dick]. Москва: Gosudarstvennoe Izdatepbstvo Geografickoj Piteratury [Moscow: State Publisher of Geographical Literature], 1961. Graphic Arts Collection 2013- in process

In 1930, Rockwell Kent (1882–1971) completed the illustrations for a three-volume set of Melville’s Moby Dick for Lakeside Press. The deluxe edition of 1,000 sold out immediately and Kent’s images became firmly identified with Melville’s story.

Over thirty years later, Melville’s text was translated and published along with Kent’s illustrations in a Russian edition. It was thanks to the popularity of the artist rather than the author that led to this publication.

A radical Socialist who was an outspoken critic of Joseph McCarthy, Kent had to fight with the U.S. government for the right to travel outside the country. (The details of Rockwell Kent VS John Foster Dulles can be read at http://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/357/116)

Kent was not able to attend the 1957 opening of an exhibition of his work at the Pushkin Museum but after it closed, the artist donated several hundred of his paintings and drawings to the Soviet people. In gratitude for this gift, Kent’s Moby Dick was released in Moscow the following year. Kent went on to became an honorary member of the Soviet Academy of Fine Arts and was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize in 1967.

The Graphic Arts Collection recently acquired the first edition of the Russian Moby Dick in its original dustjacket. Along with Kent’s Illustrations the book includes a preface by A. Startsev and an afterword by V. A. Zenkovich. Here are a few of the pages.

Sergei Nikolaevich Khudekov. Istoriia tantsev. Chast’ I–III. [The History of Dance. Part I–III]. S.Peterburg (1913, 1914, 1915). Purchased jointly by Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies; Mendel Music Library; and Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2013- in process.

A survey of the history of dance written by the Russian dance critic Sergei Khudekov, who was also a collaborator with Marius Petipa on the libretto for the ballet La Badayère. These volumes were produced in a volatile sociopolitical and cultural environment: St. Petersburg at the end of the First World War, less than ten years after the 1905 Revolution and less than 5 years before the 1917 Revolution.

From a balletic point of view, Khudekov’s stock-taking of the history of dance appears at the time when Sergei Diaghilev was exporting a new Russian ballet that in many ways represented an aggressive departure from the academic narrative balletic tradition of which Petipa had been the most famous exponent.

Khudekov’s first volume, which covers the history of dance in the ancient world, opens with the declaration “Dance is the first chapter of human culture”, which is interesting given that it was published in 1913, the same year that the Paris première of Ballet Russes’ Le Sacre du Printemps scandalized its audience with the jarring primitivism of its rhythmic, tonal, and choreographic representation of pre-civilized man.

                        
Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies also collaborated with Graphic Arts on this delightful volume:

Beaumont, Cyril W. Impressions of the Russian Ballet 1918. The Good Humoured Ladies. Decorated by A.P. Allinson. London, C.W. Beaumont. (1918). Purchased jointly by Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies and Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2013- in process

A small book produced by the English bookseller and dance historian Cyril Beaumont with hand-done watercolor illustrations by the painter Adrian Paul Allinson. The book is a response to a 1918 London performance of the Ballets Russes production of Les Femmes de Bonne Humeur choreographed by Leonide Massine. The ballet, based on a Goldoni play with music by Scarlatti, was the first of Massine’s to be staged in London.

After the initial breach with Nijinsky in 1913, Ballets Russes impresario Serge Diaghilev had reinstated Michel Fokine as the company’s principal choreographer. Massine, who had been discovered as a dancer by Diaghilev in 1913, replaced Fokine and made his debut as choreographer with Le Soleil de Nuit in 1915.

Cyril W. Beaumont set up shop in 1910 in Charing Cross Road as a bookseller specializing in literary classics, but switched his focus to dance after being profoundly impacted by performances of Diaghilev’s touring Ballets Russes company. Beaumont documented his early fascination with the Ballets Russes in a series of short illustrated books, each dedicated to an individual production.

For the books in this series Beaumont worked with a number of artists, including Ethelbert White and Randall Schwabe. The Good Humored Ladies, with illustrations by Adrian Paul Allinson, is the second in this series. Among the many monographs on ballet written by Beaumont, who would go on to become one of the most important dance historians of the twentieth century, are two on the Ballet Russes: Michel Fokine and His Ballets (1935) and Diaghilev Ballet in London (1940).