Johann Geiler von Kaysersberg (1445-1510), Sermo[n]es prestantissimi sacrarum literarum doctoris Joa[n]nis Geilerii Keiserspergii, contionatoris Argetine[m] fructuosissimi de te[m]pore [et] de s[e]ctis accomodandi ([Strasbourg]: [Joannes Grüniger], [1515]). Bound in contemporary blind-stamped half pigskin over wooden boards with brass clasps, the book has been rebacked, preserving old spine. Provenance: early marginalia; Joh. Wigand (signature on title); collection of Arthur and Charlotte Vershbow; purchased from John Fleming, 1971. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2017- in process
The Graphic Arts Collection recently acquired one of several issues of the second edition of Geiler’s sermons, illustrated with the same unusual set of woodcuts representing danse macabre subjects that appeared in the first edition of 1514. Geiler, sometimes called the German Savonarola, was a “preacher at the Strassburg cathedral, who attracted huge audiences while advocating reform. Inspired by the ideals of humanism, Geiler composed and delivered sermons that were at once learned and passionate, and above all, accessible to a broad audience.” Carlos M.N. Eire, Reformations: The Early Modern World, 1450-1650 (2016).
The title page is printed in the dotted manner or manière criblée or Schrotblatt, a technique found in Germany and France in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, in which the design is created from punches or stamps on a metal plate. Seven woodcuts and numerous woodcut initials also decorate the book.
For more about the dotted manner technique, see also: Prints in the dotted manner and other metal-cuts of the XV century in the Department of Prints and Drawings, British Museum, edited by Campbell Dodgson …(London: Printed by order of the Trustees, 1937). Marquand Library (SA) Oversize NE55.L8 B709f
Sylvester Rosa Koehler (1837-1900), White-line engraving for relief-printing in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. [Dotted prints, gravures en manière criblée, Schrotblätter] (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1892). Marquand Library NE1000 .K7
Abraham Bosse (ca. 1604–1676), The Workshop of a Printer (detail). Etching, 1642.
Last year, Princeton University Libraries acquired Antony Griffiths, The Print Before Photography: an Introduction to European Printmaking, 1550-1820. Marquand Library (SA) Oversize NE625.G77 2016q. Described accurately as “a landmark publication . . . destined to be a leading reference in print scholarship.”
This week the companion exhibition, The Business of Prints, opened at the British Museum and was packed by noon. Rather than only show master prints, the Museum’s former keeper of prints and drawings has filled the cases with extra illustrated volumes, unique impressions, and sequential proofs never seen before. It is an exhibition no other institution could possibly mount.
One example is the prospectus Rudolph Ackermann printed for his publication Westminster Abbey. [left] There are two copies of the published volume at Princeton but not this print describing the project and requesting subscribers.
William Combe (1742-1823), The History of the Abbey Church of St. Peter’s Westminster: Its Antiquities and Monuments (London: Printed for R. Ackermann … by L. Harrison and J.C. Leigh, 1812). Plates signed by Augustus Pugin (1762-1832). “With … coloured plates after Pugin, Huett and Mackenzie.”–Dict. nat. biog. Marquand Library (SA) Oversize 14653.262q and Rare Books (Ex) Oversize 14653.262q
The making of a mezzotint. Where else can you see a proof of the fully rocked sheet?
One hundred and fifty curators, conservators, and historians met on Thursday 21 September 2017 at the Courtauld Institute, London, to view and discuss “Blocks Plates Stones.”
Twelve papers were delivered, including Huigen Leeflang of the Rijksmuseum seen here introducing the “curtain viewer” developed by Robert G. Erdmann, senior scientist at the Rijks, which allows you to compare differing impressions or a plate together with a print in the same image. The Metropolitan Museum of Art posted examples of Erdmann’s viewer that you can use online: http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2017/hercules-segers/segers-closer-look
In addition, there were nine object sessions with physical blocks and plates. Seen here are a selection of “printing blocks from the collections of Senate House Library” by Tansy Barton, Senate House Library. Nineteen posters introducing new and continuing projects were available with their creators. After today, the posters have been accepted into the newly established Poster House in Chelsea, New York City.
One thread throughout the sessions involved blocks prepared but never printed. Conference organizer Elizabeth Savage reminded us that William Morris never allowed anyone to print from his woodblocks but only from the electrotypes after them. The boxwood blocks for his Kelmscott Chaucer were wrapped up and packed away for 100 years to assure they would not be inked or printed. **Those 100 years are now over and the blocks, in the British Museum, might be available for printing (or at least photographing).
See the article written by Peter Lawrence in the August 15, 2015 issue of Multiples, the Journal of the Society of Wood Engravers, edited by Chris Daunt, for more information about Morris’s blocks. Princeton students note: This can be ordered through interlibrary loan and should not be confused with the Wood Engravers’ Network (WEN). The Graphic Arts Collection at Princeton has the archive for the Wood Engravers Network here:
Wood Engravers’ Network collection (1995- ). Consists of issues of Bundle, Newsletter, and Block & Burin, along with membership directories, supplier directories, announcements, and other related printed material. Grouped by date into folders labeled by Bundle issue number. Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) 2015-0046F.
Although you can take your chances at any cash machine, a visit to the Bank of England will get you the new £10 banknote celebrating Jane Austen (1775-1817), which entered circulation a few days ago. Like the £5 note already in use featuring Sir Winston Churchill, the new £10 banknote featuring the author of Pride and Prejudice is made from polymer.
The portrait is taken from a pencil and watercolor drawing by her sister, Cassandra Austen (1773-1845), made around 1810, now owned by the National Portrait Gallery of London. Their wall label describes this portrait as a “frank sketch by her sister and closest confidante Cassandra . . . the only reasonably certain portrait from life”. It is the basis for a late nineteenth-century engraving, commissioned by Austen’s nephew, which is featured on the new ten pound notes.
Cassandra Austen (1773-1845), Jane Austen, 1775-1817, ca. 1810. Pencil and watercolor. National Portrait Gallery PG 3630
Just over one billion polymer £10 notes have been printed ready for issue and an exhibition has been mounted at the Bank of England Museum to celebrate. One feature in the gallery is this geometric lathe by Herbert W. Chapman of Newark, New Jersey, produced in 1905. The machine was used to create the ornamental patterns that were used as security features on early banknotes. Today, the new bills have holograms and many other security features. The video below takes you through all the details.
This is the paper mould designed by William Brewer in the late 1840s to watermark 19th century banknotes. Brewer’s first waved line was the most important change (according to the Bank) to British notes at that period. Brewer continued to develop the watermark throughout the century with several additional copyrighted features.
Over the years, many banknote designs were proposed but never used. One such note was designed by Frederick Leighton for an Alfred Lord Tennyson bill, seen below. Like Tennyson, Charles Darwin is now moving out of circulation and by 2018, the bill will no longer be valid. You can spend it now or exchange it. A new £20 note featuring artist J.M.W. Turner will appear in 2020.
See also: Jane Austen (1775-1817), Pride and Prejudice (London: Printed for T. Egerton, 1817). Rare Books (Ex) 3612.1.373.1817
The copper plates used by Robert Havell, Jr. (1793-1878) for the 435 hand-colored aquatints in John James Audubon’s four-volume The Birds of America, came from at least three London companies. Plate marks have been found for the Hiam Steel and Copper Plate Makers off City Road, where both William Lizars, of Edinburgh, and Havell began buying their enormous plates. There are also marks for Richard Hughes, a copper plate manufacturer off Fleet Street, while still others were from Pontifex and Stiles in Soho.
William Hiam 1819? 1823-1856, Hiam & Sons 1857-1858, William Hiam & Co 1859-1873, William James Hiam 1874, William James Hiam & Son 1875-1916, William James Hiam 1917. At 9 Ratcliffe Row, Bath St, City Road, London 1823-1861, 195 Lever St, Bath St 1862-1891, 162 Lever St 1892-1911, 1 Ironmongers Row, St Lukes, EC 1912-1917. Also 13½ Exmouth St, Euston Square 1849. Steel and copper plate makers.
Richard Hughes 1820-1845, Mrs (Mary) Hughes 1846-1847, Miss Mary Hughes 1848-1850, Hughes & Kimber 1850-1874, Hughes & Kimber Ltd 1875-1909, Hughes & Kimber 1910-1940. At14 Lombard St, Fleet St, London by 1822-1825, 8 Peterborough Court, Fleet St 1826-1838, 107 Shoe Lane, Fleet St 1839-1856, 106 Shoe Lane 1850-1856, 5 Red Lion Passage, Fleet St 1856-1862, West Harding St, Fetter Lane 1863-1909, 3 West Harding St 1910, 9 Gough Square, Fleet St 1911-1940. Works, New Church Road, Mitcham, Surrey from 1880, Britannia Iron Works, Bury, Hunts 1881-1899. Copper and steel plate makers. Russell Pontifex 1802, William Pontifex, Russell Pontifex & E. Goldwin 1805-1811, William & Russell Pontifex (& Co) 1808-1813, Russell Pontifex 1814-1828, Russell Pontifex & Co 1825-1829, Russell Pontifex & Son 1826-1833, Russell Pontifex 1834 [subsequently Russell Pontifex and/or one of his sons seems to have traded with Stiles at 23 Lisle St and in changing arrangements (see below) at Upper St Martin’s Lane], Pontifex & Stiles 1835-1848, William Stiles 1840-1857. At 126 Bunhill Row 1802, 46-48 Shoe Lane 1805-1813, 5 Lisle St, Soho, London 1814-1816, 23 Lisle St 1813-1857, 22 Lisle St 1818-1819. Initially a watchcase maker, from 1806 copper plate makers and coppersmiths. Russell Pontifex & Co 1827-1829, Russell Pontifex & Son 1830-1834, Russell Pontifex 1834, Russell Pontifex & Co (apparently Pontifex, Farr and Yeowell) 1835-1836, Pontifex & Farr 1837, Russell Pontifex 1839-1841, Pontifex & Mallory 1842-1853, Russell Pontifex 1854-1859, Russell Pontifex & Son 1860-1868, Russell and Alfred Pontifex 1869-1872, Russell Pontifex & Co 1873-1885, Russell Pontifex & Son 1886-1892, Russell Pontifex & Co 1893-1915. At 15-16 Upper St Martin’s Lane 1827-1849, 14 Upper St Martin’s Lane 1851-1915. Copper and engineering works.
Convened by Dr Elizabeth Savage (Institute of English Studies), “This deeply interdisciplinary conference will survey the state of research into cut woodblocks, intaglio plates, lithographic stones, and other matrices/printing surfaces. It will bring together researchers, curators, librarians, printers, printmakers, cataloguers, conservators, digital humanities practitioners, and others who care for or seek to understand these objects. The discussion will encompass all media and techniques, from the fifteenth century through the present.”
Directions To Servants In General; And In Particular To The Butler, Cook, Footman, Coachman, Groom, House-Steward, And Land-Steward, Porter, Dairy-Maid, Chamber-Maid, Nurse, Lanundress, House-Keeper, Tutoress, Or Governess by the Reverend Dr. Swift, D.S.P.D.
“I have a Thing in the Press, begun above twenty-eight Years ago, and almost finish’d: It will make a Four Shilling Volume; and is such a PERFECTION OF FOLLY, that you shall never hear of it, till it is printed, and then you shall be left to guess. Nay, I have ANOTHER OF THE SAME AGE, which will-require a long Time to perfect, and is worse than the former; in which I will serve you the same Way.” Letters to and from Dr. Swift … http://jonathanswiftarchive.org.uk/browse/year/text_4_18_4.html
Jonathan Swift worked on a parody of courtesy or conduct books for nearly three decades and it was probably still unfinished when finally published. “Lock up a cat or a dog in some room or closet,” he recommends “so as to make such a noise all over the house as may frighten away the thieves, if any should attempt to break or steal in.” The book is hilarious.
This led to Jane Collier’s An Essay on the Art of Ingeniously Tormenting in 1753, which is basically an advice book on how to nag. The book came and went quickly but in 1806, William Miller chose to issue a new edition, with a frontispiece by James Gillray.
So popular was the volume that Thomas Tegg published an even newer edition in 1808, this time with a frontispiece and four other prints by George Woodward, engraved by Thomas Rowlandson.
‘Directions to the Cook’ from Directions to Servants by Jonathan Swift – Read by Sir Alec Guinness
Detail from George Woodward’s frontispiece (etched by Thomas Rowlandson)
Below, “Train up a Child in the way he should go / and when he is old he will not depart from it. -Solomon.” Left: hanging two cats from their feet. Lower left: Tying a bottle to a cat’s tail. Right: Feeding very hot cheese to a cat.–George Woodward
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), Directions to servants (Dublin: Printed by G. Faulkner, 1745). Rare Books (Ex) 3950.331
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), Directions to servants: in general, and in particular, to the butler, cook, footman, coachman, groom, house-steward and land-steward, porter, dairy-maid, chamber-maid, nurse, laundress, house-keeper, tutoress, or governess (London: Printed for R. Dodsley …, 1745). Rare Books: South East (RB) RHT 18th-581
Jane Collier (1715?-1755), An essay on the art of ingeniously tormenting; with proper rules for the exercise of that pleasant art, humbly addressed in the first part, to the master, husband… (London: Printed for A. Millar, in the Strand, 1753). Rare Books (Ex) 2015-0337N
Jane Collier (1715?-1755), An essay on the art of ingeniously tormenting: with proper rules for the exercise of that pleasant art : humbly addressed, in the first part, to the master, husband, … The second edition, corrected. (London: Printed for A. Millar … , 1757). Rare Books (Ex) BJ1843 .C64 1757
Jane Collier (1715?-1755), An Essay on the Art of Ingeniously Tormenting; with proper rules for the exercise of that amusing study. Humbly addressed, Part I. To the Master, Husband… Fourth edition (London: printed for Andrew Millar, in the Strand, 1753; reprinted for William Miller, Albemarle Street, 1806). Frontispiece by James Gillray.
Jane Collier (1715?-1755), An essay on the art of ingeniously tormenting. New ed., corr., rev. and illustrated with five prints / from designs by G.M. Woodward (London: Printed for Tegg … by Hazard and Carthew …, 1808). Engraved by Thomas Rowlandson. Graphic Arts Collection (GA) Rowlandson 1808
Jane Collier (1715?-1755), An essay on the art of ingeniously tormenting. A new ed., corr., rev., and illustrated with five prints, from designs by G.M. Woodward (London: Printed for T. Tegg and R. Scholey, 1809). Engraved by Thomas Rowlandson. Graphic Arts Collection (GA) Rowlandson 1808.11
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), Jonathan Swift’s directions to servants. With drawings by Joseph Low (New York, Pantheon Books [1964]). Cotsen Children’s Library (CTSN) Eng 20 39678
Save the date for an afternoon talk on Sunday, September 17, 2:00 p.m. in 101 McCormick Hall: “That’s So Annoying! Thomas Rowlandson and The Miseries of Human Life”
Graphic Arts Curator Julie Mellby will discuss Princeton University Library’s collection of satirical drawings by Thomas Rowlandson given by Dickson Queen Brown, Class of 1895, and their relationship with James Beresford’s 1806 comic bestseller The Miseries of Human Life. A reception in the Museum will follow.
Merton College Fellow James Beresford addressed his book “To the miserable,” and began:
“Children of misfortune, wheresoever found, and whatsoever enduring, –ye who maintain a kind of sovereignty in suffering, believing that all the throbs of torture, all the pungency of sorrow, all the bitterness of desperation, are your own…! Take courage and renounce your sad monopoly.
Dispassionately ponder all your worst of woes, in turn with these; then hasten to distil from the comparison an opiate for your fiercest pangs; and learn to recognize the lenity of your Destinies.”
As everyone is preparing for the total eclipse of the sun on Monday, August 21, 2017 (live streaming at https://www.nasa.gov/eclipselive) we pulled out the chromolithographs after pastel drawings by Étienne Léopold Trouvelot (1827-1895).
The French artist and astronomer moved to Boston in 1852 and through a Harvard contact, Joseph Winlock, he was invited to use their telescopes to make drawings, similar to what James Nasmyth and James Carpenter were doing in The Moon: Considered as a Planet, a World, and a Satellite (1874) https://www.princeton.edu/~graphicarts/2012/08/james_nasmyth.html
Records show he produced approximately 7,000 quality astronomical illustrations, 15 of which were reproduced as chromolithographs and published by Charles Scribner’s Sons in 1881. We keep the oversize prints separate from the text volume. There were so many layers of color printed to form these images, along with a top varnish, the sheets are slightly warped, as you can see in these reproductions.
Étienne Léopold Trouvelot (1827-1895), The Trouvelot Astronomical Drawings Manual (New York: C. Scribner’s sons, 1882). Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) QB68 .T8 1882 and GC167
Final note: Another online site mentions that Trouvelot’s pastels were exhibited “alongside Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone, Heinz Ketchup, the first commercially successful typewriter, and the torch-clutching right arm of the Statue of Liberty at the first World’s Fair in Philadelphia.”
The Valise, a collective artists’ project, unites seven South American artists—Johanna Calle, Mateo López and Nicolás Paris, Maria Laet, Rosângela Rennó, Matías Duville, and Christian Vinck Henriquez—with the Argentine writer César Aira. The project, published by the Library Council of The Museum of Modern Art, arrived this morning and we are still unpacking.
The works were made in response to the idea of travel and to Aira’s novel Un episodio en la vida del pintor viajero (An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter), with both the original Spanish edition (2000) and the English translation (2006) included. The novel concerns the surreal story of an 1837 journey through South America by the German painter Johann Moritz Rugendas, an associate of the explorer and naturalist Alexander von Humboldt.
Stored in a special valise or carrying case, the works include original prints, maps, artists’ books, airmail envelopes, origami toys, posters, a sound recording, and a hand-blown glass sculpture, all reflecting the artists’ shared affinity for geography, travel literature, and bookmaking.
The Valise was conceived, edited, and organized by May Castleberry, Editor, Contemporary Editions, Library Council Publications.
Latin American Studies and the Graphic Arts Collection are collaborating on the purchase of this very limited edition.
The Valise is published in a signed edition of 100 copies for the members of the Library Council of The Museum of Modern Art. A deluxe edition of 25 copies is available for purchase. (The deluxe edition includes hand-cut paper architecture by López; a second original woodcut print by Duville; a Paris design, hand-painted in metal leaf, on the carrying case; and signatures on many of the individual pieces.) An additional 10 artist copies of each of the two editions go to the artists and other collaborators.
*This is only a small selection of items included.*
In case you have not seen the announcement, registration is open for the Blocks Plates Stones conference, which has now been moved to the Courtauld Institute, London. https://www.ies.sas.ac.uk/events/event/12642
Organized by Elizabeth Savage (IES), with help from her committee Giles Bergel (Oxford) and Caroline Duroselle-Melish (Folger), this event is part of a 12-month British Academy Rising Star Engagement Award, ‘The Matrix Reloaded: Establishing Cataloguing and Research Guidelines for Artefacts of Printing Images.’
Speakers include Laura Aldovini (Università Cattolica; Cini), Rob Banham (Reading), Jean-Gérald Castex (Louvre), Rosalba Dinoia (independent), Neil Harris (Udine), Konstantina Lemaloglou (Technological Educational Institute of Athens), Huigen Leeflang (Rijksmuseum), Giorgio Marini (Uffizi), Julie Mellby (Princeton), Andreas Sampatakos (Technological Educational Institute of Athens), Linda Stiber Morenus (Library of Congress), Arie Pappot (Rijksmuseum), Elizabeth Savage (IES), Jane Rodgers Siegel (Columbia), Femke Speelberg (Met), and Amy Worthen (Des Moines Art Centre).
Object sessions and posters by: Constança Arouca (Orient Museum), Teun Baar (Apple), Cathleen A. Baker (Michigan), Rob Banham (Reading), Maarten Bassens (Royal Library of Belgium; KU Leuven), Giles Bergel (Oxford), Annemarie Bilclough (V&A), Chris Daunt (Society of Wood Engravers), Gigliola Gentile (Sapienza), Jasleen Kandhari (Leeds), Nicholas Knowles (Independent), Peter Lawrence (Society of Wood Engravers), Marc Lindeijer SJ (Société des Bollandistes), Anna Manicka (National Museum, Warsaw), Peter McCallion (West of England), Melissa Olen (West of England), Maria V. Ortiz-Segovia (Océ Print Logic Technologies), Carinna Parraman (West of England), Marc Proesmans (KU Leuven), Rose Roberto (Reading; National Museums Scotland), Fulvio Simoni (Bologna), Francesca Tancini (Bologna), Joris Van Grieken (Royal Library of Belgium), Bruno Vandermeulen (KU Leuven), Genevieve Verdigel (Warburg), Lieve Watteeuw (Illuminare), Christina Weyl (independent), and Hazel Wilkinson (Birmingham).
Johann Geiler von Kaysersberg (1445-1510), Sermo[n]es prestantissimi sacrarum literarum doctoris Joa[n]nis Geilerii Keiserspergii, contionatoris Argetine[m] fructuosissimi de te[m]pore [et] de s[e]ctis accomodandi ([Strasbourg]: [Joannes Grüniger], [1515]). Bound in contemporary blind-stamped half pigskin over wooden boards with brass clasps, the book has been rebacked, preserving old spine. Provenance: early marginalia; Joh. Wigand (signature on title); collection of Arthur and Charlotte Vershbow; purchased from John Fleming, 1971. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2017- in process
The Graphic Arts Collection recently acquired one of several issues of the second edition of Geiler’s sermons, illustrated with the same unusual set of woodcuts representing danse macabre subjects that appeared in the first edition of 1514. Geiler, sometimes called the German Savonarola, was a “preacher at the Strassburg cathedral, who attracted huge audiences while advocating reform. Inspired by the ideals of humanism, Geiler composed and delivered sermons that were at once learned and passionate, and above all, accessible to a broad audience.” Carlos M.N. Eire, Reformations: The Early Modern World, 1450-1650 (2016).
The title page is printed in the dotted manner or manière criblée or Schrotblatt, a technique found in Germany and France in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, in which the design is created from punches or stamps on a metal plate. Seven woodcuts and numerous woodcut initials also decorate the book.
For more about the dotted manner technique, see also: Prints in the dotted manner and other metal-cuts of the XV century in the Department of Prints and Drawings, British Museum, edited by Campbell Dodgson …(London: Printed by order of the Trustees, 1937). Marquand Library (SA) Oversize NE55.L8 B709f
