Printed in Blue

Alessandro Tassoni (1565-1635), La Secchia Rapita [The Captured Bucket]. Poema Eroicomico di Alessandro Tassoni Patrizio Modenese. Colle dichiarazioni di Gaspare Salviani, Romano. S’Aggiungono la Prefazione, e le Annotazioni di Giannandrea Barotti, Ferrarese; e la Vita del Poeta Composta da Lodovico Antonio Muratori Bibliotecario del Serenissimo Signor Duca di Modena (Modena: Bartolomeo Soliani Stamp. Ducale, 1744). Provenance: book plate of Marco di Carrobio. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2017- in process.

The War of the Oaken Bucket began late in 1325, when Malatestino dell Occhio, Lord of Rimini, led the Bolognese from Florence and Romagna to the fort at Monteveglio (12 miles west of Bologna) to regain a bucket of treasure stolen by the Modenese.
— https://www.warhistoryonline.com/military-vehicle-news/aerosan-war-sleds-red_army.html

Nearly three hundred years later in 1622, Tassoni published a mock-epic poem called La Secchia Rapita, which has also been translated as The Rape of the Bucket or The Stolen Bucket. Many translations and new edition followed, including two in 1744. The Graphic Arts Collection recently acquired the larger of the two, called “stimmatissima edizione” and “belle edition,” and one of the few copies with the plates printed with blue ink.


“The poem is pervaded by an exuberant, satirical, and often brilliant humor. There are passages in which the humor is sustained and cumulative, and others in which an apparent seriousness finds its climate in a sudden hilarious absurdity” (Ernest Hatch Wilkins (1880-1966), A History of Italian Literature (1974) (F) PQ4038.W5 1974 pp. 298-9).

Based on the life of Alessandro Tassoni by Muratori, this edition includes a commentary by Giovanni Andrea Barotti, and notes by the author written under the pseudonym Gaspare Salviani.

Many of the best artists of the period worked on this publication, including engravings by Giuseppe Benedetti (1707-1782); Andrea Bolzoni (1689-1760); Francesco Zucchi (1692-1764);
and Antonio Zuliani from designs by Bartolomeo Bonvicini; Domenico Maria Fratta (1696-1763); Pietro Gradici; and Francesco Villani, among others.

“Intaglio colour printing developed only gradually before 1700. Monochrome colour-printed engravings and etchings appear regularly from the fifteenth century, and some experiments with polychrome intaglio printing date from the time that chiaroscuro woodcut emerged en force in the 1520s…. The reasons for monochrome colour printing may have ranged from practical, such as to distinguish designs for goldsmiths (printed in yellow-brown) from those for silversmiths (printed in blue), to commercial, making the prints more attractive to collectors. — “Colour Printing in intaglio before c.1700,” in Printing Colour 1400-1700: History, Techniques, Functions and Receptions (2015).

 

See also:
Alexander Pope (1688-1744), The Rape of the Lock: an Heroic-Comical Poem in Five Canto’s [sic]. 2nd ed. (London: Printed for Bernard Lintott, 1714). Rare Books (Ex) 3897.374.11

Alessandro Tassoni (1565-1635), La Secchia Rapita; Poema Eroicomico … con le dichiarationi del sig. Gasparo Salviani [pseud.] el primo canto dell’ oceano nell’ vltimo corretti con gli originali (Bologna: Per G. Longhi [1670]). Editor: Paulino Castelucchio. Rare Books (Ex) 3138.01.38

Birds from Byzantium

 

 

Peter Lyssiotis, Birds from Byzantium = Pouliá tou Vyzantíou (Melbourne, Vic.: Masterthief, 2010). Text was written in 2009 at the Monastery of Mavrovouni in the Larnaca district of Cyprus. Greek translation by Andreas Psilides and Lefteris Olympios. Images by Peter Lyssiotis. Binding by Wayne Stock. Copy 17 of 18. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2017- in process

The artist writes “Birds from Byzantium has been made in an edition of [18] and has been printed duotone on Mohawk Superfine paper. The text has been set in columns, justified to both left and right with no regard to word breaks as this was one of the design elements of the earliest hand scripted Bibles. Sure it makes the text difficult to read but it also traps the eye and gives a nod to tradition.

The images are collages. As a backdrop they have a Bible commentary in Greek. The collages have been made so the text has a place to rest. On some pages there are drawings in ink by Lefteris Olympios. The binding is by Wayne Stock and has used aspects of Byzantine book design and place them in a contemporary setting: for example, the use of circles, the X, the use of gold, the [choice] of burgundy for the colour of the cloth and the bands on the spine.”

Peter Lyssiotis: http://www.australianphotographers.org/artists/peter-lyssiotis


See also:
Leonie Sandercock, Cosmopolis II: mongrel cities in the 21st century. Images by Peter Lyssiotis (London; New York : Continuum, 2003). Firestone Library (F) HT166 .S219 2003

Silent scream: political and social comment in books by artists: an exhibition, 26th September-26th November 2011, Monash University Rare Books Library within the Sir Louis Matheson Library curated and catalogue commentaries by Monica Oppen and Peter Lyssiotis (Sydney, Australia: Bibliotheca Librorum apud Artificem; Melbourne: Monash University Rare Books Library, 2011). Marquand Library (SA) N7433.3 .S545 2011

Printed Tobacco Wrappers

 

The Graphic Arts Collection recently acquired a bound collection of 19th-century tobacco wrappers from the Dutch-German firm of Hendrik Oldenkott.  The volume holds approximately 194 printed wrappers with a variety of images and text, printed on many different paper stocks, both plain and colored. Some are stenciled, some letterpress, and a few are lithographed.

Michael Twyman writes, “Tobacco was among the first commodities to be sold in printed paper wrappers… The design element of tobacco papers was normally confined to the centre of the printed sheet, which was large enough to accommodate varying quantities of tobacco. The earliest designs were in the tradition of the bookplate, but later they took on the characteristics of the trade card and were often printed from plates actually designed as trade cards.” –(Ephemera, p. 329)

According to the Oldenkott records at http://www.ngw.nl/heraldrywiki/index.php?title=Oldenkott

“Very little is known about the company. According to the albums the company was founded in 1760 in Amsterdam as Hermann Oldenkott, with since 1819 a subsidiary in Ahaus (Germany). Probably the factory had some other factories as well, as in 1838 August Kersten from Rees (Germany) bought the factories from Heinric Oldenkott in Elten (Germany) and Weesp (Holland). It is, however, not clear whether these were part of the same company as the original Oldenkott company.

This German company increased rapidly and became one of the largest German tobacco companies. In 1929 the factories from Hermann Oldenkott in Ahaus and Neuss (Germany) were bought by the German Oldenkott company. The German company also produced pipes since 1932. In 1972 the German company was bought by the Dutch company Niemeijer. Tobacco production ceased in 1974 and only pipes were still made. In 1987 the German pipe company was bought by the Kersten family again, but closed in 1992.”

Te souviens-tu

Warja Lavater (1913-2007), Te souviens-tu? [Do You Remember?] (Amsterdam: Da Costa, 1984). 16 panel leporello. Oblong folio, 22.5 x 12.5 cm, mounted between one split linocut block. Copy 11 of 20. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2017- in process

 

The Swiss artist Warja Lavater was in her 70s when she partnered with the Galerie da Costa in Amsterdam to publish two leporellos, beginning with Te souviens-tu? and a year later Roman (Novel). The first is a rare project in which Lavater departs from her use of “visual codes” to re-interpret well-known narratives and uses instead visual text to interpret a song.

The title references (among other things) to the nineteenth-century popular song “Do you remember?” and the printed words can only be read through the veiled verso of the folded sheets; just as our memories often seem hidden behind a veil. Each copy of the book was mounted between one of the linoleum blocks used to print the text.


The Graphic Arts Collection is fortunate to acquire this rare book, only the second in an American public collection. We have one other book published by Da Costa, titled Identikit 32 by Manuel S. Menán (1946-1994).

 

Verso

 

30 books in 4 inches

Graphic Arts Collection Hamilton 1429s

Sinclair Hamilton writes, “Many of these [woodcuts] will be found in the 1807 edition of The Looking Glass for the Mind, the cuts in which are probably all by [Alexander] Anderson and follow generally his cuts in the 1795 edition of the same book. Some of the cuts in the present volume bear his initials. Indeed it seems likely that Anderson was responsible for the majority of the engravings in these 30 tracts.”


1. Address to a child. New York New York Religious Tract Society, D. Fanshaw, printer, 1824.
2. Advice to Sunday school children. New York: New York Religious Tract Society, [1824]
3. Bread: the staff of life. New York: New York Religious Tract Society, [1824]
4. Dennant, John. The Sabbath scholar: showing how he was rescued from ignorance and vice, by means of the Sabbath school / by Rev. J. Dennant. New York: New York Religious Tract Society, [1824]
5. Eyes and no eyes, or, Eyes that see not: how to read the Bible aright. New York: New York Religious Tract Society, [1824]
6. Little Sally of the Sunday school. New York: New York Religious Tract Society, [1824]
7. Little Susan and her lamb. New York: New York Religious Tract Society, 1824.
8. Louisa’s tenderness to the little birds in winter. New York: New York Religious Tract Society, [1824]
9. Mary Jones, or, The soldier’s daughter. New York: New York Religious Tract Society, [1824]
10. Memoir of Miriam Warner. New York: New York Religious Tract Society, [1824]
11. Mischief, its own punishment: exemplified in the history of William and Harry. New York: New York Religious Tract Society, [1824]
12. Select verses for children. New York: New York Religious Tract Society, [1824]
13. Sherwood, Mary Martha, 1775-1851. The May-Bee / by Mrs. Sherwood. New York: New York Religious Tract Society, [1824]
14. Sherwood, Mary Martha, 1775-1851. The wishing cap / by Mrs. Sherwood. New York: New York Religious Tract Society, [1824]
15. The affectionate daughter. New York: New York Religious Tract Society, [1824]
16. The destructive consequences of dissipation and luxury. New York: New York Religious Tract Society, [1824]
17. The goodness of providence: illustrated in several interesting cases. New York: New York Religious Tract Society, 1824.
18. The happy cottagers, or, The breakfast, dinner & supper: to which are added: The shepherd’s boy, reading to the poor widow. New York: New York Religious Tract Society, [1824]
19. The happy man, or, The life of William Kelly; a true story. New York: New-York Religious Tract Society, [1824]
20. The happy Negro: to which is added: The grateful Negro. New York: New York Religious Tract Society, [1824]
21. The history of Sally Butler. New York: New York Religious Tract Society, [1824]
22. The image boys: translated from the French. New York: New York Religious Tract Society, [1824]
23. The Irish girl: being a very interesting account of Anne Walsh, a poor Irish girl: and her conversation with a lady who visited her. New York: New York Religious Tract Society, 1824.
24. The Lord’s prayer. New York: New York Religious Tract Society, [1824]
25. The orphan. New York: New York Religious Tract Society, [1824]
26. The remarkable history of Elizabeth Loveless, or, Fidelity and filial affection: examplified and rewarded; very interesting to all young persons. New York: New York Religious Tract Society, 1824.
27. The shipwreck: showing what sometimes happens on our sea coasts; also giving a particular account of A poor sailor boy. New York: American Religious Tract Society, [1825?]
28. The Vine. New York: New York Religious Tract Society; 1824.
29. The wonderful cure of Naaman: a general in the Syrian army. New York: New York Religious Tract Society, [1824]
30. The wreath. New York: New York Religious Tract Society, [1824]

 

 

Bilder-Zauberei

Bilder-Zauberei für Jung und Alt: eine unterhaltende Gesellschaftsspielerei [Magic Pictures for Young and Old, an Entertaining Paper Game] (Berlin: A. Sala, [ca. 1850]). Provenance: Helmut Bender (born 1925). Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) 2017- in process.

The Graphic Arts Collection has acquired a 19th-century magician’s blow book. The fore-edges are tabbed, making five different sets of pictures appear or vanish by riffling the pages in different ways. It comes with the note, “With a flick of the finger, the performer can make a range of images appear and then disappear. First time round you might see farm animals, the next time round it is playing cards, paper cut silhouettes, or type specimens.”

In trying to date this volume, note Antonio Vinzenz Sala’s Kunst-Anstalt und Spielfabrik was founded in 1845 and one of the illustrations bears the date 1848.






See also:
The enchanted scrap book exhibiting pictures which appear and vanish at the word of command (London. E. Wallis, Skinner Street [between 1830 and 1847?]). Cotsen Children’s Library (CTSN) Moveables 19 8065

Zauber-Bilderbuch = Livre de la magie graphique = The magic picture book = Libro magico = Magyarázat ( [Germany : s.n., 18–?]). Rare Books (Ex) 2015-0871N

Cuerpos Blandos

In October 1969, the Chilean sculptor Juan Pablo Langlois converted Santiago’s National Museum of Fine Arts (MNBA) into “en objeto de la primera intervención artística de carácter público” [the object of the first artistic intervention of a public nature]. The work consisted of a large nylon sleeve filled with diaries, which began on the second floor, circled through the balcony, descended the staircase, and exited through a window, where it was tied to one of the palm trees in the front yard.

Forty years later, this seminal Chilean work of conceptual art was recreated on the second floor of the MNBA and a facsimile edition of the exhibition catalogue was published with drawings and photographs documenting the project. Thanks to the support of the Program in Latin American Studies, we are fortunate to acquire the rare, limited edition re-publication.

According to the curator Ramón Castillo, the re-assembly of “Cuerpos Blandos” has a double meaning. “On the one hand, it is an exercise that activates in memory a key moment for contemporary Chilean art and, at the same time, points to an artist who turns his work into a collective action, since Langlois will receive the contribution of the public and the collaboration of art students for its execution, as well as allowing the public to appreciate the execution and installation process.”

“The Chilean sculptor, installer, and visual artist was born in Santiago on February 26, 1936. Between 1952 and 1962 he studied architecture at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and at the Catholic University of Valparaíso. He receives the influence of Joseph Albers, professor of the Bauhaus in a course of six months that the professor dictates in Chile. His first visual works are closely related to his training as an architect and consist of two-dimensional research on optical art.

At the end of the sixties, he abandoned this tendency to develop a conceptual work made of paper, cardboard and wood, where he emphasized the critical reflection of Chilean society. Finally, Langlois abandons in a radical way the use of traditional elements of art to openly inaugurate the practice of installation in Chile. Since 1969, his work has been exhibited on several occasions in the National Museum of Fine Arts, as well as in other galleries and museums in Chile and abroad. He has received distinctions such as the Third Prize at the VIII International Art Biennial of Valparaíso in 1987 and the Gunther Prize of Santiago in 1995, among others.”–http://www.mnba.cl/617/w3-article-8863.html

For more about Langlois: http://www.artistasvisualeschilenos.cl/658/w3-article-40063.html

Juan Pablo Langlois (born 1936), Cuerpos blandos [facsimile]. 21st edition ([Santiago, Chile]: Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, [2017]). Catálogo de exposición de arte. Purchased by the Program in Latin American Studies. Copy 18 of 21. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2017- in process.

 

See also: Juan Pablo Langlois Vicuña, De Langlois a Vicuña (Santiago de Chile : AFA Editions, 2009). Summary note: Book devoted to sculptor and installation and visual artist Juan Pablo Langlois Vicuña (b. Chile 1936), considered by many as the “Father of Contemporary Art in Chile”. Conceived as a “document of artist”, the exhaustive work presents his extraordinary and diverse art production (installations, paper sculptures, collages, etc.) from 1969-2008, a chronology of his 39 exhibitions, his artist’s books and his thoughts about art. Includes and interview and a theoretical text. Marquand Library (SA) N7433.4.L363 A4 2009

Cuerpos Blandos – Juan Pablo Langlois (2007) from pedro l. talarico on Vimeo.

Juan Pablo Langlois:
A propósito de Cuerpos Blandos (1/3)

Mitchell and Abbott

Joseph Mitchell (1908-1996), The Bottom of the Harbor, with photogravures by Berenice Abbott (New York: Limited Editions Club, 1991). “The text was set in Monotype Bell by Michael and Winifred Bixler … Printed at Wild Carrot Letterpress … The photogravure plates were made by Jon Goodman, and were printed by Sara Krohn and Wingate Studio”–Colophon. Copy 89 of 250, signed by the author. Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) in process.

 

The Limited Editions Club was founded by George Macy (1900-1956) in 1929. After his death, his wife, Helen and then, their son Jonathan Macy, ran the organization until 1970. The club went through several new managers and in 1978, Sidney Shiff (1924-2010) took over, reducing the print runs and emphasizing original art by major artists.

Princeton University Library holds over 200 of the illustrated books and we continue to add to the collection. The most recent addition is the last book Berenice Abbott (1898-1991) participated in before her death at the age of 93.

Returning to New York City in 1929, she began documenting both the modern buildings of Manhattan and the remains of the city’s historic past. Thanks to support from the Federal Art Project, Abbott published Changing New York in 1940. Shiff arranged for negatives taken for this earlier project to be transferred to copper plate photogravure by Jon Goodman and printed by Sara Krohn at Wingate Studio in Massachusetts. The result is the perfect accompaniment to Mitchell’s text.

 

 

“To furnish, to lovers of beautiful books, unexcelled editions of their favorite works . . . to place beautifully printed books in the hands of booklovers at commendably low prices . . . to foster in America, a high regard for perfection in bookmaking . . . by publishing for its members twelve books each year, illustrated by the greatest of artists and planned by the greatest of designers . . . this is the purpose of The Limited editions Club.” –The Limited Editions Club ([New York]: The Club, 1929). Graphic Arts Collection 2010-0386n c.2

Thoreau in gravure


In searching for hand-inked, copperplate photogravures recently, these beautiful plates turned up in the two-volume Walden by Henry David Thoreau, with a willow leaf binding design by Sarah Whitman. The negatives were taken by Alfred Winslow Hosmer (also called Fred, 1851-1903).

As the Concord Free Public Library (where his library and archive are housed) notes, Hosmer did not record dates on many of his photographs but since he created gelatin dry-plate glass negatives, we date them from the 1880s. See more: https://concordlibrary.org/special-collections/fin_aids/Hosmer

One gravure is from Benjamin D. Moxham’s 1856 daguerreotype portrait of Thoreau as well as one from Edward S. Dunshee’s 1861 ambrotype.

 

 

Annotated captions for the illustrations note that Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) owned the land on which the Walden house stood. In a letter to him, January 24, 1843, Thoreau wrote: “I have been your pensioner for nearly two years, and still left free as under the sky. It has been as free a gift as the sun or the summer, though I have sometimes molested you with my mean acceptance of it, –I who have failed to render even those slight services of the hand which would have been for a gift at least: and , by the fault of my nature, have failed of many better and higher services. But I will not trouble you with this, but for once thank you as well as Heaven.”

Above is the house with a profile figure of Emerson. Below is Samuel Staples, Thoreau’s jailer when he was arrested for refusing to pay taxes.

 

 

Above is “Brister’s Spring”. Below “Pines set out by Thoreau on his Beanfield”.

 

 

 

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), Walden. With an introduction by Bradford Torrey. Illustrated with photogravures (Boston, New York: Houghton, Mifflin and company, 1897). Firestone Library (F) PS3048 .A1 1897. Princeton also owns Sylvia Beach’s copy of this book.

What Can a Woman Do, and, What a Woman Can Do

 

As a mother and a full-time journalist, Martha Louise Rayne (1836-1911) became interested in what occupations were both open to and appropriate for the women of her day. In 1883, she wrote What Can a Woman Do: Or Her Position in the Business and Literary Worlds, published the following year and recorded as selling over 100,000 copies. She followed up by opening the Mrs. Rayne’s School of Journalism, specifically focused on training women for a professional career. Other occupations she found to be suitable for ladies were hand-coloring photographs and wood engraving.

Rayne’s book had lasting influence, with new editions and variations on the theme published for generations. “What Can a Woman Do” was quickly modified to read “What a Woman Can Do,” for better or worse.

 

In 1894, Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864–1952) opened her first photography studio in Washington, D.C. After much success, she published an article in the Ladies Home Journal discussing the suitability of photography as a profession for women. https://www.cliohistory.org/exhibits/johnston/whatawomancando/ This was part biography and part addendum to Rayne’s book, which had just been reissued in 1893.

In 1911, the year of Rayne’s death, there was even a silent film entitled “What a Woman Can Do,” but the female character’s only occupation is as an unfaithful wife who destroys her husband’s life.

 

 


 

Martha Louise Rayne, What Can a Woman Do; or, Her Position in the Business and Literary World (Petersburgh, N.Y.: Eagle publishing co., [c1893]) Rare Books (Ex) HD6058 .R3 1893 and Miriam Y. Holden Coll. (Holden). Firestone HD6058 .R3

What a Woman Can Do! (London: Aldine Publishing Company, [189-?]). Rare Books Off-Site Storage RCPXR-6160701

Frances Benjamin Johnston, “What A Woman Can Do With A Camera: With Reproductions of Photographs Taken By The Author, And Here Published For The First Time,” The Ladies’ Home Journal. xiv, no. 10 (Sep 1897): 6.

S.H. Muir, What a Woman can do. Humorous song. Words by Arthur Legion (London: J.H. Larway, 1902)

What a Woman Can Do (1911) Silent film directed by and starring Gilbert M. ‘Broncho Billy’ Anderson (1880–1971).

T. Mullet Ellis (1850-1919), What Can a Woman Do for the Empire? (London: Holden [1915]). RECAP 3729.15.396

Mabel St. John, What a woman can do (London: Published for the proprietors at the Fleetway House, 1917). Woman’s world library no. 105.

Martha Louise Rayne, What Can a Woman Do? (New York, Arno Press, 1974 [c1893]). RECAP HD6058.R3 1974

What Can a Woman Do With a Camera?: Photography for Women / edited by Jo Spence & Joan Solomon (London : Scarlet Press, c1995). Marquand Library (SAPH): Photography TR183 .W537 1995