Trouvelot’s chromolithograph of the 1878 eclipse

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.

There is no need to pay for these images. The New York Public Library is offering three different resolutions downloaded for free at: https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/the-trouvelot-astronomical-drawings-atlas#/?tab=about

See “The splendor of the cosmos in a trailblazing marriage of art and science more than a century before modern astrophotography” by Maria Popova at https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/07/07/trouvelots-astronomical-drawings/

 

 


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.”

Robinson Crusoe … preserved by pirates

Travels of Robinson Crusoe. Written by himself (Worcester (Massachusetts): Printed by Isaiah Thomas, and sold at his book-store, MDCCLXXXVI: where may be had a variety of little books for children., [1786]). Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) PR3403 .A2 1786s

Defoe’s Adventures of Robinson Crusoe was first published on April 25, 1719, and before the end of the year had run through four editions. An abridged children’s version was published ca. 1784 in Boston, printed and sold by N. Coverly, price three pence.

Two years later Isaiah Thomas (1661?-1731) printed and sold the novel from his bookshop in Worcester, Massachusetts, as “Travels of Robinson Crusoe.” The book was as big a success for Thomas in the United States as it had been in England.

Here are plates from the 1786 and 1795 editions. Note that Crusoe is not only taller in 1795 but he has a new hat and loses his shoes between the editions.

Daniel Defoe (1661?-1731), The Most Surprising Adventures, and Wonderful Life of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner: containing a full and particular account how his ship was lost in a storm, and all his companions were drowned, and he only was cast upon the shore by the wreck and how he lived eight and twenty years in an uninhabited island, on the coast of America, &c. With a true relation how he was at last miraculously preserved by pirates, &c. &c. &c. (Worcester, Mass,: Printed [by Isaiah Thomas] and sold at the Worcester bookstore, 1795). 15 cm. Contains a woodcut frontispiece and 12 (one repeated) woodcuts in the text. Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) Hamilton 163





 

See also: Daniel Defoe (1661?-1731) The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe : being the second and last part of his life, and of the strange surprizing accounts of his travels round three parts of the globe / written by himself (London: Printed for W. Taylor …, 1719). Princeton copies 1-3: First edition, first issue; copies 4-5: first edition, second issue. Rare Books (Ex) PR3404 .xF37 1719

1786
1795

‘Twas in this ship, which fail’d from Hull,
That Crusoe did embark;
Which did him vex, and much perplex,
And broke his parents heart.

Next week: Typecon

Next week brings the opening of TypeCon 2017, the annual conference of the Society of Typographic Aficionados (SOTA), an international organization dedicated to the promotion, study, and support of typography and related arts.

Each year, the SOTA Typography Award is presented to an outstanding member of the type community. Recipients have included Hermann Zapf (2003), Ed Benguiat (2004), Matthew Carter (2005), Adrian Frutiger (2006), David Berlow (2007), Gerrit Noordzij (2008), Gerard Unger (2009), Doyald Young (2010), Erik Spiekermann (2011), Mike Parker (2012), Zuzana Ličko (2013), Fiona Ross (2014), Robert Slimbach (2015), and Fred Smeijers (2016). This year the award will be presented on Saturday, August 26.

Martina Flor will be this year’s keynote speaker. Based in Berlin, Flor runs a leading studio specializing in lettering and custom typography for clients around the globe, including: The Washington Post, Vanity Fair, Harper Collins, and Cosmopolitan, among others.

Here are some of the many talks and events:
Friday, August 25th
8:50 a.m. Bruce Kennett: W. A. Dwiggins, Hermann Püterschein, and the Fictional Society of Calligraphers
9:35 a.m. Tucker McLachlan: Typography Ghost Stories
9:55 a.m. Jennifer McKnight: Victorian Grande Dames and German Engravers: How Type Design Taught a City to Dream
10:35 a.m. Peter Bella & Caleb Fairres: Making the Machine Human: Embracing Printing Technologies in Crafting a Present-day Moveable Typeface
10:55 a.m. Petra Dočekalová: New Lettering Forms
11:20 a.m. Catherine Leigh Schmidt: Yatra: A Journey in Painted Signs
11:40 a.m. Linh O’Briant: Playing by the Rules—Type & Origami Design Rules
2:00 p.m. Bobby Martin: The Meeting Point of Type, Design, and Brand
2:45 p.m. David Jonathan Ross: EXTRA! EXTRA!
3:05 p.m. Judy Safran-Aasen & Mike LaJoie: Deconstructing the Construction of the Microsoft Emoji Font
3:25 p.m. Scott Boms: Imperfection Machines: Low Res in a High Res World
4:05 p.m. Geri McCormick & James Grieshaber: Dr. Strangefont or: How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Make Chromatic Type
4:25 p.m. Meaghan Dee: The Slow Death of Handwriting
4:45 p.m. Rachel Elnar: Cultivating Creative Communities

Saturday, August 26th
8:35 a.m. Lucas Czarnecki: An Ethnography of Garbage (Fonts)
8:55 a.m. Hrant Papazian: protoType: The Book (?)
9:15 a.m. Mary Catherine Pflug: Results of the Second Font Purchasing Habits Survey
10:00 a.m. Christopher Rouleau: Brush Lettering Demo
10:25 a.m. Qiu Yin & Ming Wei: Thinking and Practicing Chinese Type Design on Screen
10:45 a.m. Mark Jamra & Neil Patel: Lessons Learned in Designing Type for Africa
11:10 a.m. Richard Kahwagi: Arabic Typography and Popular Culture
11:50 a.m. Masataka Hattori: Fundamentals of Japanese Metrics Editing
1:30 p.m. Geri McCormick & James Grieshaber: Chromatic Wood Type Printing Demo
2:00 p.m. Elizabeth Carey Smith: Type in Couture
2:45 p.m. Ana Monroe: The Typography of Bling
3:05 p.m. Jess Meoni: Liner Notes & Ligatures: A Reflection on Typography in the Age of Vinyl
3:45 p.m. Amelia Hugill-Fontanel: Typographic Realia: Cataloging and Connecting Wood and Metal Resources
4:05 p.m. Spencer Charles & Frances MacLeod: The Left Handed Path: A Twisting Journey Through Left-Handed Lettermaking

Sunday, August 27th
8:35 a.m. Yves Peters: Type With Character(s)—Reclaiming Control Over OpenType Fonts
9:20 a.m. Jason Pamental: Variable Fonts & The Future of Web Design
9:45 a.m. John Roshell: ZAP! POW! BAM! Comic Book Lettering, From Pens to Pixels
10:10 a.m. Radek Sidun: Typefaces for Television
10:30 a.m. David Shields: Muster Hundreds! Towards a People’s History of American Wood Type
11:10 a.m. Ina Saltz: The Rise of Typographic Tattoos
11:30 a.m. Douglas Wilson: A Multimedia Extravaganza Through the World of Printing Films
11:55 a.m. Jason Campbell: Mojo’s Workin’: Blues Typography & Album Art
12:15 p.m. James Walker: Type Hike: A Typographic Exploration of America’s National Parks

One soldier’s photography album from World War I

World War I photography album. France, 1918-1936. 137 silver gelatin prints with typed captions. Oblong folio. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2017- in process.

The Graphic Arts Collection recently acquired a photography album with 137 views of World War I battlefields, action, and damages in France, compiled by a soldier in the United States Signal Corps. Described in extended, typed captions, this engaging compilation of contemporary wartime action photographs also includes images from a later tour of the area by a veteran who was there.

Although several prints are stamped with Signal Corp logos, the photographs do not appear to duplicate any in the digital collection of US Army Signal Corps WW1 Photographs created by the US Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Their collection contains some 700 images from photographs taken during the First World War in France, Germany and Luxembourg, which can be searched at the following link.

http://cdm16635.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/search/collection/p16635coll16!p16635coll22/order/title/page/1

 

The album holds one photograph that shows a group of soldiers working in a field, captioned, “The worst job of all. Cutting wire under fire before the advance on Very,” while another reads, “A view of the Cheppy Road looking north. We advanced up this September 26, 1918. Engineers are here repairing the mine craters.” [see last photograph below]


The first page of the album is entitled “No Mans Land,” and contains a trench photo of two men and a later picture of a man standing in the woods, with a caption that reads,

“The most confusing thing about old no-mans land is the fact that there is a national highway now running down the middle of it from Varennes thru Avocourt and on to Verdun. The picture above is the only one in action in 1918 by our outfit and shows some of Co. F, dodging shell fire in no-man land…. The picture to the left is myself standing where Cy Noble was killed on the dirt road from Cigalleri to No-mans land.”

The middle section of the album continues with photos of the French countryside containing remnants of the war and the cemeteries full of war casualties alongside images of the areas taken during the war. The final section contains images of World War I artillery and aviation, as well as several aerial shots of French cities, much of which relates to the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, fought in the final days of the war before the armistice.

How do you find the bad seeds in “La caricature”?

How do you find the bad seeds in the middle of the 10 volume run of La caricature? Answer: using the new index to the magazine, recently published by Alan Wofsy Fine Arts.

 

Auguste Bouquet. La Poire et ses Pépins. Paris: Chez Aubert, Galerie Véro-Dodat, 1833; in La Caricature: journal fondé et dirigé / par C. Philipon (Paris: Aubert, 1830-1835). 10 v. Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) Oversize 2009-0240Q

 

La Caricature, 1830-1835: lithographies complètes: an illustrated catalogue raisonné of the lithographs / general editor and designer: Corine Labridy-Stofle (San Francisco: Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, 2017). Graphic Arts: Reference Collection (GARF) Oversize NC1498 .C3 2017q

Summary note:

La Caricature” was the 19th century equivalent and the precursor of Charlie Hebdo. The editor Charles Philipon employed the major satirical artists of the mid-19th century notably Daumier, Grandville, E. Forest, Charlet, Bellangé, Traviès, Raffet and Gavarni. It appeared for five years, between 1830-1835. The main subjects of the caricatures were Louis-Philippe and his entourage of July Monarchy politicians. Louis-Philippe, son of the Duke of Orléans, came to power after the 1830 Revolution as the Citizen King. However, he was not amused by the caricatures and once put Daumier in prison for 6 months, before suppressing the whole publication in 1835. He became more and more authoritarian and was finally forced to abdicate during the 1848 Revolution.

The plates are numbered 1-524, but approximately 62 are double sheets so there are actually 462 separate prints. Georges Vicaire catalogued the 251 issues and 524 plates in 1895. However they have never been reproduced in a catalogue, nor has there been an English language discussion or catalogue of the corpus of prints.

All of the works are described in French and English and are arranged in the order they appeared in the original publication. There is an index by artist and the catalogue by Georges Vicaire from 1895 is also included. Many of the artists contributed anonymously and were not identified by Vicaire but are now identified. Where there were not descriptions of the plates in the original publication (about 60 of the 462), this new edition now provides descriptions in French.



 

The Battle Cry of Freedom

Six Military and Patriotic Illustrated Songs. Series no. 1 (New York: C. Magnus [186-?]). Stencil colored. Original green printed wrappers. Contents: The Union Marseillaise.–A Yankee man-of-war.–The army of liberty.–The flag of our Union.–Volunteer’s song.–Rally around the flag boys. Graphic Arts Collection (GA) 2017- in process

The patriotic song Rally ‘Round the Flag, originally titled The Battle Cry of Freedom, was written by George F. Root (1820-1895) in 1862. The composer published over 500 pieces of music from 1848 until 1896 but when the New York Times ran his obituary, it was The Battle Cry of Freedom mentioned in the banner.

The Times continues: “In a catalogue of 114 National War Songs, recently published, no less than 36 are from the pen of Mr. Root. None of them fail of success, or at least a degree of popularity but Tramp, [Tramp,] Tramp! and The Battle Cry achieved a phenomenal record. At one time the publishers had fourteen presses at work on the latter, and were even then unable to fill the orders, which crowded in from every direction. It was not unusual for a single house to order 20,000 copies at once and the aggregate sale of each song is estimated at from 500,000 to 750,000.”

The song has been recorded many times, in many versions. Over 100 years later, Billy Bragg composed, There Is Power in a Union, set to the tune of Root’s Battle Cry of Freedom.

Il favore degli dei

Aurelio Aureli (1652-1708), Il favore degli dei: drama fantastico musicale, fatto rappresentare dal serenissimo sig. duca di Parma nel suo Gran Teatro per le felicissime nozze del serenissimo sig. principe Odoardo suo primo genito con la serenissima signora principessa Dorotea Sofia di Neoburgo (Parma: Nella Stampa ducale, 1690). 14 folded engravings. Music by Bernardo Sabadini; Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2017- in process

 

The Graphic Arts Collection is proud to have acquired Arthur and Charlotte Vershbow’s copy of Il favore degli Dei, which includes the libretto, scenario, and cast (without the music) along with fourteen folded leaves of plates engraved by D. Bonaveri, G.A. Lorenzini and L. Mattioli, and others after Domenico Mauro.

Ferdinando Galli da Bibiena and Domenico Mauro designed the scenography, Federico Crivelli invented the choreography, and Gasparo Torelli created the costumes. Princeton’s copy is imperfect, lacking the large folding plate by Carlo Virginio Draghi.

 

 

Il favore degli dei (1690): Meta-Opera and Metamorphoses at the Farnese Court by Wendy Heller, Professor of Music. Director, Program in Italian Studies, Chair of the Music Department, Princeton University

In 1690, Giovanni Maria Crescimbeni (1663–1728) and Gian Vincenzo Gravina (1664–1718), along with several of their literary colleagues, established the Arcadian Academy in Rome. Railing against the excesses of the day, their aim was to restore good taste and classical restraint to poetry, art, and opera. That same year, a mere 460 kilometres away, the Farnese court in Parma offered an entertainment that seemed designed to flout the precepts of these well-intentioned reformers. For the marriage of his son Prince Odoardo Farnese (1666–1693) to Dorothea Sofia of Neuberg (1670–1748), Duke Ranuccio II Farnese (1639–1694) spared no expense, capping off the elaborate festivities with what might well be one of the longest operas ever performed: Il favore degli dei, a ‘drama fantastico musicale’ with music by Bernardo Sabadini (d. 1718) and poetry by the prolific Venetian librettist Aurelio Aureli (d. 1718).

Although Sabadini’s music does not survive, we are left with a host of para-textual materials to tempt the historical imagination. Aureli’s printed libretto, which includes thirteen engravings, provides a vivid sense of a production whose opulence was excessive, even by Baroque standards. The unusually large cast included twenty-four principal singers, some of whom were borrowed from neighbouring courts such as Mantua and Modena. In addition, the libretto lists seventeen choruses and seven ballets featuring goddesses, breezes, warriors, nymphs, virgin huntresses, cupids, demons, stars, tritons, graces, fauns, and nereids who populated the stage for this remarkable performance. The set designers, painters, and engineers were also kept busy producing seventeen different sets and no fewer than forty-three machines that bore characters to and fro ‘in the air and the earth’ (‘in aria, e in terra’).

To continue reading, see hotlink above.

The book was also owned by Parmenia Migel Ekstrom (1908-1989), ballet historian; purchased from Ximenes, 1991.

For more references, see: Sonneck, O.G.T. Librettos, p. 483-484; Sartori, C. Libretti italiani, 9837; Bowles, E.A. Musical ensembles, p. 379-380.


Unpacking “The Valise”


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.*

A Walk from London to John O’Groats


Elihu Burritt (1810-1879), A Walk from London to John O’Groats, with Notes by the Way. Illustrated with Photographic Portraits (London: Sampson, Low, Son & Marston, 1864). Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2017- in process

In 1864, President Abraham Lincoln appointed Elihu Burritt the United State Consul to Birmingham, England, and through Burritt’s writings he brought the term “the Black Country” into common usage. He traveled widely, usually on foot, taking notes along the way, and A Walk from London to John O’Groats was addressed to his American friends. As Corresponding Secretary to the New Britain Agricultural Club he was particular interested in the state of farming and chose farmers as the sitters in the photographs.

Burritt was born and died in New Britain, Connecticut. Although trained as a blacksmith, Burritt made his name as a social activist, diplomat and author. In 1846 he founded the peace organization The League of Universal Brotherhood, and advocated temperance and opposed slavery. Thank you to Edward Bayntun-Coward for these details.

The book includes five mounted photographic portraits each with facsimile signature. The portraits are of the following individuals:

1. Elihu Burritt (frontispiece), photographed by Elliott & Fry, 55 Baker Street, London.

2. Mr. Alderman Mechi, photographed by Cundall, Downes & Co, 108 New Bond Street, London.

3. The late Jonas Webb, photographed by William Mayland, Cambridge.

4. Samuel Jonas, photographed by William Mayland, Cambridge.

5. Anthony Cruikshank, photographed by A. Adams, 26 Broad Street, Aberdeen.

The original binding by Burn (with label inside rear cover) is done in green cloth over beveled boards, the front covers blocked in gilt with a triple fillet border and the title in a cartouche at the center, the rear cover with a blind border, smooth spine lettered in gilt, and brown endleaves.

This is the first of two editions published in 1864.

 
See also: Burritt, Elihu, 1810-1879. Peace papers for the people … (London [184-?]). (F) BL262 .H583 1852

Clarke, Julius L.Circular [prospectus]: Dear Sir, A number of individuals residing in different parts of New England have recently formed themselves into a society called the New England Anti-Slavery Tract Association … (Worcester, Mass.: N.E.A.S.T.A., [1843]). First blank page is filled with autograph letter to G. & C. Merriam signed by Elihu Burritt. Rare Books (Ex) Oversize 2011-0237Q

Burritt, Elihu, 1810-1879. Sparks from the anvil (Worchester: Henry J. Howland, 1846). (F) BL262 .H583 1852

Blocks Plates Stones

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.’

A draft of the program is now available at: https://symphony-live.s3.amazonaws.com/UhZMp2iSbp7hKGrlphQwBW9X16Bi6li2kFtjXskSC3dcQUA2tbkSRremffd8PtWV/BPS%20Programme-v1.pdf
The keynote roundtable includes Richard S Field (Yale), Maria Goldoni (Galleria Estense), James Mosley (IES), Ad Stijnman (Leiden), Michael Twyman (Reading).

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).

Hope to see everyone there.