From Jersey to Princeton and Back Again

Congratulations to Mike Sunier, who saw the Richard Willats photography album online and published an article about the 19th-century photographers in Jersey, in the 21st-century Jersey Evening Post.

Click here to see the album yourself: http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/k930bx11x

Jersey is the largest of the Channel Islands, off the coast of Normandy, France.

For more information on the history of their early photographers, see also: http://www.theislandwiki.org/index.php/The_beginnings_of_photography_in_Jersey

Friedrich Wilhelm Kloss’s Sketchbook

The Graphic Arts Collection is pleased to have acquired a rare sketchbook belonging to the architectural draughtsman Friedrich Wilhelm Kloss (1805-1875). The small volume’s 40 foliated leaves hold 78 drawings, mostly city and landscape views but also a few genre scenes, plant studies, costume sketches, and other fascinating details Kloss recorded around 1828.
Kloss spent most of his life in Berlin in the circle of the architect Friedrich August Stüler (1800-1865) who, with royal patronage, transformed Berlin. Kloss specialized in highly finished topographical and architectural watercolor views. Thanks to this sketchbook, we can now chronicle his time in Rome, which he captured in seventeen architectural views including Vesta Temple; view of St. Peter from the Gianicolo; view of St. Peter with Castel san Angelo and Tiber; Porta dell Popolo; bridge over the Tiber; Forum Romanum; Venus Temple; Concordia Temple; Sant’Onofrio; Temple of Antonio; the lake in Villa Borghese gardens; Villa Pamphili; gardens of Villa Medici; courtyard view of a Roman palace; and several unidentified views. He also visited Tivoli, Venice, Florence, and the ruins in Paestum and Portici.

There are also four pages of autographs, where German artist friends living in Rome recorded their names at the end of Kloss’s sketchbook as a sign of friendship. He notes, “Am latten Abend im Künstlerverein hier Roma, als ich den Künstlern Lebewohl sagte, haben dieselben ein Gleiches gethan und zur Erinnerung ihre Namen hier eingetragen” (on the last evening at the German Artists Society in Rome, when I [i.e. Kloss] said farewell, the artists did the same and in memory of our friendship signed their names).

This is a very early document showing that there was a formal association, a Künstlerverein, of German artists in Rome. A total of seventeen German artists residing in Rome, mostly painters, but also the odd sculptor or etcher, signed their names and some also gave the city of their birth. They are listed here in the order they appear in the sketchbook:

August Hopfgarten – Zur Erinnerung an Rome (i.e. ‘in memory of Rome’) [lived in Rome 1827-32]; J[ohann] Bravo [lived from 1827 in Rome]; G. Baumgarten aus Dresden; Friederich Peller aus Weimar [Rome 1826-31]; Dr. Carl Schunterman; Adolph Loehser; Adolph Kaiser aus Weimar [Rome 1828-30]; H[erman] W[ilhelm] Bissen [Rome 1823-35, sculptor, favourite pupil of Thorvaldsen]; August Riedel aus Bayreuth [Rome March 1828-29, and again from 1832]; Kühne aus Eisleben; August Richter aus Dresden [Rome 1826-30, draughtsman]; [Franz] Nadorp [Rome from Jan. 1828, etcher]; A[nton] Draeger aus Trier [lived in Rome since 1821]; Friedrich Mosbrugger aus Konstanz [Rome Dec. 1827-1829]; Bernhard Neher von Biberach [Rome 1827-31]; Eduard Erhad aus Graudenz in Westpreussen [Rome 1826-30]; Rudolf Freytag zur Erinnerung Rom ’28 [Rome 1825-30, again 1840-43, sculptor]; Joseph Anton Koch Rome [Rome 1795-1812, and 1815-1839], Kloss has written above Koch’s name ‘Ausgezeichneter Landschaftsmaler’ (i.e. ‘excellent landscape painter’), while Koch himself, a notorious womaniser, used the opportunity to greet a lady friend, Louise Oesterreich, from afar in the knowledge that Kloss would report his greetings to her in his native Berlin, he helpfully also furnished her address, ‘Louise Oesterreich, Mauerstra[sse] no. 65, eine Treppe hoch, bitte ich höflich zu grüssen’; [August] W[ilhelm] Schirmer [Rome 1827-31].

Friedrich Wilhelm Kloss (1805-1875), Sketchbook of Rome, Tivoli, Florence, Venice, and the ruins of Paestum, ca. 1828. Pencil, pen and wash drawings. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2016- in process

Illustrations to the Epitome of the Ancient History of Japan

Illustrations to the Epitome of the Ancient History of Japan, including Illustrations to Guide Book, collected and arranged by N. [Nicholas] McLeod (Kiyoto, 1877). “The illustrations include specimens of the ethnology of the different races in Japan, and their special belongings, Shinto and Buddhist pictures, legends and illustrated proofs of the descent of part of the Japanese race from lost Israel.” Graphic Arts Collection GAX in process. Gift of Edith and Emmet Gowin.

According to the acquisition note posted by the National Library of Scotland (http://www.nls.uk/) “This is, by any standards, a strange book.” Thanks to the generous donation of Edith and Emmet Gowin, Princeton University Library researchers can also puzzle over the first illustrated edition of Nicholas McLeod’s odd volume.

The NLS entry goes on to attempt a description: “It was published . . . to accompany the author’s Epitome of the Ancient History of Japan. . . . Central to the Epitome is McLeod’s belief that the Shindai or holy class of Japan are descended from the Lost Tribes of Israel. He also calls attention to the fact that the first known king of Japan was Osee, who came to the throne in 730 B.C. and that the last king of Israel was, the similarly named Hosea who died in 722 B.C.

In the preface McLeod mentions that ‘the engravings are the workmanship of the best Japanese artists, but as they have had as yet so little experience of foreign letters, the execution is imperfect’. There are engravings of kings, temples as well as some relating to the author’s thesis such as ‘supposed order of march of Israelites to Japan’.”

Changeable Photographic Furniture, A New Want Supplied

At the back of each issue of The Philadelphia Photographer are a few pages of advertising, many with original photographs illustrating the products.

In the issue for December 1867 is this ad from E. & H.T. Anthony & Company spotlighting “Changeable Photographic Furniture.” It reads: “The introduction of the new cabinet card rendered necessary new accessories in the way of furniture to make an attractive picture; and, at the request of some of our customers, we have got out a set of Imitation Furniture of wood, richly ornamented and painted of suitable photographic color, which furnishes eighteen different changes for the low price of eighty dollars cash.

By aid of this set, you can show in your pictures the following among others: a parlor organ open, a parlor organ shut, a book-case, a secretary, a pier table, a bureau, etc., etc., etc. The above photograph shows many of the changes, but other will readily be made by the photographer. A few of Wilson & Hoop’s “urns and Vases” are introduced in these changes, but they are not included with the furniture.”

Emblems Engraved on Wood

In 1915, Eric Gill (1882-1940) designed and cut illustrations for Hilary Douglas Clarke Pepler’s The Devil’s Devices, or, Control Versus Service (London: Hampshire House Workshops). The following February 2, in honor of the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Gill and Pepler printed fifteen copies of the wood engravings and published them as Emblems Engraved on Wood.

The small keepsake was such a success that Gill printed another run of 33 copies. The Graphic Arts Collection recently acquired a copy of the second edition, without the wrapper but signed by Gill in pencil. Here are a few pages.

Eric Gill (1882-1940), Emblems Engraved on Wood. 2nd ed. (Ditchling, Sussex: D. Pepler and E. Gill, 1916). Copy 24 of 33. Graphic Arts Collection in process

James Annan frontispieces

Frontispiece portrait of Henry James. Photograph by Alvin Langdon Coburn. Photogravure by James C. Annan in The Sense of the Past by Henry James (London: W. Collins Sons & Company, 1917). (RCPPA) PS2116 .S4 1917.

When collecting and exhibiting photography, very often the beautiful frontispieces for books are disregarded. Here are a few of the photogravures in the Princeton University Library. Note, partnerships were formed by Thomas Annan and Joseph Wilson Swan (Swan and Annan); and also by their sons James Craig Annan and Donald Cameron-Swan (Annan and Swan).

Frontispiece portrait of Sir Herbert B. Edwardes. Photograph by J. Mayall, Jr. Photogravure by James C. Annan and Donald Cameron-Swan in Memorials of the Life and Letters of major-General Sir Herbert B. Edwardes by His Wife (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, and Company, 1886). Firestone 1766.319 v.1.

Frontispiece portrait of Dr. Robert Watt. Photograph by unidentified artist. Photogravure by James C. Annan and Sons, Glasgow, in An Account of the Life and Work of Dr. Robert Watt by James Finlayson (London: Smith, Elder and company, 1897). Firestone 0109.957.34.

Frontispiece drawing by unidentified artist. Photogravure by James C. Annan and Donald Cameron-Swan in The Early Writings of William Makepeace Thackeray by Charles Plumptre Johnson (London: Elliot Stock, 1888). Firestone PR5638 .J6 1888

Digging out

Richard Serra, American, born 1939, The Hedgehog and the Fox, 2000. Cor-Ten steel. Princeton University, gift of Peter T. Joseph, Class of 1972 and Graduate School Class of 1973, in honor of his children, Danielle and Nicholas

Princeton Closed

Route 1 exit to Princeton

Carnegie Lake freezing over

Snow is piling up

Thorington pastels

Our paper conservator, Ted Stanley, recently completed the cleaning, flattening, and rehousing of 42 charcoal and pastel drawings by J. Monroe Thorington, class of 1915 (1895-1989).

In his book, The Glittering Mountains of Canada: A Record of Exploration and Pioneer Ascents in the Canadian Rockies, 1914-1924, Thorington describes one of his many mountain trips:

“As the Freshfield Group, where we spent the days following, is described later, we shall here continue on the Waputik trails. It was July 21st when we descended Howse River to a point below the Glacier Lake stream. Alpine flora gives the river-flats a gay appearance and game tracks are everywhere—moose, bear, deer, and goat trails winding back and forth. Every evening we had watched, through binoculars, the big billy-goats come out to feed on the high alpland above the cliffs. And once, as we came late into camp, a cow moose with her calf plunged back into the timber.”

Here are a few of his almost life-size drawings of the Canadian wildlife.

What is a Dallastype?

“Although one of the earliest processes for the production of a printing block by means of photography,” begins an advertisement in the August 27, 1897 issue of The Photographic News, “one but rarely nowadays hears the name of ‘Dallastype’ mentioned in connection with photo-process work, and yet the results achieved by it are remarkably fine, and in the early days of mechanics engraving were much admired.”
The piece continues “Mr. Dallas has been quietly working at his process for many years, and improving and developing its capabilities, and has now decided to make it public, for which purpose he intends to open the ‘Dallastype and Dallastint School of Photographic Engraving,’ were he will give [instruction] to students in the art of producing pictures by his methods, which are free from the messy and cumbrous operations that characterise the zinco process. . . . Prospectus, with all particulars as to terms, &c., will be posted on application by letter to Mr. Duncan C. Dallas, 5, Furnival Street, Holborn, E.C.”

Duncan Campbell Dallas (ca. 1830-ca. 1890) had indeed been perfecting and publishing images with his Dallastype process for at least forty years. Depending on which history you read, he was either a crook or an unheralded talent.

In 1854, Paul Pretsch (1808-1873) patented photogalvanography (sometimes called photoelectrotype) and together with Roger Fenton (1819-1869) went on to establish the Photogalvanographic Company. Dallas was hired as the company manager.

To their surprise, Dallas was granted provisional protection for his own patent in June of 1856 on “Improvements in chemical preparations applicable to the photographic and photogalvanographic processes.” Pretsch and Fenton asked him to leave the company and many years of litigation followed.

In the September 11, 1863 issue of The Photographic News, Dallas published the abstract “Photo-Electric Engraving and Observations Upon Sundry Processes of Photographic Engraving.” Although the paper was submitted to the British Association for the Advancement of Science, it was ultimately deemed inadmissible by the Chairman and never presented to the organization. http://tinyurl.com/gsomauj

Dallas filed for another patent in May of 1866 and was again refused but moved ahead with his own company, advertising the Dallastype and Dallastint as ”cheap first class engraving, one shilling per square inch. A reliable substitute for wood engraving, faithfully reproducing in any size the artist’s or other original specimens for six stamps.”

Dallas wrote a letter to the British Journal of Photography, published in the March 5, 1875 issue, to protest Pretsch’s claim of developing the photogalvanography. “I had been the founder and organiser of the Photogalvanographic Company,” he claimed, “and had been robbed— I used the word deliberately—of the fruits of ray brain and hand labour by Mr. Paul Pretsch.”

Duncan C. Dallas, The … Londoniad: giving a full description [in verse] of the principal establishments, together with the most honourable and substantial business men, in the capital. The new, or twentieth Londoniad, 1876. p. 66-68

Later that year, in need of money, he tried to sell the process, publishing Proposal for Divulging the Dallastype Process of Photographic Engraving to Five Hundred Subscribers, or more, at £20 each ([London]: Duncan Campbell Dallas, 1875).

Dallas went on to publish a facsimile of the 1623 Shakespeare First Folio and then, several portfolios of Walter Crane’s illustrations for individual plays. Princeton University Library holds three of these volumes, illustrated with Dallastypes.

Walter Crane (1845-1915), Eight Illustrations to Shakespeare’s Two Gentlemen of Verona; engraved & printed by Duncan C. Dallas (London: J.M. Dent, 1894). No. 43 of 650 copies; signed by Walter Crane and Duncan C. Dallas. Rare Books (Ex) Oversize 3925.633q

Walter Crane (1845-1915), Shakespeare’s Comedy of the Merry Wives of Windsor / presented in eight pen designs by Walter Crane; engraved & printed by Duncan Dallas (London: G. Allen, 1894). No. 165 of 650 copies. Rare Books (Ex) Oversize ND497.C85 A34q

Walter Crane (1845-1915), Eight Illustrations to Shakespeare’s Tempest, designed by Walter Crane; engraved & printed by Duncan C. Dallas (London: J.M. Dent, 1893). Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) Oversize 2007-0246Q

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