Selina Bracebridge’s Panoramic Sketch of Athens


 

These days, answering some reference questions can be easier done online with pictures than in multiple emails. Princeton is fortunate to have Selina Bracebridge’s Notes descriptive of a panoramic sketch of Athens, taken May, 1839,  including the text booklet and the zinc lithograph panorama. In addition, we hold the facsimile reprint “Sold for the benefit of the Protestant Chapel at Athens,” also with both the text and the panorama.

Selina Bracebridge (1803-1874), Notes descriptive of a panoramic sketch of Athens, taken May, 1839: sold in aid of the London Benevolent Repository (London: W.H. Dalton, 1839). Graphic Arts Collection Oversize 2007-0025Q. Spine title: Sketch of Athens ; “Sketched from nature and on zinc by Mrs. Bracebridge, May 1838”–Folded plate.

Selina Bracebridge (1803-1874), Notes descriptive of a panoramic sketch of Athens, May, 1836 : sold for the benefit of the fund for building a Protestant Chapel at Athens (Coventry: Henry Merridew, [1836]). Graphic Arts Collection Oversize 2007-0652Q. Cover label: “… Sold for the benefit of the Protestant Chapel at Athens. Reproduced from an early print by Mrs. Bracebridge. Sold in aid of St. Catherine’s British Embassy School, Athens.”

 


The British Museum describes Bracebridge as an amateur artist; pupil of Samuel Prout, who lived with her husband Charles Holte Bracebridge (q.v.) in Athens for several years during the 1830s; later traveled to Italy, Greece and Egypt with Florence Nightingale and joined her at Scutari during the Crimean War. They appear in the painting of 1857 by Jerry Barrett entitled, “The Mission of Mercy: Florence Nightingale receiving the Wounded at Scutari.”

Jerry Barrett, The Mission of Mercy: Florence Nightingale receiving the Wounded at Scutari, 1857. Oil on canvas. NPG 6202

Fourteen figures identified, from left to right: Sir William Linton (1801–1880); Sir Henry Knight Storks (1811–1874); Alexis Benoît Soyer (1810–1858); Miss Tebbutt (1810–1896); Robert Robinson (active 1857); Mary Clare (Georgina Moore) (1814–1874); William Cruickshank (died 1858); Charles Sillery; Jerry Barrett (1824–1906); Florence Nightingale (1820–1910); Eliza Roberts; Selina Bracebridge (c.1800–1874); Charles Bracebridge (1799–1872); and Lord William Paulet (1804–1893).

James Herbert Parsons’ design for Princeton College

James Herbert Parsons’ scrapbook, ca. 1900. Graphic Arts Collection. Gift of W. Allen Scheuch II, Class of 1976.

Thanks to the generous gift of W. Allen Scheuch II Class of 1976, the Graphic Arts Collection holds a scrapbook assembled by James Herbert Parsons (1831-1905), containing approximately 170 sketches and finished designs including heraldry, monograms, figures, birds, animals, and jewelry, some of which are miniatures. Most are watercolors but there are also drawings in pen-and-ink, charcoal, and pencil. The scrapbook, begun while the artist was still in England, was handed down to his youngest son Philip in 1905 and then, to Philip’s niece Mary Evelyn Parsons Austin in 1942.

The highlight of the collection is a design for Princeton College (or the College of New Jersey), including no less than three tigers. It is not known whether the campus ever adopted Parsons’ design for regular use. Although it is not dated, the design was made some time before 1896, when the school’s name was officially changed to Princeton University during its Sesquicentennial Celebration. More about the Princeton colors and shield here: https://princetoniana.princeton.edu/things-princeton/colors-shields

For many years the same brief biography for Parsons was listed in every source: “An artist, died in West New Brighton, Staten Island, N. Y., on December 25, 1905, at the age of seventy-four years. He was with Tiffany & Co. for twenty-three years, and obtained the Beaconsfield gold medal in 1880. He won medals for his employers at the Paris and Chicago expositions. One of his best works was the [1895] marriage certificate of the Duke of Marlborough and Miss Consuelo Vanderbilt.” — American Art Directory v.6

But this is only a small part of the story.

James Herbert Parsons was born in March 1831, London, England, to Peter and Mary Parsons. He was baptized on May 25 at St. Mary Abbots Church in Kensington, and as an adult rented a house on Edwardes Square, Kensington, never moving more than a few blocks from his extended family. James married Mary Flowers (born 1832) and together they had 5 daughters and 3 sons. He worked as a fine art engraver and by the age of 39, is listed as a draughtsman, which meant he was creating his own designs rather than engraving the designs of others.

In 1881, James emigrated to New York City, leaving his wife to care for their 8 children, all still living at home. Presumably he was offered a position with Tiffany & Company, which had stores in Paris and New York City but not London. The following year, Mary and (at least) her two youngest children sailed for New York and moved into James’ apartment at 416 West 68th Street off 9th Avenue, which was large enough to include an Irish maid. You might think they lived here so that he could walk to work but at that time Tiffany’s headquarters was located at 15 Union Square West, where it remained until 1906. The New York Times called the building the “palace of jewels.”

His position with Tiffany’s brought the Parsons family wealth and stability, even throughout the bank panic of 1893, when his design work won a medal for Tiffany & Co. at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

The family eventually moved to Staten Island only a few years before James’ death Christmas Day at the age of 74, the cause listed on the death certificate as Typhoid, Pneumonia, Senility.

Here are some of the other treasures in the Parsons scrapbook:

 



–mice found in the garden of their new home on Staten Island 1891

 



 

Denkmal in Stereotypen = A Monument in Stereotype


Vincenz Pall von Pallhausen (1759-1817) and Joseph Bonaventura Progel (died 1851). Denkmal in Stereotypen, den Manen Gutenberg’s geweiht von von Vincenz von Pallhausen im Jahre 1805 und zur vierten Säcularfeier der Buchdruckerkunst mit lithographirten Federzeichnungen zu Johannis 1836 herausgegeben von Progel ([München]: [Franz], 1836, 1805

 

The Graphic Arts Collection now holds a unique copy of the first and only edition of A Monument in Stereotype: dedicated to Gutenberg’s men, commemorating the Gutenberg jubilee in 1836, edited and reprinted from the 1805 stereotypes under the direction of Joseph Progel.

“Joseph Progel was Registrar of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences in Munich from the late 1820s until the mid-1840s. He was also Registrar for the joint scientific collections of the Academy and of the University of Munich (General-Conservatorium der wissenschaftlichen Sammlungen des Staates). His son was the distinguished botanist August Progel.”–https://library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections/collection/1306
–Georg Kaspar Nagler, Die Monogrammisten, 1871

 

The loose plates, collected inside the original paper wrapper, have additional color, compared to the copy in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek: https://reader.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/fs1/object/display/bsb10057223_00015.html?zoom=0.45. On the right is a second, proof sheet from Princeton’s copy.


The volume at Princeton includes a second, perhaps rejected proof copy as well as 3 double-page sheets with still another variant of the illustrations, a sheet with a pencil drawing of one of the printed illustrations, and a design in gold for a title-page on a folded double-page sheet contained in blue wrappers with the illustrations in black only.

Here are a few more pages:

 

Overthrow of Christian Morality by the Disorders of Monasticism

Renversement de la Morale chretienne par les desordres du Monachisme. Enrichi de Figures. Premiere Partie. Overthrow of Christian morality by the disorders of Monasticism. Enriched with Figures. First part. [all published.] On les vend en Hollande, chez le Marchands Libraires & Imagers. Avec Privilege d’Innocent XI. Omstootinge der christelyke Zeden. Door de wan-schik ongeregeltheden der Moniken. Holland [Switzerland, n.p.], ca. 1780. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2021- in process

Originally published in Amsterdam, perhaps as early as 1676 with the title Renversement de la morale Chretienne par les desordres du Monachisme = Omstootinge der Christelyke zeden. Door de wan-schik en ongeregeltheden der moniken, this series of engravings caricature Jesuits and other religious figures. A variant edition, seen here, published approximately 1780 was recently acquired by the Graphic Arts Collection.

The plates have been attributed to or copied from Cornelis Dusart (1660-1704), although the frontispiece in this volume is engraved after Romeyn de Hooghe (1645-1708). Readers were delighted with these portraits of monks drinking and carrying on, which led to their reissue in both general trade and secret pirated editions for more than 100 years. It should be noted that the nuns present equally bad behavior and are rightfully caricatured alongside the priests.

“The first twenty-five plates are prefaced by explanatory text in French and Dutch, the second twenty-five just by French verse. The second series is even more vicious than the first, depicting clerics with foxlike cunning, ready to cut a purse and appropriate money etc. They are listed under headings such as the Insatiable, the Cunning, the Seditious, the Idolator, the Superstitious, etc.”

Compare these plates with Dusart’s Les Héros de la ligue. Ou, La procession monacale. Conduitte par Louis XIV, pour la conversion des protestans de son royaume (The Heroes of the League: Or, The Monastic Procession. Led by Louis XIV for the Conversion of Protestants in his Kingdom) from 1691: https://graphicarts.princeton.edu/2015/04/15/les-heros-de-la-ligue/


l’abrégé du faux clergé romain = Summary of the false Roman clergy

 

Golden receipts against drunkenness. 1, Drink no longer water…

On February 13, 1929, an unidentified Princeton student noted the gift of a book to the university library with an article in the Daily Princetonian, “Parson Weems, First American Book Agent, Subject of Biography Presented to Library.”

“First American book agent, adventurer, early biographer of Washington ‘and fabricator of the cherry-tree myth, Parson Weems is the subject of ‘a set of privately issued books presented to the Library last week by Emily Ellworth Ford Skeel, who has completed the work commenced by her brother, Paul Leicester Ford. …Mason Locke Weems, known as the “Parson”, lived a colorful life during the early days of the republic. Having just completed his theological training he went, upon the close of the Revolutionary War, to England to be ordained. The Archbishop of Canterbury refused to “touch the rebel.” He journeyed from one bishop to another fruitlessly. Finally, upon the personal intervention of President Adams, , the Church of Denmark agreed to admit him to the ministry.”

The student continued writing about individual books Weems self-published. “Tiring of [the ministry], he undertook to sell books for Mathew Carey, a Philadelphia publisher. …He saw a market for something besides the holy book, however and filled; it with moral pamphlets of his own composition. One was “The Drunkard’s Looking Glass, reflecting him in sundry very interesting attitudes.” He would enter the taverns illustrating ‘the “attitudes” which he described as follows: “First, when he has only a drop in his eye, second, when he is only half shaved, third, when he is getting a little on the staggers or so, and fourth and fifth and so on ’til he is quite capsized or snug under the table with the dogs and can stick on the floor without holding on.”

Originally written, printed, and published by Weems, the best-selling book continued to appear after his death, privately printed by his wife Mrs. Frances Ewell Weems. Princeton’s 1918 edition was the first to include illustrations, one engraving for the frontispiece “possibly engraved by William Charles,” along with 13 wood engravings attributed to William Mason. Often called the first wood engraver in Philadelphia, Mason is listed as a drawing master at 27 Sansom Street in an 1834 Philadelphia directory and in 1838 another directory listed W.S. Mason at 45 Chestnut.

Mason Locke Weems (1759-1825), The Drunkard’s Looking Glass Reflecting a Faithful Likeness of the Drunkard, in sundry very interesting attitudes, with lively representations of the many strange capers which he cuts at different stages of his disease … Sixth edition, greatly improved ([Philadelphia?]: printed for the author, 1818). Graphic Arts Collection Sinclair Hamilton 1019

Mason Locke Weems, his works and ways. In three volumes. [I] A bibliography left unfinished by Paul Leicester Ford. [II-III. Letters 1784-1825] Edited by Emily Ellsworth Ford Skeel (New York, 1929). Rare Books Z8962 .S62. Colophon of vol. III: This work originated with Paul Leicester Ford, was edited by Mrs. Roswell Skeel junior, and printed by Richmond Mayo-Smith, all of one family.

Reverend Mason L. Weems was rector of Pohick Church for a while, when Washington was a parishioner. He was possessed of considerable talent, but was better adapted for “a man of the world” than a clergyman. Wit and humor he used freely, and no man could easier be “all things to all men” than Mr. Weems. His eccentricities and singular conduct finally lowered his dignity as a clergyman, and gave rise to many false rumors respecting his character. He was a man of great benevolence, a trait which he exercised to the extent of his means. A large and increasing family compelled him to abandon preaching for a livelihood, and he became a book agent for Mathew Carey. In that business he was very successful, selling in one year over three thousand copies of a high-priced Bible. He always preached when invited, during his travels; and in his vocation he was instrumental in doing much good, for he circulated books of the highest moral character.”—Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field Book of the Revolution (1850)

North American sylva and the lost garden of New Jersey

J[ules?] Renard after a drawing by Adèle Riché (1791-1878), Chamærops palmetto (Cabbage Tree), for François André Michaux (1770-1855), The North American sylva; or, A description of the forest trees of the United States, Canada, and Nova Scotia, considered particularly with respect to their use in the arts, and their introduction into commerce: to which is added a description of the most useful of the European trees … (Philadelphia: Rice, Ritter, 1865). Rare Books 8772.642.11 v.3

 

[left] Rembrandt Peale, Portrait of François André Michaux, 1809-10. Oil on canvas. American Philosophical Society. Gift of family of Dr. Joseph Carson, 19 March 1880. 58.P.38

 

Andre Michaux (1746-1803) was sent to the United States in 1785 to find and collect woods suitable for building and plants good for eating, which could be grown in France. Traveling with his teenage son François André Michaux (1770-1855) and gardener Pierre Paul Saunier, he established two gardens in the United States to facilitate the accumulation of seeds and plants for shipment to France.

One of these 18th-century gardens was in New Jersey, across the Hudson River from New York City in Bergen County and the other in Charleston, South Carolina. When Michaux and his son returned to France, Saunier was left in New Jersey to manage the garden (with no English and little money). According to a study by William J. Robbins and Mary Christine Howson: “Today the site of Michaux’s New Jersey Garden is divided between the Hoboken Cemetery, warehouses, railroad tracks, and marshlands along the Cromakill Creek. … Nothing marks the spot and no one in the neighborhood realizes that this bit of land once was of special significance to France, as well as the United States of America, and a matter of concern to some of the outstanding figures of the day.…”–“André Michaux’s New Jersey Garden and Pierre Paul Saunier, Journeyman Gardener,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 102, no. 4 (Aug. 27, 1958).

Above selection from: Charles Hardenburg Winfield, History of the county of Hudson, New Jersey: from its earliest settlement to the present time (1874)

François André Michaux later returned on a commission by the French government to explore the forests of the United States, Canada, and Nova Scotia. By 1810 he completed the North American Sylva, first published in twenty-four parts, issued in pairs from July 1810 to March 1813, before being collected into three volumes. An English edition of the Sylva was originally planned in six half-volumes, but a seventh was added to help accommodate the extra plates and the corresponding text.
Read more: An Oak Spring sylva: a selection of rare books on trees in the Oak Spring Garden Library / described by Sandra Raphael (Upperville, Va.: Oak Spring Garden Library, 1989). Graphic Arts SD391 .R36q

The books are prized today for the color stipple engravings produced by a team of artists, including Bessin, Gabriel, Renard, Cally, Boquet, Dubreuil, J.N.Joly after botanical illustrations by Pancrace Bessa (1772–1846), Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1759–1840), Henri-Joseph Redouté (1766–1852), and Adèle Riché (1791-1878). Later additions published by Thomas Nuttal are illustrated with lithographic plates.

Although New Jersey’s garden has disappeared, the Michaux State Forest near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania remains.

 

 

The Bontoc Igorot, Kalinga, and Ifugao people

Verso text: “Two Igorrots with Gongs. The Gongs are used on which to bat time for their dances. Note that the handles are human jawbones from the heads of enemies taken in battle. The upper portion of the skull is given a place of honor in the home of the captor.” Two Igorrots with gongs
Source Metadata Identifier:, 10636333
Identifier:, ark:/88435/zg64tv292
Call Number: GA 2011.00241

Igorrot man. Bontoc Province, Island of Luzon
Source Metadata Identifier: 10636335
Identifier: ark:/88435/dr26z574x
Call Number: GA 2011.00230

Bagobo man, taken near Davao, Mindinao
Source Metadata Identifier:, 10643034
Identifier:, ark:/88435/m900p278r
Call Number: GA 2011.00222

 
Early in the twentieth century, historians, anthropologists, and businessmen traveled to the Philippines to both study and bring elements of that culture to the United States, resulting in a massive exhibit at the 1904 St. Louis Fair. “Several anthropologists had gone to the Philippines to study the tribes people of the Cordillera region Northern Luzon. In 1903, the National Geographic did a spread on the people of the region. Anthropologist Albert Jenks conducted fieldwork in 1902, and his ethnographic information was used in the brochures describing the tribes people at expositions in the U.S. Jenks, who worked for the U.S. government, brought over people from the region to the Fair, some of whom lived with him and his wife.” — https://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=Igorots_Arrive_in_San_Francisco_in_1905

The Graphic Arts Collection holds 30 mammoth photographs, recently digitized, taken by an unidentified expedition to the Philippines. The text pasted on the backing board is often racist and pejorative, only some of which is quoted here. Although none are dated, the prints are presumed to be from the early 20th century, after the 1904 fair: “Bagobo Man. Showing how teeth are filed. The Bagobos live on the Gulf of Davao in Mindinao and are noted as the tribe who offer human sacrifices. In 1909 twenty of these people were sentenced by Judge Springer of the Court of first Instance for having taken part in a human sacrifice in the hills near Sta Cruz Davao. They offered a sacrifice of an 8 year old boy to Mandarangan the god of evil as their crops had been bad. Had their crops been good they would have offered a sacrifice to Dawata the god of good. In any case they must appease the wrath of the gods. This tribe make very showy clothing of beads and hemp cloth and are probably the most picturesque tribe in the Islands.”

Blunt opinions are made about the people photographed: “They are of a low order of intellegence [sic], live in filthy huts and eke out an existence by abortive attempts at agriculture.” An emphasis is placed on the use of skulls in decoration, and on the local diets that include dog meat.

“A Young Igorrot. Taken at Bontoc, Island of Luzon. The Non-Christian tribes of the central part of Luzon number about 500,000 souls of whom the Igorrots are the most numerous. They are great agriculturists but their favorite dish is Dog. Any kind of dog – but dogs with a white skin and hair preferred. They are head hunters and when a successful war party returns there is great rejoicing. The gory trophies are stuck up in front of the home of their captor and there ensues a great feast with much drinking. They believe that the spirit of a person can make trouble for those who killed him but that such a spirit profits by the food and drink consumed by the living at the feast in honor of their killing. A man or boy who has taken a head finds it easy to get an acceptable wife and the influence of the women is one of the potent factors which renders difficult the supression [sic] of head hunting amongst these people.”

 
It is hoped that by digitizing these images, work can be done to improve the study and description so poorly written 100 years ago.

Verso text: “Ifugao Igorrot House Ornamented with Human Heads and the Man Who Took Them. Taken at Quingan, Nueva Viscaya, Island of Luzon. He makes no distinction between the heads of animals captured in the chase or those of his enemies. All are ornaments of which he is extremely proud. The horns are those of the Water Buffalo (Carabao).”Ifugo Igorrot house ornamented with human heads and the man who took them. Taken at Quingan, Nueva Viscay, Island of Luzon
Source Metadata Identifier:, 10646377
Identifier:, ark:/88435/37720n08r
Call Number: GA 2011.00228

Verso text: “Ifugao Igorrots. Just married and showing their wedding dress.” Ifugao Ingorrots. Just married and showing their wedding dress
Source Metadata Identifier:, 10643036
Identifier:, ark:/88435/5712mf89s
Call Number: GA 2011.00227

 

Verso text: “An Ingolot Dance. Province of Nueva Viscaya, Philippine Islands. These people are very similar to the Igorrotes and are also Dog eaters and head hunters. They will continue a dance for hours at a time going through a series of weird motions intended to typify their valor in battle etc.”
An Ingolot dance. Province of Nueva Viscaya, Philippine Islands
Source Metadata Identifier:, 10654194
Identifier:, ark:/88435/70795g99j
Call Number: GA 2011.00220

 

Verso text: “Subano Man. The Subanos inhabit the hills in the interior of the Island of Mindinao and are not as warlike as the Moros who inhabit the coast.” Subano man
Source Metadata Identifier: 10654192
Identifier: ark:/88435/rx913z24z
Call Number: GA 2011.00238

 

Additional records and links:

Tinguian man
Source Metadata Identifier: 10667665
Identifier: ark:/88435/xp68kq56f
Call Number GA 2011.00239

Another Mangayan home. Island of Mindoro – constructed of Bamboo and Nipa
Source Metadata Identifier: 10667664
Identifier: ark:/88435/6682xc32w
Call Number: GA 2011.00221

Bagobo man. Showing how teeth are filled
Source Metadata Identifier: 10667663
Identifier: ark:/88435/q524jx12m
Call Number: GA 2011.00223

Tinguian man playing a flute with his nose
Source Metadata Identifier: 10664307
Identifier: ark:/88435/n8710017n
Call Number: GA 2011.00240

Mangayan home. Baco River, Island of Mindoro
Source Metadata Identifier: 10664306
Identifier: ark:/88435/9z9037223
Call Number: GA 2011.00235

Ifugao Igorrot smoking
Source Metadata Identifier: 10660933
Identifier: ark:/88435/8049gd42t
Call Number: GA 2011.00226

Ingorrot woman taken at Bontoc Island of Luzon
Source Metadata Identifier: 10664305
Identifier: ark:/88435/hh63t426q
Call Number: GA 2011.00234

Heads of enemies placed in a position of honor
Source Metadata Identifier: 10660932
Identifier: ark:/88435/2f75rh39q
Call Number: GA 2011.00225

Ingorrot woman showing ornamental stretching of the ear lobe and taken in Bontoc Province, Island of Luzon
Source Metadata Identifier: 10660931
Identifier: ark:/88435/gh93h6870
Call Number: GA 2011.00233

Igorrot girls house (for unmarried girls).
Source Metadata Identifier: 10654193
Identifier: ark:/88435/kd17d221d
Call Number: GA 2011.00229

Bontoc Igorrot man and two women wearing banana leaf clothing
Source Metadata Identifier: 10657568
Identifier: ark:/88435/9019s983k
Call Number: GA 2011.00224

A young Igorrot. Taken at Bontoc, Island of Luzon
Source Metadata Identifier: 10657569
Identifier: ark:/88435/sx61dv647
Call Number: GA 2011.00218

Young Mangayan woman, taken on Baco River, Island of Mindoro
Source Metadata Identifier: 10657567
Identifier: ark:/88435/p55480738
Call Number: GA 2011.00242

A typical Moro house at Jolo
Source Metadata Identifier:, 10649712
Identifier:, ark:/88435/br86bb92g
Call Number: GA 2011.00217

Ingolot man, Province of Nueva Viscaya, Island of Luzon
Source Metadata Identifier:, 10649711
Identifier:, ark:/88435/jh344164c
Call Number:GA 2011.00232Top of Form

A group of Ifugao Igorrots fighting for a piece of meat which was thrown away by a camping party as unfit for human consumption. Taken at Magok, Ifugao, Island of Luzon
Source Metadata Identifier:, 10649713
Identifier:, ark:/88435/1g05fk95r
Call Number: GA 2011.00213

A Negrito home, Cagayan Province, Island of Luzon
Source Metadata Identifier:, 10646378
Identifier:, ark:/88435/47429j481
Call Number: GA 2011.00215

Negrito women with their children. Province of Zambales
Source Metadata Identifier:, 10636334
Identifier:, ark:/88435/cr56n836m
Call Number: GA 2011.00236

Negrito women with their children. Province of Zambales
Source Metadata Identifier:, 10636334
Identifier:, ark:/88435/cr56n836m
Call Number: GA 2011.00236

Ifugo Igorrot house ornamented with human heads and the man who took them. Taken at Quingan, Nueva Viscay, Island of Luzon
Source Metadata Identifier:, 10646377
Identifier:, ark:/88435/37720n08r
Call Number: GA 2011.00228

Ingolot man. Province of Nueva Viscaya, Island of Luzon
Source Metadata Identifier:, 10639681
Identifier:, ark:/88435/0g354p56z
Call Number: GA 2011.00231

An Igorrot and his family. Trinidad, Benguet
Source Metadata Identifier:, 10643035
Identifier:, ark:/88435/vq27zw778
Call Number: GA 2011.00219

A Kalinga chief from Balantok, mountain province
Source Metadata Identifier:, 10639683
Identifier:, ark:/88435/r207tx693
Call Number: GA 2011.00214

A Negrito woman and child. Taken at Casablanca, Island of Luzon
Source Metadata Identifier:, 10639682
Identifier:, ark:/88435/wp988t15p
Call Number: GA 2011.00216

The Belle of Atlantic Avenue, 1918

The Kaplan Klan, 1907 from:

Photograph album identified as “The Kaplan Klan,” New York: [1907]–1943. 262 gelatin silver prints. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2020- in process

Photography album labels front and back

The scout attending camp above might be Howard E. Kaplan (born 1929) son of Jack Kaplan (born 1897), in Brooklyn, New York, related to Belle Kaplan on Henry Street, but the benefit of the album is not specific to one person or family. It presents a look into Jewish American family life in the 1930s and 1940s Brooklyn. The ‘Kaplan Klan’ lived together, worked together (at the Atlas Portland Cement company), and vacation together. Extensive handwritten captions are by a male family member and include a smattering of Yiddish.

 


“By the middle of the 1920s, Scouting was growing at a tremendous pace. There were, at that time, living in the great city of New York men who were dreaming of vast unspoiled woodland acres as a solution to a problem which weighed heavily on their minds and hearts. This group was the Boy Scout Foundation of Greater New York, which was headed by a man of great foresight as well as an abundance of Boy Scout training. His name was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who, in 1929, became Governor of New York State and eventually guided the destiny of the United States as President throughout the Depression era and World War II.”–Ten Mile River Scout Museum

In August 1935, the family takes a sunny vacation to Sunrise Lake at Lewis Morris Park is just outside Morristown, NJ. The caption reads: “The 8 Living Spinsters of Bungalow 15, startled beyond words at the sight of a man (yes – me) Look at them stretching their necks for the pleasure of one good look at a man…”

 

 

Mountaindale, NY, was one of many small towns in the Catskills that hosted summer camps where the entire family spent a month or two each year.

“At the turn of the 19th century the celebrated Jewish resort area started in the Sullivan and Ulster County Catskills. New Yorkers hungry for mountain air, good food and the American way of leisure came to the mountains by the thousands, and by the 1950s a half-million people each year inhabited the “summer world” of bungalow colonies, summer camps and small hotels. These institutions shaped American Jewish culture, enabling Jews to become more American while at the same time introducing the American public to immigrant Jewish culture. Home-grown Borscht Belt entertainment provided America with a rich supply of comedians, musicians and performers.

Legions of young men and women used the Catskills as a springboard to successful careers and marriages. The hotels and summer camps of the area provided jobs to thousands of college students who relied on their wages and tips to finance the education that would catapult them (or so they hoped) into the higher reaches of American society. We suspect that Richard Feynman, the Princeton physicist, was not the only Nobel Prize winner to bus tables in the Catskills.–https://www.brown.edu/Research/Catskills_Institute/hotelsbungalows.shtml

The Graphic Narratives of Dulari Devi

Dulari Devi, Corona Effect in Patna, 2020. Acrylic on paper. Purchased with funds from South Asian Studies and Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2020- in process

On March 24, 2020, Prime Minister Modi gave the 1.35 billion citizens of India four hours’ notice before he imposed a complete lockdown of the country, hoping to prevent the spread of Covid 19. It is hard to imagine the rush this instigated, as thousands of people pressed into trains, boarded ships, borrowed bicycles, and in any way possible struggled to reach family. Many were stranded, many became unemployed, and many were infected.

Second only to the United States, India has recorded the highest number of coronavirus cases in the world. Over the last year indigenous artists of India turned their attention to this subject matter, chronicling the 2020 exodus and its aftermath.

This week in January 2021, India’s health minister declared its COVID-19 epidemic contained. Also this week, the Graphic Arts Collection acquired the first of a group of paintings by the artists of the Mithila region, responding to the events of the last year. We follow their work through the Mithila Art Institute: http://mithilaartinstitute.org/Home/Artists

The red arrow indicates the town of Madhubani in the Mithila region in northeast India. Traditionally, the women of this area decorated the walls of their homes for special events, eventually putting these designs onto paper and selling them to a growing international market.

Our first acquisition is by Dulari Devi, a Master Painter and Instructor at the Mithila Art Institute. Her biography states “A resident of Ranti, she received the State of Bihar Award for Excellence in Art in 2013, and authored the first autobiography by a Mithila painter, the award winning, Following My Paintbrush (2010). She learned to paint from Karpoori Devi one of the early Masters. She is now in great demand for her murals, closely observed village scenes, and paintings of Ganesh and Durga.” She writes,

“Corona positive patients are reaching [the] hospital but [there] is not enough space for large number of patients. Four patients are in critical position lying on the floor. Some people are carrying patients on their shoulder, as there is no ambulance available. In another scene, one person is distributing food packets among the people. And then a government employee is distributing among the people. And then a government employee is distributing mask among people. Finally, the lockdown has been imposed in Patna city. All the daily wage laborers are now unemployed and are coming to Madhubani, to their villages by bus. One family is traveling on the Ganga in a boat.” — Dulari Devi, Mithila Art in the Time of Covid 19 https://indd.adobe.com/view/b42ffd50-92eb-4c53-b8be-cad71851cee7

http://mithilaartinstitute.org/Home/History

See also:
Bharti Dayal, Madhubani art (Durbuy, Belgium: Museum of Sacred Art ; New Delhi, India : Niyogi Books, 2015). Marquand Library N7310.D39 A4 2015

Mulk Raj Anand, Madhubani painting (New Delhi, India: Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India, 1984). ReCAP ND1006 M26 An14

Martine Le Coz, Mithilâ: l’honneur des femmes (Paris: L’Harmattan: Michalon, 2013). ReCAP 14-14284

 

In March there will be a free live webinar focusing on Princeton’s new collection of Mithila paintings. Details coming.

The Commissioners [of the 1778 Carlisle Peace Commission]

The bales and barrels are inscribed “Tobacco for Germany; Rice for France; Tobacco for France; Tobacco for Holland; America 1778; Indico for Spain; Indico for the Mediterranean Ports; and V.R. (Monogram).”

 

The Commissioners, April 1, 1778. London: Published by M. Darly, 39 Strand. Hand colored engraving. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2021- in process.

From 1766 to 1778, Mary and Matthew Darly had a printshop at 39 Strand, on the corner of Buckingham Street, London. This was only one of 17 locations the British Museum has now identified with shops owned by one or both the Darlys. In the past, many prints listed as M. Darly were simply attributed to Matthew or Matthias (ca. 1720–1780), although Mary (flourished 1760–1781) clearly had her own shops, prints, and publications, as with the Graphic Arts Collection’s copy of Mary Darly’s A Book of Caricaturas: on 59 Copper-Plates, with ye principles of designing in that droll & pleasing manner, by M. Darly, with sundry ancient & modern examples & several well known caricaturas (Cornhill: Printed for John Bowles, [1762?]). GAX 2005-2501N.

A wonderful biography of Matthew can be found at https://www-oxforddnb-com.ezproxy.princeton.edu/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-7161. It is unfortunate that the best the DNB can do for Mary Darly is “see Matthew.” Although we continue to argue about attribution–which items should be credited specifically to Mary–at the very least this print should be considered sold by Mary Darly.

The sheet offers a humorous look at the five commissioners nominated to negotiate peace with the American colonies: Admiral Lord Richard Howe, General Sir William Howe, Lord Frederick Carlisle, Lord Auckland (William Eden), and Commodore George Johnstone, known as Governor Johnstone. They kneel facing a personification of America, holding a liberty cap.

The dialogue bubbles read:
“We have block’d up your ports, obstructed your trade, with the hope of starving ye, & contrary to the Law of Nations compelld your sons to war against their Bretheren.”
“We have ravaged your Lands, burnt your Towns, and caus’d your captive Heroes to perish, by Cold, pestilence & famine.”
“We have profaned your places of Divine worship, derided your virtue and piety, and scoff’d at that spirit which has brought us thus on our knees before ye.”
“We have Ravish’d, Scalp’d, and murder’d your People, even from Tender infancy to decrepid age, altho Supplicating for Mercy.”
“For all which material services, we the Commissioners from the most pious & best of sovereigns, doubt not your cordial duty & affection towards us, or willingness to submit yourselves again to receive the same, whenever we have power to bestow it on ye.”


Carlisle, Auckland, and Johnstone sailed for Philadelphia on April 21, 1778, twenty days after this satirical print was published indicating that the Darlys were predicting the failure of the commission, not simply reporting it.

Only five years later, the Continental Congress left Philadelphia and convened in Princeton at Nassau Hall. Here is a bit of local history from the period: https://paw.princeton.edu/article/continental-congress-nassau-hall