Posographe

Thanks to the keen eye and generosity of W. Allen Scheuch II, Class of 1976 and Friend of the Princeton University Library, we now own a posographe. This device, the size of a cell phone, is one of the first calculators for figuring the aperture and exposure time when making a photograph or home movie. Invented in the 1920s for the Pathé company, posographes were produced in French, German, and English.

Unlike a light meter, this instrument uses environmental settings such as “a very narrow old street,” “state of sky” or “snowy scene” to calculate exposure. One side gives you the calculation for an outside scene, the other side for a picture taken indoors.

Here is a posographe in English found on the internet, to make it easier to read the settings.
See also:
http://www.nzeldes.com/HOC/Posographe.htm

http://www.brocantina.com/posogr.pdf

Street Vendors of Naples, 1827

Count Karel Gustav Hjalmar de Mörner (1794-1837) was a Swedish nobleman as well as an amateur artist who experimented with printmaking while living in Italy during the early nineteenth century. He completed this series depicting colorful street vendors in 1827 and published it under the title Nuova Raccolta di scene popolari e costumi di Napoli disegnati esattamente dal vero (A New Collection of Popular Scenes and Costumes of Naples Drawn Exactly from Life).

Hfalmar Mörner (1794-1837) Venditore di maccheroni cotti (Baked Macaroni Vendor) from the book Nuova Raccolta di scene popolari e costumi di Napoli disegnati esattamente dal vero (New Collection of popular scenes and costumes of Naples drawn exactly from life). Also called Street Scenes in Naples. (Naples: Bianchi and Cucniello, 1827). 10 lithographs with added hand coloring. Graphic Arts Collection GAX DG 845.6.N37 1840Q

It is possible that Count Mörner drew his designs directly onto the Bavarian limestone while working at the Naples lithography studio of Lorenzo Bianchi and Domenico Cuciniello. The complex coloring, however, was not printed but added by hand after the lithographs were pulled, probably by a technician in the shop.

Elmer Adler purchased the volume and brought it with him to Princeton for the new collection of graphic arts in 1940.

See also Hjalmar Mörner (1794-1837), Il Carnevale di Roma (Roma: Presso Francesco Bourliè, 1820). 20 etchings with hand coloring. Rare Books (Ex) Oversize GT4452.R6 xC2E

The Lulu Plays by Frank Wedekind and William Kentridge

Timing is everything.

On the very day that we are fortunate to have the South African multimedia artist William Kentridge visiting Princeton University as our 2015-16 Belknap Visitor in the Humanities, we also received our copy of his new artist’s book The Lulu Plays.

Frank Wedekind (1864-1918), The Lulu Plays,
with sixty-seven drawings by William Kentridge (San Francisco: Arion Press, 2015).
Copy 118 of 400. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2015- in process

Described in the prospectus as “one of Arion’s most ambitious artist books, this limited edition contains 67 drawings by William Kentridge bound into the book.

The text is the original telling of the Lulu story by playwright Frank Wedekind, which inspired the silent cinema classic Pandora’s Box and the Alban Berg opera Lulu.”

The images are derived from brush and ink drawings for projections created for Kentridge’s 2015 production of Alban Berg’s opera Lulu, which was based on the two Wedekind plays from the turn of the century, Earth Spirit and Pandora’s Box.

The artist drew with brush and ink directly onto dictionary pages. The definitions are in the background but the opening and closing words, in larger type, can be read.

Often, after drawing, Kentridge moves the sheets, rearranging elements of the drawings so that they become collages and can resemble moving pictures. The appearance of the drawings on pages of the book is very different from the much larger versions in the opera set, where sometimes only a detail is used and images can be altered by the surfaces on which they are projected, as well as fractured or distorted by the planes and interfering elements of the scenery.

The public is invited to Kentridge’s lecture today, October 14, “O Sentimental Machine,” which will take place at 5:00 p.m. in McCosh 10. http://humanities.princeton.edu/events/belknap-visitors. He will be introduced by Susan Stewart, Avalon Foundation University Professor in the Humanities, who has written a monograph on Kentridge’s works. A reception will follow at Princeton University Art Museum and is open to the public.

Portmeirion

Leslie Gerry and Robin Llywelyn, Portmeirion (Risbury: Whittington Press, 2008). Copy 116 of 225. Graphic Arts Collection RECAP-91157790

Since 1971, The Whittington Press has been printing and publishing limited edition, letterpress books. In 2008, they broke with tradition to work with artist Leslie Gerry who designed the plates for Portmeirion on his iPad. The flat layers of digital color give the surprising effect of screen prints.

“Portmeirion, the extraordinary Italianate village built by the eccentric architect Clough Williams-Ellis on a remote peninsula in North Wales. Clough’s grandson, Robin Llywelyn, who spent much of his childhood with his grandparents at Portmeirion, has written short but evocative texts about each of Leslie Gerry’s seven images of the village.”–prospectus.

Princeton University library holds 49 limited edition books from the Whittington Press along with a complete run of their fine-press journal Matrix: A Review for Printers & Bibliophiles. Issued annually since 1981, Matrix has made distinguished contributions to the study, recording, preservation, and dissemination of printing history, and has done so utilizing a remarkable combination of authoritative scholarship and fine printing.

Remembering Zapf

A memorial gathering for the German type designer and calligrapher Hermann Zapf (1918-2015) will be held at the Grolier Club in New York City on Monday, November 9 beginning at 6:00. This event is co-sponsored by the Grolier Club Committee on Modern Fine Printing http://www.grolierclub.org/ and the Type Director’s Club, https://www.tdc.org. in collaboration with the American Printing History Association, The Typophiles, and others. The event is open to the public without reservations.

Attention Princeton Students:

Submit Your Essay to Win the 2015-2016 Elmer Adler
Undergraduate Book Collecting Prize!

Are you an avid collector of books, manuscripts, or other materials found in libraries? If so, consider submitting an essay about your collection for a chance to win the Elmer Adler Undergraduate Book Collecting Prize!

Image: (c) Jane and Louise Wilson, Oddments Room II (Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle), 2008. C-print, Edition of 4. Courtesy 303 Gallery, New York

Endowed from the estate of Elmer Adler, who for many years encouraged the collecting of books by Princeton undergraduates, this prize is awarded annually to an undergraduate student, or students, who, in the opinion of a committee of judges, have shown the most thought and ingenuity in assembling a thematically coherent collection of books, manuscripts, or other material normally collected by libraries. Please note that the rarity or monetary value of the student’s collection is not as important as the creativity and persistence shown in collecting and the fidelity of the collection to the goals described in a personal essay.

The personal essay is about a collection owned by the student. It should describe the thematic or artifactual nature of the collection and discuss with some specificity the unifying characteristics that have prompted the student to think of certain items as a collection. It should also convey a strong sense of the student’s motivations for collecting and what their particular collection means to them personally. The history of the collection, including collecting goals, acquisition methods, and milestones are of particular interest, as is a critical look at how the goals may have evolved over time and an outlook on the future development of the collection. Essays are judged in equal measures on the strength of the collection and the strength of the writing.

Winners will receive their prizes at the annual winter dinner of the Friends of the Princeton University Library, which they are expected to attend. The first-prize essay has the honor of representing Princeton University in the National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest organized by the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America. Please note that per the ABAA’s contest rules, the winning essay will be entered exactly as submitted to the Adler Prize contest, without possibility of revision.

Prize amounts:

First prize: $2000
Second prize: $1500
Third prize: $1000

The deadline for submission is Tuesday, December 1, 2015. Essays should be submitted via e-mail, in a Microsoft Word attachment, to Faith Charlton: faithc@princeton.edu. They should be between 9-10 pages long, 12pt, double-spaced, with a 1-inch margin, and include a separate cover sheet with your name, class year, residential address, email address, and phone number. In addition to the essay, each entry should include a selected bibliography of no more than 3 pages detailing the items in the collection. Please note that essays submitted in file formats other than Microsoft Word, submitted without cover sheet, or submitted without a bibliography will not be forwarded to the judges. For inquiries, please contact Faith Charlton, faithc@princeton.edu.

Recent Adler Prize winning essays:

Anna Leader ’18. “ ‘Like a Thunderstorm’; A Shelved Story of Love and Literature” PULC 76:3 (spring)

Rory Fitzpatrick ‘16. “The Search for the Shape of the Universe, One Book at a Time.” PULC 75:3 (spring)

Natasha Japanwala ’14. “Conversation Among the Ruins: Collecting Books By and About Sylvia Plath.” PULC 74:2 (winter)

Mary Thierry ’12. “Mirror, Mirror: American Daguerrean Portraits.” PULC 73:3 (spring)

Chloe Ferguson ’13. “The Farther Shore: Collection, Memory, and the East Asian Literary Tradition.” PULC 73:3 (spring)

Posted by Faith Charlton, Processing Archivist, Americana Collections, Rare Books and Special Collections

Albert Einstein

Helmuth Nathan (1901–1979), Bust of Albert Einstein, ca. 1967. Cast bronze. Museum objects collection. (Ex) 5014. Gift of Colonel and Mrs. Norvin Rieser.

This cast bronze bust of Albert Einstein (1879-1955) is currently on view in the second floor lounge of the Department of Physics in Jadwin Hall on Washington Road.

The artist was Dr. Helmuth Nathan (1901-1979), who emigrated to the United States in 1936 and worked at several hospitals before joining the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University in 1955 as a professor of surgery and founding faculty member.

In 1973, Nathan was appointed professor and chair of Einstein College’s newly created department of the history of medicine.

Dr. Nathan was not only a published researcher but also a painter, sculptor and graphic artist whose work is displayed in numerous museums, libraries, and private collections.

According to the 2010 Einstein College Alumni Magazine, “Helmuth Nathan is perhaps best known among early Einstein students for bringing nude art models into the lecture hall and attempting to teach us medical students how to sketch the human figure.”

A second copy of Dr. Nathan’s bust of Einstein is on view in the lobby of the Siegfried and Irma Ullmann Research Center for Health Sciences.

Jonas Silber 1582

Jonas Silber (active 1572-1589), [Circular Design with Saturn], 1582. Punched engraving. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2014.00905

In 1582, the German goldsmith Jonas Silber (active 1572-1589) created a series of nine designs for the bottom of bowls or plates. They have no titles because they were decorative patterns, not meant for framing but for copying onto tableware. Nevertheless, libraries and museums collect these ornamental prints, giving them descriptive titles such as this one which is called Saturn seated in a Landscape or Circular Design with Saturn or Saturn seated on a stone at the base of a tree with his scythe in his hand.

According to the Oxford Dictionary of Art, “Silber studied with Samuel Spillman in Berne, then with Wenzel Jamnitzer in Nuremberg. Among the most talented practitioners of the Jamnitzer style, he popularized the goldsmith’s old technique of punch engraving in many allegorical prints, cups, and small bronze plaques. He became a master in 1572, and [examples] from that year typify his early work: it has restrained Renaissance proportions and is decorated with four classical medallions on a band of punchwork verdure.”

Note, this print is not as pink as my quick photograph appears.

Remember Venice

The Swiss photographer and optician Carlo (or Charles) Ponti moved to Venice around 1852 and established the first of three photography studios, offering tourists inexpensive views of local buildings and historic landmarks. Together with the Italian photographer Carlo Naya, Ponti developed one of the most lucrative distribution networks in Europe, with branches as far away as San Francisco, bringing him worldwide recognition and appreciation for the sensitivity and detail of his architectural photography. After the Seven Weeks War in 1866, he was appointed optician to Victor Emmanuel II, King of Italy.

“Photographs are very fine and cheap in Venice; the best can be found at Charles Ponti’s, on the Grand Canal. This gentleman has invented a new instrument, which every American ought to possess, called the Alethoscope. The advantage of this instrument is, that with a single photograph of any size you please, you have a correct representation, the same as a stereoscope with an opening a foot square to look into. –William Pembroke Fetridge, American Travellers’ Guide, v.10 (1870).

Ponti shot and printed his photographs between 1854 and 1875 but the company continued to produce tourist albums late into the nineteenth century and so, it is hard to date the collections of his prints.

The Graphic Arts Collection has two copies of Ponti’s Souvenir photographique de Venise (Venice: Charles Ponti, opticien et photographe, [1800s]). One holds 18 leaves of plates and is 36 x 46 cm. (Oversize 2007-0025E) and the other has 21 leaves of plates in a smaller size, 23 x 29 cm. (Oversize DG674.7 .P66q).

As with many Ponti volumes the bindings are stamped: Ricordo di Venezia or Remember Venice.

Paul Revere gets the time wrong

On March 28, 1770, just three weeks after the battle we now call the Boston Massacre, Paul Revere published an engraving of the bloody scene. The week before, Henry Pelham had shared with Revere a depiction of the battle that he was planning to publish. Revere copied the picture, engraved it, and published it under his own name, working quickly to get it out before Pelham finished his print.

As we all know, when you work too quickly you make mistakes. Revere got the time on the clock wrong and didn’t catch the error until a few impressions had already been pulled. He took back the plate, changed the time to 10:20, and finished the print run. This second state of the first edition is the print now held at Princeton University.

Pelham did complain about this piracy, writing to Revere on March 29, “When I heard that you was cutting a plate of the late Murder, I thought it impossible as I knew you was not capable of doing it unless you coppied it from mine and I thought I had intrusted it in the hands of a person who had more regard to the dictates of Honour and Justice than to take the undue advantage you have done of the confidence and trust I reposed in you.” Pelham’s letter was published in the Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 2nd series, volume 8 (1892-1894), page 227. Firestone Library Recap F61 .M377.
Note that Revere only claims to have engraved, printed, and sold the print, not to have designed or drawn the image.

Paul Revere (1735-1818) after Henry Pelham (1748/49-1806), The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King-Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt., [1770]. Engraving with hand color. Scheide Library, Gift of William H. Scheide, Class of 1936.

“Unhappy Boston! See thy Sons deplore. Thy hallow’d Walks besmear’d with guiltless Gore. While faithless P-n and his savage Bands. With murd’rous Rancour stretch their bloody Hands; Like fierce Barbarians grinning o’er their Prey, Approve the Carnage and enjoy the Day. If scalding drops from Rage from Anguish Wrung if Speechless Sorrows lab’ring for a Tongue, or if a weeping World can ought appease The plaintive Ghosts of Victims such s these; The Patriot’s copious Tears for each are shed, a Glorious Tribute which embalms the Dead. But know Fate summons to that awful Goal, Where justice strips the Murd’rer of his Soul; Should venal C-ts the scandal of the Land, Snatch the relentless Villain from her Hand, Keen Execrations on this Plate inscrib’d Shall reach a Judge who never can be brib’d.”

Note the unharmed dog. It has been suggested that Revere was showing that the British treated the dog better than the American colonists.

In Pelham’s print, the moon in the top left-hand corner faces to the right, whereas it faces to the left in Revere’s version.

The Red Coats are placed under the sign “Butcher’s Hall.”

There are many variations of this scene. A wonderful page comparing various Boston massacre prints has been mounted by the Boston Historical Society: http://www.masshist.org/features/massacre/comparison

See also Philomathes, The Massachusetts Calendar, or an Almanac for the Year of Our Lord 1772 … 2nd ed. Boston: [s.n., 1772?]. Woodcut of the Boston massacre after Paul Revere’s engraving of 1770. Philomathes is a pseudonym of Ezra Gleason. Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) Hamilton 59.

See also Paul Revere (1735-1818), The Bloody Massacre, 1970 (restrike). Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) NE539.R5 B55q This is a restrike from Revere’s original plate.

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