La Lune: Paraissant toutes les nouvelles lunes.

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The Graphic Arts Collection holds almost complete runs of La Lune: paraissant toutes les nouvelles lunes (Paris: [s.n.], 1865-1868).  GAX 2011-0004E [Princeton owns no.2-98] and the magazine it evolved into: L’Eclipse (Paris: [s.n.], 1868-1876). GAX 2010-0021E. [Princeton owns 1870-1872, 1873-1876].
la lune8Founded and edited by François Polo (1838-1874), the magazine’s most important illustrator was André Gill (1840-1885). According to Donald Crafton: “The central attraction was, of course, André Gill (born Louis-Alexandre Gosset de Guines). At this time, in 1878, he was the preeminent caricaturist of France, owing largely to his daring attacks in the illustrated press against the Second Empire….

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Hired in 1865 by the courageous publisher François Polo to illustrate his new satirical journal La Lune, Gill was frequently the target of attempts by Emperor Napoleon III to suppress political caricature. In spite of this, the paper had a circulation of 500,000 by 1867.

Gill constantly tested the limits of censorship apparatus that forbade not only unauthorized representations of the government but allegorical content as well. “The Masked Wrestlers” of November 3, 1867, was taken to be an antipapist statement, although it showed only two wrestlers….

It was enough, in December when the case was tried before a magistrate, to send Polo to jail with a stiff fine and meant the end of La Lune. Eight days after the last La Lune, Polo started a new paper to replace it and petulantly called it L’Eclipse.”

—Donald Crafton, Emile Cohl, Caricature, and Film (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990). Firestone Library (F) NC1766.F82 C6433 1990

 

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Inside the issues of La Lune is a hand-written index to the covers of all 98 issues, posted here:
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Marie Cosindas, the greatest photographer you do not know

oedipus1Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Oedipus. Photogravures by Marie Cosindas; translated by Leila Vennewitz; foreword by the author. 1st English ed. (New York]: Limited Editions Club, c1989). Translation of the short story “Das Sterben der Pythia” and its preceding introduction, “Schicksal und dramaturgische Notwendigkeit: Ödipus, Shakespeare, Brecht,” from the “Nachwort zum Nachwort” to the author’s Der Mitmacher. Copy 551 of 650. Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) Oversize Z232.L67 D87q. Gift of John Wilmerding.

“The photogravure plates were made by Jon Goodman and the plates have been editioned at Renaissance Press and Wingate Studio. The gravures are printed on Arches paper and the text on paper made at Cartiere Enrico Magnani. This book was designed by Benjamin Schiff.”
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Marie Cosindas (born 1925) did not intend to be a photographer. The eighth of ten children in a modestly situated Greek family living in Boston, she studied dressmaking in school and took up a career designing textiles and children’s shoes, also acting as a color coordinator for a company that made museum reproductions in stone. On the side, she created abstract paintings filled with atmospheric color.

Cosindas initially thought of the camera as a means for making design notes. But as so often happens, several photographs she took on a visit to Greece convinced her that such prints could stand on their own as finished works. In 1961, she participated in one of Ansel Adams’s photography workshops in Yosemite Valley. The following year, when Polaroid sought photographers to test its new instant color film before bringing it to market, Adams recommended her.—Amon Carter Museum of American Art, 2013

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See also: http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/news-features/news/marie-consindas/

Marie Cosindas, Color Photographs with an essay by Tom Wolfe, [edited by Susan Feldman] (Boston: New York Graphic Society, c1978). RECAP Oversize TR654 .C675q

Antiquarian Book Fair

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Posted in honor of the antiquarian book fair in New York City: http://nyantiquarianbookfair.com/visitors/

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Mabel Dwight (1876-1955), Book auction, 1932. Lithograph. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2007.01209

 

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Scott’s personal study

wilson, walter scott libraryGeorge Washington Wilson (1823-1893), Abbotsford, the Study, [1880]. Albumen silver print. Graphic Arts Collection 2015- in process

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This albumen photograph shows the personal study of Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832), the last room to be completed at Abbotsford in 1824. Over the fireplace, Scott chose one of the most popular engravings of his era, The Pilgrimage to Canterbury after Thomas Stothard.

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William Henry Worthington (ca. 1790-after 1839) after Thomas Stothard (1755-1834), The Canterbury Pilgrimage, 1822. Engraving. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2005.00807

Scott was one of the original subscribers of the engraving, published in 1817 and sold at six guineas (the common impressions were three guineas each). This edition sold out quickly and has been recorded as having the most extensive sale of its kind within the last hundred years. Princeton’s Graphic Arts Collection has only a later 1822 impression by Worthington.

heathjames1834pilgrimagetocanterburyLuigi Schiavonetti (1765-1810) and James Heath (1757-1834) after Thomas Stothard (1755-1834), The Pilgrimage to Canterbury, 1809-1817. Etching and engraving. Print and original painting in the Tate Britain.

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In 1806 Thomas Stothard received a commission from [Robert] Cromek the engraver to paint his famous picture of the Canterbury Pilgrims setting forth from the Tabard Inn. The subject had been treated before by Stothard for Ritson, but Cromek had previously offered the commission to William Blake, and hence ensued a lamentable breach between the two old friends which was never healed. The picture … was exhibited in 1807 in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and drew crowds.

The engraving was entrusted to Luigi Schiavonetti, who etched the plate and engraved wholly or in part some of the figures. After his death it was being worked upon by Francis Engleheart when Cromek died (1812). It was next given to Niccolo Schiavonetti, who had not finished it at his death in 1813, and it was finally completed by James Heath and published in October 1817, some years after Blake’s rival engraving. Its success was enormous, but Stothard had no share in the profits.–Dictionary of National Biography

 

Die Quelle (The Source)

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The Graphic Arts Collection holds the second portfolio in the series Die Quelle, along with a set of pen and ink drawings for the series. These volumes provide color and gilt designs for books covers, wall papers, upholstery, and other decorative materials. Volume 2 is predominately the work of the Austrian artist Max Benirschke, while volume 3 (not owned by Princeton) was primarily the work of Koloman Moser.

 

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quelle 2dMax Benirschke (born 1880). Buchschmuck und Flächenmuster (Book Decoration and Patterns). Series: Quelle 2 ([Wien u. Leipzig]: Herausgegeben von Martin Gerlach, [1900]). 1 portfolio (30 leaves of plates) and 1 portfolio ([12] leaves of drawings). Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) Oversize 2006-0347Q and Oversize 2006-0026E
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The Four Accomplishments

utamaro go playingKitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806), Go Playing, no date (about 1790). Color woodblock print. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2009.00694. Vertical Ôban. From the series Four Accomplishments (Kinkishoga).

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The Graphic Arts Collection holds one of Utamaro’s four prints depicting the four cultural activities or arts to be mastered by an ideal Chinese scholar. These include the playing of the musical instrument gin; playing the board game weigi (later changed to go); the art of calligraphy; and that of painting. Utamaro parodies the tradition by showing courtesans rather than scholarly gentlemen playing the game of go.

 

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Here is another from the series, owned by the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.
sc155944Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806), Calligraphy (Sho), from an untitled series of the Four Accomplishments (Kinkishoga), about 1790–91. Vertical ôban. © Museum of Fine Arts Boston

The Epicures’ Prayer!! and other Rowlandsons

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rowlandson prayers7O mighty Epicurus! make a hash of mine Enemies and barbacue their Malevolence; gather my Friends around me like unto a Ragout of Sweet-breads; and should I ever found a City let it be filled with good Things, and fat be the Men, fat be the Women, and fat be the Strangers surjourning therein.

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rowlandson prayers4O ye whose Breeches Pockets burn, Give lucky Peter Puff a turn; When Fortune beckons, never scorn her, But seek her Office, round the Corner. You cannot well mistake the Door, The Lamp is green–the Number four.

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rowlandson prayers3 O all ye Household Gods who preside over cleanliness and good management, aid me in my arduous undertaking…

 

The Graphic Arts Collection holds a number of sets of prayers and journals engraved by Thomas Rowlandson. The ones posted here are from a bound set that comes with a hand-written index, presumably by Dixon Q. Brown, our donor.

Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827), Prayers and Journals, engraved by Rowlandson after George Moutard Woodward (ca. 1760-1809) ([London]: R. Ackerman, printed by E. Spragg, No. 27, Bow-Street, Covent-Garden, 1801-1802]). Twelve prints with accompanying text; nine of the prints are from the Prayers series, most dated 1801, and three are from the Journals series, dated 1802. Graphic Arts Collection (GA) Rowlandson 1801.5.
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Pre-Columbian Stamp Seals and Roller Seals

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Just cleaning up for the end of the week and reshelving some of the stamp seals and roller seals that belong to: Pre-Columbian stamp seals and roller seals, no date [pre-1600]. Clay. Graphic Arts Collection. GC185. Gift of Gillett G. Griffin.

The collection consists of 147 clay stamp seals and roller or cylinder seals dating from the Pre-Columbian era and Post-Conquest until 1600 AD, chiefly from Mesoamerica but possibly from other places in the Americas. These seals (sellos) include anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, floral, and geometric designs, and were probably used to decorate fabric and/or the human body. Some of the stamps contain remains of pigments. They are organized in four boxes by type and numbered consecutively. The ones seen here are in box 4.

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precolumbian stampsSee also: Anthony Ortegon. Pre-Columbian stamp seals (Pueblo, Colo.: AOA Associates, 1999). Rare Books: Reference Collection in Dulles Reading Rm. (ExB) E59 .A7 1999

Tracts and Satires on King George IV

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byron's corsair This note was published in Notes and Queries (October 1885) by Alfred Wallis:

A Catalogue of William Hone’s Publications is appended to The Political Showman at Home, 1821. This is a tolerably full list, and others may be found at the end of his various tracts. Pamphlets similar to those of William Hone were published about that period by Dolby, Fairburn, Robins, Johnstone, Benbow, &c. The brothers George Cruikshank and Isaac Robert Cruikshank found plenty of employment in drawing caricatures for these publications, and the work of the two artists is so much the same in style and manner at this epoch that one finds some difficulty in assigning the specimens to which no initials are affixed.

I believe that George Cruikshank alone illustrated Hone’s publications and Robert Cruikshank those of Dolby; but both the brothers worked for Fairburn and for Robins & Co. More information upon this subject will be found in the various biographies and bibliographies produced since the death of George Cruikshank. The artist is said to have asserted his claim to be considered the originator of some of Hone’s most successful publications, especially to the Bant Note—not to be imitated; it is, however, tolerably certain that this claim, in common with the pretence that every author with whom Cruikshank had relations “wrote up to” his designs, must be referred to a morbid exaggeration of his characteristic vanity.

The idea of publishing such a caricature, in the form of a bank-note, was attributed to Hone in all the public prints; and as it only illustrated an extended pamphlet “by the author of The Political House that Jack Built,” dealing with “the effects on society of the bank-note system and payments in gold,” the Examiner was most likely right in saying, “This bank-note is by Mr. Hone, and ought to make the hearts of the bank directors (if they have hearts) ache at the sight.” Some of Hone’s political tracts are common, others are very difficult of procurement in a perfect state; for instance, the step-ladder is rarely to be found with The Queen’s Matrimonial Ladder. A complete set is a valuable possession to the student of contemporary life and manners.

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life of billyMultiple copies of these and other rare tracts are held in various collections at Princeton, including this set in the Graphic Arts Collection given by Richard W. Meirs, Class of 1888. Although several sets are bound together, each title can be searched separately in http://catalog.princeton.edu. Such as:
A Groan from the Throne (London: Printed and published by John Fairburn, 1820). A satire in verse on King George IV, with woodcut title vignette by George Cruikshank. GA copy: No. 7 of a volume of pamphlets. Graphic Arts Collection (GA) Cruik 1817.28. Gift of Richard W. Meirs, Class of 1888
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Les Agréments de musique

concert2Were you unable to attend the concert by Les Agréments de musique (Minju Lee, harpsicord, and John Burkhalter, recorders) last Sunday, 29 March 2015? The program, highlighting French music of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, was held inside the Firestone Library exhibition gallery where Versailles on Paper is on view through 19 July 2015.

A few pieces were recorded (with the permission of the musicians) and have been posted on YouTube. Have a listen:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9GGOMDkACVR4G-mfTEIkK24PRxIvXIAE

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For more information on the exhibition, see http://rbsc.princeton.edu/versailles/. A copy of the concert program is below with information on the musicians and the music they performed. Here is also a PDF for a larger version: program

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