Congratulations to winners

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(c) Jane and Louise Wilson, Oddments Room II, 2008. C-print, Courtesy 303 Gallery, New York

Since 1922, the Princeton University Library has held an annual book collecting contest for its undergraduates, organized originally by George Peck, the curator of special collections. It wasn’t until 1939 that financial prizes were awarded, which were $25 and $15 for the first and second place winners. Then, as it is today, the award is not about the money.

Many other colleges and universities around the country now give similar prizes to  their undergraduates in recognition of connoisseurship in book collecting and in 2005, a national collegiate book collecting contest was established to include the first prize winners from each of the university contests.

 

The winners of the 2013 National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest are:

First Prize: Elias Serna, University of California Riverside, The Chicano Movement

Second Prize: Ashley Young, Duke University, New Orleans’ Nourishing Networks

Third Prize: Amanda Zecca, Johns Hopkins University, From Berkeley to Black Mountain

Congratulations to the winners! The awards ceremony will be held at the Library of Congress on October 18, 2013, at 5:30 p.m.

The National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest is administered by the ABAA, the Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies (FABS), the Center for the Book and the Rare Books and Special Collections Division (the Library of Congress), with major support from the Jay I. Kislak Foundation. For more information on the contest, please visit contest.abaa.org.

 

George Morgan’s Prospect Farm

house at prospectGraphic Arts Collection GA 2006.02561

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Shortly before her death, Julia Morgan Harding (1854-1943) offered Princeton a drawing of the 18th-century Prospect Farm, near Princeton, “with the condition that it should not be exposed to strong light.” We agreed and happily the view of the Morgan Prospect shows little sign of wear.

Harding was a great-great-grand-daughter of Colonel George Morgan (1743-1810) and the great-grand-daughter of General John Morgan (1770-1817). The Colonel was a United States Indian agent during the American Revolutionary war and played an important role negotiating the European settlement of what became Pennsylvania.

According to campus history, the current Prospect House, “was built circa 1850 by the American architect, John Notman, and is one of the few University buildings not originally part of the campus. Prospect House owes its name to the stone farmhouse first constructed on the site in the mid-18th century by Colonel George Morgan, western explorer, U.S. Agent for Indian Affairs and gentleman farmer. The superb eastern view from that farmhouse prompted Colonel Morgan to name his estate “Prospect.” Morgan’s estate, a popular stopping of place in Revolutionary times, was visited by such diverse groups as a delegation of Delaware Indians, 2,000 mutinous soldiers of the Pennsylvania Line and the Continental Congress.”

“When Prospect was acquired in 1849 by John Potter, a wealthy merchant from Charleston, South Carolina, he replaced the colonial structure with the present mansion. In 1878 Robert L. and Alexander Stuart of New York bought the house and accompanying 35-acre estate and deeded it to Princeton University, known at that time as the College of New Jersey.”

Writing for the 1903 Princeton University Bulletin, Varnum Lansing Collins notes, “The erection of the Seventy-Nine Dormitory goes far to complete the transformation of a property which in the last quarter of the eighteenth century became famous through the Middle States as “Prospect near Princeton,” the home of the Indian agent, explorer and scientific farmer, Colonel George Morgan. A single mutilated gravestone, overshadowed by the new dormitory, is all that is now left to give hint of a past of which none need be ‘ashamed; and it seems high time to sketch, though it be but fragmentary, the history of which that stone is a pathetic reminder.”

Effigies

auster-effigies3 Paul Auster and Sarah Horowitz, Effigies ([Portland, Or.]: Wiesedruck, 2012). Copy 14 of 20.
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“For the creation of this book handmade kozo paper was dyed in an indigo vat, hung on laundry lines in the sun, gelatin sized, and pressed flat over the course of a year. … the printing and drawing commenced in early 2012. Each image was re-drawn by hand for the edition with sumi ink … Art Larson of Horton Tank Graphics in Hadley, Massachusetts printed the letterpress on un-dyed sheets of kozo. Claudia Cohen bound the edition in indigo-dyed flax paper made by Cave Paper.”–Colophon.
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Artist Sarah Horowitz writes, “Effigies is a hand-drawn limited edition artist book featuring Paul Auster’s namesake poem from 1976. My design for the book centers around a long sumi ink drawing of a bramble fence that extends over several indigo-dyed pages. For each of the 20 books in the edition, I re-drew the image by hand, resulting in 20 unique pieces. Meaning a likeness or resemblance of, effigies straddle the threshold of existence, that which is illusory or real, forgotten or remembered. The ink-drawn weeds and brambles that cross the landscape pages are part of the edges of fields, the forgotten spaces between tilled lands that grow tangled with rusting fencing. I could not be more pleased that Mr. Auster has signed the colophon!
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As a book artist, I am continually creating a dialog between language and image. As a Jew—the people of the book—I have learned that my ancestors’ story is my story and its documentation is my cultural imperative. With this new book, the thorny fence represents the line on the edge of reality and forgetting. Remembering history is critical to finding balance in the world.”

Audubon’s monument

DSCN2156

DSCN2165In 1842, needing more land for a cemetery, Trinity Parish purchased 24 acres of the upper Manhattan estate owned by the naturalist and painter John James Audubon (1785-1851). When Audubon passed away, he was buried in Trinity cemetery with only a small sDSCN2166tone marker.

Also buried in the Audubon vault are his wife Lucy Bakewell Audubon, their children and grandchildren, and Audubon’s friend, the musician Anton Philipp Heinrich.

Aububon’s grave was later moved and funds were raised, under the leadership of Thomas Egleston (1832-1900), for a 25-foot monument. Along with a portrait of the artist are two dozen carved birds and quadrupeds; a painter’s easel and brushes; and two of Audubon’s rifles, one of which is held in Firestone Library’s Audubon collection. The October 30, 1892, New York Times noted:

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“In May last a fourteen-ton block of North River bluestone, quarried in Malden Township, in the Catskills, near Saugerties, arrived at the marble yards of R.C. Fischer & Co., at Corlears Hook. Since then the stone has been cut into a monument in the form of a Celto-Runic cross, which will soon be erected in Trinity Cemetery over the tomb of Audubon, the naturalist, artist, and ornithologist. The cross is in one solid piece, 19 feet high, and weighs seven tons.”

 

 

DSCN2179“…The monument is 25 feet high. The color of the stone is a beautiful bluish-gray. The monument was designed and modeled and the work upon it personally superintended by Eugene Pflister, foreman of R. C. Fischer & Co. It has cost $10,000. Some of the minor work remains to be done, but it will be ready to be unveiled by the latter part of November. The monument will be unveiled by Miss Audubon, the grand-daughter of Audubon.”

 

 

Note Audubon’s California Vulture over his portrait, taken directly from the image in his Birds of America. The first scientific paper Audubon delivered concerned the vulture and its sense of smell.

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For more information, see: Audubon Park: http://www.audubonparkny.com

Audubon Monument: http://audubonparkny.com/AudubonParkAudubonTomb1.html

Trinity Cemetery: http://audubonparkny.com/AudubonParkTrinityCemeteryTour.html

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Former Princeton Instructor Thomas B. Cornell, 1937-2012

 

cornell                                                       cornell

Thomas Browne Cornell, the Richard E. Steele Artist-in-Residence Emeritus at Bowdoin College and former Princeton Instructor, passed away on December 7, 2012. We hold a number of books with original prints by the artist, as well as a dozen proofs for The Monkey (Northampton, Mass.: Apiary Press, 1959). Graphic Arts Collection Oversize NE 2210.C6 M6 1959Q.

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From 1969 to 1971, Cornell taught in the Visual Arts Program at Princeton University and then, transferred to Bowdoin where he established their studio arts program. While at Princeton, Cornell was one of the first instructors to teach from the newly established classrooms at 185 Nassau.

cornellIn the Daily Princetonian Special Class of 1974 Issue, (20 June 1970), Andrew Wilson noted that, “Princeton’s Creative Arts Program is in the ascending mode, both in terms of student interest and instruction offered. Created in 1939, the Program has only come into its own in the last few years. Now, it has its own building — 185 Nassau Street, a converted elementary school — a full range of courses, and cooperative programs with the English and Art and Archaeology departments.”

“The Program is graced with an outstanding staff; writers-in-residence of recent years have been Phillip Portnoy’s Complaint Roth, Elizabeth Bowen, and National Book Award winner Jerzy Kosinski. This year’s writers include: one of England’s most noted men of letters, Anthony Burgess, author of The Long Day Wanes, A Clockwork Orange, and many more novels and critical works; …The Program’s staff in other fields is equally impressive. It includes artists Esteban Vicente, Lennart Anderson and Thomas Cornell.”

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Although he later focused on painting, Cornell’s early work was in printmaking. According to the Bowdoin obituary, “his  first publication, The Monkey, examined the process of evolution.  His next publication by the Gehenna Press was The Defense of Gracchus Babeuf, including twenty-one portraits of French revolutionary figures.  In the 1960’s, he established the Tragos Press, and the first editions focused on Frederick Douglass and Bayard Rustin. Responding to the Vietnam War, Cornell painted a triptych, The Dance of Death, in 1969.  In the 1970s, he returned to the exploration of images of nature, using them to address modern social and environmental ethical concerns.”

cornell-monkey7Printer’s proof

Fifty of the Best Receipts for the Aquatinter 1801

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John Hippisley Green, The Complete Aquatinter: being the whole process of etching and engraving in aquatinta: the method of using the aquafortis, with all the necessary tools: to which are added upwards of fifty of the best receipts for grounds, varnishes, &c.: collected from near a hundred that are most in use: the difficulties which may possibly occur, are point out, and the method of obviating them: the whole rendered clear and practical (London: Printed for J.H. Green, book and printseller…, 1801). Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2013- in process

This printing manual includes two plates drawn and engraved by John Hippisley Green along with his recipes (using the modern word) for soft and hard ground aquatint. The frontispiece is after a landscape engraving by Joseph Jeakes. The Princeton copy of this first edition includes various annotations and a hand written description of the soft ground process.

Green advertises his services as:

J.H. Green, having received great encouragement from the lovers and patrons of the fine arts, &c. takes the liberty to inform them, that he is now enabled to deal in a more extensive manner, in all kind of prints, ancient and modern, from the earliest period to the present day. Books, the most useful and pleasing in the English language, particularly relating to Arts and Sciences, &c. drawing materials of all kinds, as chalks, crayons, water-colours, sketch, and drawing-books, drawing-boards, portfolios, &c. &c. bought, sold, and exchanged; drawings mounted, framed, &c. Etching Wax and every requisite for engraving, aquatinting, &c. that may be depended on as the best that can be procured. Drawing taught in all its various Branches at Mr. Green’s Academy every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday after-noon. Ladies and Gentlemen attended at their residences, and schools taught on moderate terms. Drawings and designs made, portraits taken and executed in all the various methods of drawing.

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The Ragged School

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George Cruikshank (1792-1878), The Ragged School In West Street (late Chick Lane) Smithfield, [1846]. Pencil, ink, and watercolor. Original design for an etching published in Our Own Times, 1846. Graphic Arts Collection GA2013- in process

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When in London, you can visit the Ragged School Museum, housed in three canalside buildings that once formed one of the largest ragged or free schools. According to the museum’s history site, “when Thomas Barnardo came to London from his home city of Dublin in 1866 … he was confronted by a city where disease was rife, poverty and overcrowding endemic and educational opportunities for the poor were non-existent. He watched helplessly as a cholera epidemic swept through the East End…. He gave up his medical training to pursue his local missionary works and in 1867 opened his first “ragged school” where children could gain a free basic education.”

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Ragged or free schools for London’s poor children existed long before Barnardo’s, usually set up in one room of a house. George Cruikshank (1792-1878) designed a view of such a classroom to illustrate his book Our Own Times, (Cohn 193). Published monthly from April to July 1846, each part had one original etching along with a total of 41 other illustrations.
Cruikshank’s scene divides the school into two sections, one for girls on the right and one for boys on the left. Note the self-portrait at the bottom right corner, signed “self, GC.”

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Goethe remarked, “One cannot have a sense of humour unless one be without conscience or responsibility.” By the end of the year, Cruikshank’s moral conscience had overtaken his interest in caricature and frivolous entertainment. He gave up drinking and smoking, joined the temperance movement, and in 1847 began the 8 plates for The Bottle.

 

James Stewart is moving again

How do you get a three foot flat file through a two and a half foot door? This is one of the many challenges we are facing with the renovation of Firestone Library. Here are a few shots from this morning. Special thanks to the men of Clancy-Cullen moving company.

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What is in this file drawer? See below.


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James Stewart in Cowboy Hat

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Alpha Botanica

According to Sarah Horowitz, Alpha Botanica “began in the fall of 2004 with a few trial capitals and many sketches to ascertain the viability of a Yiddish-English book of poems illustrated with engraved images and capitals. From this grew designs for two sets of botanical alphabets, one Roman and one Hebrew.”

The printing of the first half was accomplished in 2006 by Chris Stern of Stern & Faye Printers, who unfortunately passed away before it could be completed. Arthur Larson of Horton Tank Graphics finished the book and Claudia Cohen bound the edition of 45 copies. Depicted behind each letter is a plant whose name begins with that letter. The list of plants and the colophon are found in the center of the volume.

Alpha Botanica, engravings by Sarah Horowitz ([Portland]: Wiesedruck, 2007). Copy 32 of 45. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2013- in process

http://wiesedruck.com/about/

Figures Made Visible in the Sadness of Time

everwine coverFigures Made Visible in the Sadness of Time. Designed by Michele Burgess, poetry by Peter Everwine, etching by Bill Kelly (San Diego: Brighton Press, 2003). Copy 8 of 40. Graphic Arts Collection GAX Oversize 2004-0236Q

“This book was designed by the artists in close collaboration with the poet and Michele Burgess. The poems were printed letterpress by Nelle Martin and the etchings were hand wiped by the artists and printed with the assistance of Alvin Buenaventura. The tea-dyed linen cover bears a stencil that was hand cut by the artists and hand stamped through twelve templates by Sonja Jones. An original pochoir appears on the title page.” –Colophon

 

“Kelly has everwine4collaborated with the poetry of Peter Everwine to illustrate “Figures Made Visible in the Sadness of Time,” writes Marcia Manna. “The shape of a dragonfly is embedded as an etching on one page and also displayed on a long scroll, embellished with sparkles and vibrant shades of blue. Kelly said the image represents the fleeting moments when something is recognized and then disappears. ‘To be very literal about something means you are just seeing, and Peter operates in a world of transcendent beauty,’ Kelly said. ‘He’s one of the few poets I’ve worked with who understands art in a deep physical sort of way. The great thing about these books and art is that one doesn’t illustrate the other. One broadens the view of the other and it becomes something bigger.’”– “These books are also works of art,” by Marcia Manna (2004)

There is in me, always,
you and the absence of you.

There is in me, always,
that road that leads to a fieldeverwine 3
of flowers we once knew

in that place where you were young,
there, where Memory keeps a life
of its own in the dark,

like a plant that waits patiently
year after year, asleep and folded inward
until the appointed night arrives

when it stirs and wakes
and opens out—Oh dream flowering!
Darkness flowering into darkness!—

forms, figures made visible
in the sadness of Time.

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