Author Archives: tavistock_books

The Rare Books of Boston

November 15, 2013 kicks off the 36th Annual Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair! The city has played a vital role in America’s history, and in the history of the book. Here’s a look at some items in our collection that tie in with Boston’s rich past.

Red Sox Memorabilia

Few sports fans are more loyal than Red Sox fans. The Boston team was founded in 1901 as one of the American League’s eight charter franchises. For seven seasons, the team actually had no official name. They were referred to simply as “Boston,” “Bostonians,” or “Boston Americans,” while newspapers gave them more creative nicknames like “the Beaneaters” or “Plymouth Rocks.” In 1908, team owner John I Taylor chose the name “Red Sox,” a nod to the red socks that would become symbols of the team. Chicago journalists had started using “sox” as a headline-friendly shorthand for “stockings” already, and Taylor liked the name. But the team initially didn’t even wear red socks, but dark blue ones! And a Cincinnati team was actually the first to call itself the Red Stockings. The team were members of the pioneering National Association of Base Ball Players and hired their first fully professional team in 1869, but the club folded after the 1870 season.

Boston Red Sox memorabilia is part of America’s rich and exciting tradition of baseball. We’re pleased to offer Boston Official Programs and Score Cards from 1957 and 1958. Another interesting item is AG Dewey Company’s Genuine Dodge Davis Flannel sample book (1971). The company got its start in 1936 in Quechee, New Hampshire. Throughout the 1930’s AG Dewey Company made the uniforms for the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, and other teams.

Boston Training School for Nurses

The Boston Training School for Nurses was only the second of its kind in the country, preceded by the Bellevue school in New York. At the time, nursing was still not viewed as a vocation that required much training; women would often take up the career simply due to financial need, and in many cases nurses had no special qualifications to recommend them. In New York, this resulted in patients’ immense suffering at the hands of inept nurses. No such condition emerged in Boston, however; nurses there were considered some of the best in the nation. Thus the push to start a training school met with some resistance; why would good nurses need further training?

Eventually, however, nurses and doctors saw the potential advantages of such a program. The Boston Training School for Nurses was established in 1873. It was affiliated with Massachusetts General Hospital and eventually evolved into the Massachusetts General Hospital School of Nursing. The organization published annual reports, which are quite enlightening regarding nursing history. This copy of the report from 1892, in very good condition, shows us how the organization and nursing have evolved in only a few decades.

Dinners for Dickens

Charles Dickens made two visits to the United States, first in 1842 and again in 1867. Boston proved an important city during both tours. In 1842, Dickens arrived to find himself already quite the celebrity, and his presence was in great demand. The “Young Men of Boston” had already extended an invitation to Dickens before he’d even left England. The dinner in his honor, documented by Thomas Gill and William English of the Morning Post, was held on February 1, 1842. Dickens made an almost fatal move during the course of the evening: he introduced the concept of an international copyright law. Dickens failed to gain the support of fellow authors as he’d anticipated. Instead he sparked a battle with the American press, who accused Dickens of creating a “huge dissonance” by broaching the subject of international copyright at such an inappropriate occasion. Dickens would further disenchant his American audience when he published American Notes and Martin Chuzzlewitt, both of which painted America in a less than favorable light.

But Dickens’ genius soon won over his American audience once again. Swayed by the promise of £10,000 from a group of Boston intellectuals, Dickens headed back to America in 1867. Prior to his departure, a public banquet was held in the author’s honor at London’s Freemason’s Hall, on November 2, 1867. A record of the meeting was made, which includes speeches by Dickens, Lytton, Trollope, and other luminaries. Dickens’ second visit to the US proved a dizzying tour, jam packed with readings and public appearances. During one of his early appearances, he noted that both he and America were much changed since his first visit and vowed to issue appendices to American Notes and Martin Chuzzlewitt to temper his critical tone towards the US.

News from a Moving Train

In May, 1870, the Boston Board of Trade journeyed over 3,000 miles to San Francisco to meet with the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce. During the trip, twelve issues of the Trans-Continental were published on a Gordon press located in the baggage car. The paper reported the normal business of the train and its passengers, along with other news. The first issue, for instance, reports that the Athletics of Philadelphia beat Harvard Base Ball Club 20-8. The newspaper’s office was located in the train’s second car. The train was also equipped with “two well-stocked libraries, replete with choice works of fiction, history, poetry, etc.” Each issue recorded a different locale on the masthead. The newspaper is generally regarded as the first newspaper to be printed on a moving train.

A Political Discourse on Abolition

Boston was a hotbed for abolitionism. One Bostonian’s abolitionist work, though denounced at the time of publication, is now recognized as a groundbreaking tour de force in American abolitionist literature. Lydia Maria Francis Child published An Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called Africans in 1833 and immediately shocked even fellow abolitionists. Unlike her colleagues, Child eschewed religious or scriptural justifications for ending slavery. She also ignored traditional, emotional arguments about the cruelties of slavery. This was because Child had a larger and more ambitious objective; she sought to end discrimination against free African Americans. Such a stance was hardly popular, which Child had predicted in her preface, saying, “Though I expect ridicule and censure, I cannot fear them.” Child’s tone and style of argument at the time were seen as more masculine than feminine, which didn’t ameliorate reception of her work. Her book sales plummeted, and the Boston Athenaeum even rescinded her free library privileges.

But Child’s work would prove incredibly influential in the movement, making it a desirable addition to a collection on abolition, African American history, and the history of ideas. The book is relatively scarce in the trade; only three copies have appeared at auction in the last thirty years. The last copy, sold in 2000, was imperfect. This edition of An Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called Africans is bound in the original publisher’s cloth and has the errata slip tipped in. All in all, it’s a very good copy of a hard-to-find work.

Boston’s place in history intersects with the world of rare books in so many ways! What’s the most interesting item of Bostoniana in your collection?

Edgar Allan Poe: Creator of Enduring Terror and Literary Masterpieces

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Edgar Allan Poe was the first American writer to earn a living completely by his pen–though that living wasn’t always enough to live on. The legendary author redefined the genre of horror and is rightly called the father of the modern detective novel. But these legacies are the result of a more visceral one: Poe’s ability to evoke an all-encompassing terror that springs not from without, but from within.

Poe’s Incredible Influence

It’s well known that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle used Poe’s C. Auguste Dupin as a model for his own detective, Sherlock Holmes, and that Doyle’s short stories (“Hound of the Baskervilles” in particular) owe a tremendous debt to Poe. Indeed, Doyle once rhetorically asked, “Where was the detective story until Poe breathed life into it?” But Poe’s influence reached beyond the worlds of horror and mystery. He has long been a beloved figure in literature, one whose power has not waned with the passage of many generations.

Poe and Washington Irving exchanged admiration for one another via correspondence. Irving noted that “the graphic effect [of “Fall of the House of Usher”] is powerful.” Poe responded by sending Irving a copy of “William Wilson,” which he considered his best work. Poe admitted that the story had been inspired by Irving himself, particularly Irving’s “An Unwritten Drama of Lord Byron.”

Robert Louis Stevenson said of Poe, “He who could write ‘King Pest’ has ceased to be a human being.” Stevenson found Poe’s stories absolutely gripping, and was undoubtedly flattered when critic Andrew Lang said that Stevenson was “like Poe with the addition of moral sense.”

Meanwhile Oscar Wilde ranked Poe’s poetry as more important than that of Walt Whitman, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Wilde emulated elements of Poe’s style in The Picture of Dorian Gray–which wasn’t lost on Walter Pater, who ardently praised Wilde’s efforts to evoke Poe’s style in the novel. Wilde’s colleague and defender George Bernard Shaw, often an unforgiving critic, was downright effusive about Poe, saying that the American author “constantly and inevitably produced magic where his greatest contemporaries produced only beauty. [His tales are] a world record for the English language: perhaps for all languages.”

Allen Ginsberg argued that “everything leads to Poe….Burroughs, Baudelaire, Genet, Dylan,” and Jorge Luis Borges contended that “contemporary literature would not be what it is” without Whitman and Poe. TS Eliot, however, was not initially convinced of Poe’s genius. He excluded Poe from both American and European literary traditions, calling Poe a “displaced European.” Eliot later acknowledged that he’d underestimated Poe’s talent.

Vladimir Nabokov included multiple allusions to “Annabel Lee” in his masterpiece, Lolita. It appears that Nabokov was indeed deeply interested in Poe; he meticulously mapped the area around Poe’s home and sketched the manifestations of soul in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (which he taught within the context of Poe). Both documents are currently on view at the Morgan Library’s excellent exhibit, Edgar Allan Poe: Terror of the Soul.

Later on, novelist and screenwriter Terry Southern, author of Dr. Strangelove, was deeply influenced by Poe, especially The Narrative of A Gordon Pym. Southern wrote an appreciation of Poe, called “King Weirdo,” which was published posthumously. And Stephen King has frequently borrowed archetypal themes from Poe’s works for his own horror novels. The Shining reminds us of both “Masque of the Red Death” and “Fall of the House of Usher.”

Collecting Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe makes a fascinating focus for a single-author collection and also fits wonderfully into nineteenth-century American literature and horror literature libraries. Poe’s works weren’t actually that popular during his lifetime, so they were issued in relatively small print runs. The first edition of Tamerlane and Other Poems (1827) is famously scarce; only twelve copies are known to exist. (Three are currently on display together at the Morgan Library!)

Even if Tamerlane is out of reach, there are countless other desirable editions and volumes. For example the Poetical Works of Edgar Allan Poe, published by George Robertson in 1868, was the first edition of Poe’s works to appear in Australia. It differs significantly from the British and American editions.

No illustrated editions of Poe’s works were published during his lifetime. The first, Tales of Mystery, Imagination and Humor; and Poems (1852) was illustrated by artists unknown, as they were not given credit for their work. Famous illustrators Edouard Manet, Aubrey Beardsley, Harry Clarke, Edmund Dulac, and Arthur Rackham; first editions of Poe’s works illustrated by these artists are highly desirable.

Poe’s works often showed up in serially issued collections. One of these is The Gift, A Christmas and New Year’s Present for 1842. This compilation includes Poe’s “Eleonora,” along with items from Howard Huntley, Catherine Beecher, and Park Benjamin. The volume also includes an uncollected piece by Lydia Sigourney, “The Village Church.”

The Irving Offering for 1851

When Elizabeth Gaskell first published “Lizzie Leigh,” the story was initially ascribed to Charles Dickens–whose byline meant big bucks for publishers. “Lizzie Leigh” appears under Dickens’ name in The Irving Offering: A Token of Affection for 1851, which also include’s Poe’s “A Descent into the Maelstrom.” The edition is fairly scarce: OCLC records none west of the Mississippi.

Though Edgar Allan Poe enjoys special attention around Halloween, collectors of rare books appreciate his works year round. If you’re looking for a specific item for your Poe collection, please don’t hesitate to contact us! We’re happy to help.

Flights of Fancy: Collecting Vintage Airline Posters

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Summer is long gone, and with it have gone the days of leisurely summer vacations. But collectors can recapture these moments and explore the history of aviation with vintage airline travel posters.

The earliest aviation posters, which date to the mid nineteenth century, did not advertise air travel, but the exploits of hot air balloonists. With the introduction of planes in the early twentieth century, posters were an effective means of advertising exhibitions and air shows. During World War I, aviation posters offered a subtle form of propaganda: the novelty and excitement of air travel attracted new recruits, and the military’s large-scale use of airplanes was an imposing sight unto itself. Commercial airlines began using posters to advertise in the 1920’s, but it wasn’t until the 1950’s and 1960’s that the airlines started producing posters that advertised both the excitement and comfort of air travel.

Collecting Vintage Airline Posters

For collectors, these collectible posters recapture the excitement and romance of air travel. They are also an interesting way to trace the history of aviation. Collectors often build collections around a specific airline, artist, destination, or time period.

The posters from now defunct airlines tend to be more sought after than those from companies that still exist. Pan American World Airways (PanAm) posters, for example, are particularly beloved. The airline started in 1927 with a single route from Key West to Havana, but soon became the leading international airline in the world, a distinction it held till its collapse in 1991. Unlike other airlines, PanAm created posters for both its commercial and cargo planes. Smaller regional airlines also hold their own allure. Posters from the relatively obscure Jersey Airways in Britain and from Western Airlines and Northwest Orient Airlines in the US all offer charming travel posters. These airlines often have a relatively short history, so their posters can be more scarce.

Some collectors focus on existing airlines. Swissair, founded in 1931 after the merger of two Swiss airlines, has long printed beautiful posters. The airline is a favorite among aviation enthusiasts because it consistently stays at the forefront of technology. Swissair was among the first to use DC-2’s, and it claims to be the first airline to employ stewardesses (1935). And United Airlines has also published a plethora of marvelous airline posters. In the early to mid 1970’s the airline produced a well-known series that evokes American history and freedom.

Meanwhile, a love of a specific destination motivates many collectors to create destination-themed galleries. Tropical locales like Hawaii or Tahiti are perennial favorites, as are more exotic destinations like the Philippines, Bahia, and Korea. Similarly, collectors may focus on an individual aircraft. United Airlines advertised its adoption of the 747 with three-dimensional foam boards.

Caring for Vintage and Rare Posters

Collectors often wonder about the best ways to store and protect their rare and vintage posters. It’s actually perfectly fine to display your posters, so long as you take a few precautions. Use UV resistant glass or Plexiglass to protect your travel posters from damage from both sunlight and fluorescent lighting. If you decide to matte or back the poster, be sure to use only acid-free, archival quality materials. If you frame the poster without a matte, place a spacer between the poster and the frame, so that the poster and the glass are not touching. Otherwise, humidity can get trapped between the poster and the glass, and the poster will get stuck to the glass. Some posters are linen backed for preservation or restoration purposes. Well-executed linen backing can increase a vintage poster’s value, but it’s best done by professionals.

When your collection exceeds your wall space, you’ll need to store your posters safely. Ideally, posters are stored flat in acid-free sleeves, which will protect them from dust, moisture, and decomposition. It’s best to store each poster in its own sleeve; posters can leach chemicals onto one another, causing discoloration and decay. If flat storage isn’t an option, you can roll posters in acid-free tubes. Over time your posters may begin to curl, so you may have to flatten them if you decide to frame, photograph, or sell them later.

This month we’re pleased to offer a list of airline promotional and travel posters. We invite you to peruse the list! Please contact us if you have inquiries about any item.

Oscar Wilde, Dickens Detractor and “Inventor” of Aubrey Beardsley

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“I’ll be a poet, a writer, a dramatist. Somehow or other I’l be famous, and if not famous, I’ll be infamous.” –Oscar Wilde

Born on October 16, 1854 in Dublin, Ireland, Oscar Wilde is perhaps remembered more for his sparkling wit, larger-than-life personality, and historic trial than for his literary achievements. But the author made his mark on the literary world not only through his prolific career as a journalist, novelist, and dramatist, but also through his sometimes bizarre relationships with other literary figures. These interactions make collecting Wilde an even more engaging pursuit.

Love Lost between Wilde and Bram Stoker

Wilde’s mother, Lady Jane, was a formidable author in her own right. She often kept literary company, and her circle of friends soon came to include Bram Stoker. Stoker soon met Florence Balcombe, a legendary beauty who had previously been involved with Wilde. Accounts of Balcombe’s relationship with Wilde vary; he claimed the two had been engaged. At any rate, Wilde was less than pleased when he learned that Stoker had proposed to Balcombe. He wrote to Balcombe, stating that he would never return to Ireland again. Wilde mostly kept to his word, returning to Ireland only for brief visits.

Bram-Stoker-Wedding-Announcement

But Stoker and Wilde’s relationship stretched beyond this inopportune love triangle. The two had gone to school together; Stoker even recommended Wilde for membership into the university’s Philosophical Society. And after Stoker and Balcombe had been married and Wilde had had sufficient time to lick his wounds, Stoker reinitiated the relationship. After Wilde was convicted of sodomy, Stoker even visited him. Yet Stoker also fastidiously removed all mention of Wilde from his published and unpublished texts, and it’s only recently that critics have begun to see Wilde’s influence in Stoker’s great novel Dracula.

Wilde Rejects Dickens’ Legacy…Or Does He?

Wilde heaped praise upon Matthew Arnold, Robert Browning, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. He even called Aurora Leigh “the greatest work in our literature.” But he was less than complimentary when it came to the great Charles Dickens; Wilde is famous for saying of Charles Dickens The Old Curiosity Shop, “One would have to have a heart of stone to read the death of Little Nell and not to dissolve into tears…of laughter.” Wilde found Dickens overly sentimental and wished to separate himself from this aspect of Dickens’ Victorian England. Yet he never fully succeeded in escaping Dickens’ shadow (indeed, few authors of the century did).

Critics have pointed to similarities in the ways that Wilde and Dickens portray London, and Wilde even makes allusions to Dickens’ works–most notably Little Dorritt. Little Dorritt’s Mrs. General repeats the phrase “Papa, potatoes, poultry, prunes, and prism” to her young charges, and the phrase “prunes and prism” soon became closely associated with her character. Is it any coincidence, then, that Wilde chooses the name “Ms. Prism” for the proper governess in The Importance of Being Earnest? Even though Wilde didn’t subscribe to Dickens’ sentimental style, it’s likely that he had great respect for Dickens, as Wilde himself aspired to the same international acclaim that the Inimitable One had achieved.

An Outlandish Claim Spurred by Public Rivalry

In April 1893, an up and coming artist was moved by the French publication of Oscar Wilde’s Salome. He drew Salome with St. John’s head, and the illustration became one of several that would accompany Joseph Pennell’s article on him in the first number of The Savoy. The artist, Aubrey Beardsley, contacted Wilde about illustrating the translation of Salome. Wilde responded in kindness, sending Beardsley an inscribed edition that read “For Aubrey: for the only artist who knows what the dance of seven veils is, and can see that invisible dance. Oscar” It wasn’t outright rejection, but it wasn’t an enthusiastic invitation, either.

Then Beardsley was contracted to illustrate Lord Alfred Douglas‘ English translation of Salome. Wilde initially called Beardsley’s illustrations for the work “too Japanese,” pointing out that the work was more Byzantine. Wilde then took his criticism a step further, saying that Beardsley’s art resembled “naughty scribbles a precocious boy makes on the margins of his copybook.” The rivalry exploded; Beardsley published caricatures of Wilde, and Wilde made the preposterous claim that he had “invented Aubrey Beardsley.” In reality, Wilde had simply worried all along that Beardsley’s brilliance would overshadow his own.

Mutual Admiration from a Distance

In November 1879, George Bernard Shaw met Oscar Wilde at Lady Jane’s London home. The two had trouble interacting, though Wilde clearly had good intentions toward Shaw. A few years later, on July 6, 1888, Wilde attended a meeting of the Fabian Society, likely at Shaw’s invitation. Artist Walter Crane spoke on “The Prospects of Art under Socialism,” which soon moved Wilde to write The Soul of Man under Socialism. Meanwhile over the years Shaw and Wilde maintained a pleasant relationship, albeit from a distance. They frequently exchanged books and letters and openly complimented each other’s works.

Shaw frequently defended Wilde against his critics, and he again rallied to Wilde’s defense when he was arrested for sodomy. Shaw was adamant that “never was there a man less an outlaw” than Wilde. Shaw and other writers put together a petition for Wilde’s early release, but it found surprisingly little support and was eventually dropped. As public opinion turned against Wilde and eventually forgot him entirely, Shaw still insisted on reminding people of Wilde’s greatness. He regularly mentioned him in drama reviews and remained fascinated with Wilde’s work for the rest of his life. When Frank Harris undertook his (somewhat controversial) biography of Wilde, Shaw edited it with the assistance of Lord Douglas.

Collecting Oscar Wilde

For collectors, Oscar Wilde is the ideal case study in how a single-author collection can–and should–come to include materials by a variety of other authors. A comprehensive Oscar Wilde collection would encompass the works of Wilde, not only his major literary pieces, but also the articles he penned as a journalist and critic. And a truly comprehensive collection would have a second layer: other authors’ reactions to and interactions with Wilde. For example, Shaw’s reviews mentioning Wilde are scarce because they were printed in periodicals on cheap paper, making them a challenging item for collectors to acquire. And Aubrey Beardsley’s caricatures of Wilde are sought after by both Beardsley and Wilde collectors alike, making them a desirable addition to an Oscar Wilde collection.

Oscar Wilde certainly left his mark on the world as an author and public figure. He will undoubtedly remain a popular figure among rare book collectors for generations to come.

Maurice Boutet de Monvel and His Ingenius ‘Jeanne d’Arc’

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Boutet at work in his studio

Born into a “family of gilt-edged artists,” it’s no wonder that Maurice Boutet de Monvel eventually established himself as a premier portrait painter and watercolorist. When the artist turned his attention to illustrating children’s books to support his family, his illustrations were magnificent enough that he’s considered one of the great figures of the Golden Age of children’s literature, alongside Kate Greenaway and Randolph Caldecott.

Boutet spent the majority of his childhood in Paris. In early 1870, he began studies at the École de Beaux Arts, but his studies were interrupted by the Franco-Prussian War. He joined the French Army, and though he returned from the war relatively unscathed, he would forever after be particularly vulnerable to respiratory illness.

Next Boutet continued his art studies at the Julian Academy under the tutelage of Gustave Boulanger and Jules Lefèbvre. In 1873, he displayed his first canvas at Le Salon and earned two medals over the next few years. Boutet greatly admired the works of José de Ribea and emulated Ribea’s dark style, using only chiarscuro. But he also recognized the need to lighten that heavy palette, which led him to work under Carolus Duran, whose light watercolors were considered revolutionary at the time.

From ‘Jeanne d’Arc’

Then in 1876, Boutet went to visit his brother in Algiers. The light of the foreign landscape was a complete surprise to Boutet, and the artist drastically altered his style thereafter. He adopted a primary palette of oranges and blues, using the latter mostly to create shadows. Boutet made two subsequent trips to Algiers, in 1878 and 1880.

Boutet’s life would change again in 1879 with the birth of his first child. He’d been married in 1876, but a child resulted in extra pressure to generate income and support his family. That was the impetus to venture into illustration. He began in 1881 with Les pourquois de Mademoiselle Suzanne (Miss Suzanne’s questions) by Emile Desbeaux and the reading book La France en Zig-Zag (Zigzagging across France) by Eudoxie Dupuis. Both were published by Charles Delagrave.

Delagrave was so pleased with Boutet’s work, he invited the artist to illustrate Saint Nicolas: Journal illustré pour garçons et filles (Saint Nicolas: A comic book for boys and girls). That endeavor was incredibly successful, so Boutet undertook Vieilles chansons et danses pour les petits enfants (Old songs and dances for young children) in 1883 and Chansons de France pour les petits Français (Songs of France for French Children) the following year.

From ‘Jeanne d’Arc’

Yet Boutet was reluctant to give up his career as a “serious” artist. In 1885, he submitted an obviously royalist canvas for exhibition. “L’apothéose de la canaille, ou le triomphe de Robert Macaire” (“The apotheosis, or the triumph of Robert Macaire”) was so controversial, the Deputy Secretary of State for Fine Art pulled it just before the exhibition opened. Now publicly disgraced, Boutet resigned himself to a life outside the art world.

Luckily his friend Edouard Detaille had just founded the Society of French Watercolorists and invited Boutet to exhibit there. He submitted a portrait of a girl dressed in Renaissance clothing, and the work was so well received that Boutet found himself quite occupied as a portrait artist. Yet he to illustrate children’s books and serials, contributing to Saint Nicolas until 1890.

Boutet also created illustrations for Quand j’étais petit (When I was young) by Lucian Briart in 1886, and La farce de Maître Pathelin (The farce of Master Pathelin; 1887), a comedy from the Middle Ages adapted for modern verse by Georges Gassies de Brulies. He would go on to design and illustrate La civilité puerile et honnête raconté pour l’Oncle Eugene (Puerile, honest civility recounted by Uncle Eugene), a manners book for children. In 1890, Boutet illustrated Ferdinand Fabre’s novel Xavière. The illustrations were reproduced using a new photoengraving technique that produced incredibly high-quality images.

It’s quite rare to find Boutet’s ‘Jeanne d’Arc’ in its dust jacket.

Six years later, Boutet would complete the work that brought him lasting fame as a legendary children’s book illustrator. Published by Plon, Nourrir, et Cie, Jeanne d’Arc was masterfully illustrated in watercolors. Zincotype, a technique that blends etching with colored inks, was used to reproduce Boutet’s breathtaking images.

Following the 1896 publication of Jeanne d’Arc, Boutet enjoyed international acclaim. He heavily influenced the young school in Vienna and was invited to tour the United States. He was commissioned for numerous portraits and projects while he was in America. but was unable to complete the most ambitious: a series of large panels based on the illustrations of Jeanne d’Arc.

Boutet later said of the book’s muted palette, “It’s not color, really, it is the impression, the suggestion of color.” He was clearly influenced by the light and shadow modeling of Fra Angelico and the battle scenes of Paolo Uccello. Children’s literature critic Selma G. Lanes

The Japanese style of illustration was popular in Boutet’s day.

noted that the “illustrations have a nobility and grandeur akin to the great church frescoes of the Renaissance. Their pleasingly flat renderings, combined with a sophisticated use of design elements….owe a great deal to the Japanese prints so popular in the artist’s day.”

It’s obvious from the beauty and subtlety of Jeanne d’Arc that Boutet was truly inspired by his chosen subject matter. Boutet had been born in Orléans, a town that Joan of Arc had liberated from the British in 1429. But more importantly, France was still reeling from its loss in the Franco-Prussian War. Boutet wished to remind children of France’s past glory. Thus he opens the book with an admonishment to children to “open this book with reverence…in honor of the humble peasant girl who is [the books’ subject].”

The works of Boutet represent an ideal intersection of art and literature for discerning collectors. The multitude of serial and individual publications to which he contributed are fruitful ground for building a fascinating collection.

The Literature of Nobel Laureates

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This week the winners of the 2013 Nobel Prizes are announced! Since the prizes were first awarded in 1901, they’ve recognized the best minds in science and literature. Nobel laureates are historically a prolific bunch, leaving us a rich chronicle of their contributions.

Argon, a New Constituent of the Atmosphere (1896)

Sir William Ramsay & Lord Rayleigh

John William Strutt, Lord Rayleigh, first embarked on mostly mathematical studies. But he soon turned to the broader field of physics. He and Sir William Ramsay independently came to the same conclusion: that there must be an undiscovered gas in our atmosphere. Though the two maintained separate laboratories, they worked together to identify the gas, communicating almost daily. They announced the discovery of argon at the 1894 meeting of the British Association.

The Smithsonian Institution produced an edition of Argon, a New Constituent of the Atmosphere in 1896, marking the first time it had appeared in a separate publication.

Come prima meglio di prima (1933)

‘Como prima meglio di prima’

Luigi Pirandello was awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize in literature for his “bold and brilliant renovation of the drama and the stage.” He wrote multiple novels, hundreds of short stories, and over forty plays. Pirandello’s dramas are considered forerunners to the Theater of the Absurd.

Come prima, meglio di prima was written in 1919 and was performed in March of the following year at Venice’s Teatro Goldoni. Pirandello drew inspiration for the comedy from his novel Veglia and his collection In silenzio. This third edition is signed by the author in the half-title page.

The Transistor: Selected Reference Material on Characteristics and Applications (1951)

‘The Transistor’

The week of September 17, 1951, Bell Telephone Laboratories hosted a symposium on transistors. According to the foreward, The Transistor “covers the same ground and supplements the talks” given during the symposium. William Shockley, who would go on to win the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1956, contributed two articles and co-authored two more. Shockley was the co-inventor of the transistor, and his 1950 publication “Electrons and Holes in Semiconductors” was the first book on transistor electronics. That piece is previewed here, in “Holes and Electrons,” reprinted from Physics Today (vol 3, October 1950).

Shockley’s second major contribution to this manual is “The Theory of p-n Junctions in Semi-Conductors and p-n Junction Transistors.” This exploration would lay the groundwork for the development of virtually all semiconductor electronic devices, from integrated circuits to LED’s and solar cells.

Some Personal Notes on the Search for the Neutron (1962)

Sir James Chadwick

Sir James Chadwick was awarded the 1935 Nobel Prize in physics for his 1932 discovery of the neutron. He was also the head of the British scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project during World War II. Chadwick had intended to study mathematics, but the registrar at Victoria University of Manchester made a mistake and enrolled Chadwick as a physics major. He would soon become fascinated with the work of legendary scientist Ernest Rutherford and build on Rutherford’s discoveries.

Over the course of his career, Chadwick grew increasingly uncomfortable with the shift toward Big Science, and he retired in 1959. Some Personal Notes on the Search for the Neutron was published a few years after Chadwick’s retirement and is considered a fragmentary scientific autobiography.Our edition, an offprint from Ithaca, is the first to appear separately and includes pen emendations made by Chadwick.

Many collectors build their personal libraries around the extraordinary work of Nobel laureates. If you collect the work of Nobel laureates, we’d be happy to help you build your collection. Please contact us if you’re searching for specific items or laureates.

Chapbooks: Short Books with Long History

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Scholars debate over the etymology of the term “chapbook.” Some argue that “chap” is derived from “cheap,” surely an accurate description of chapbooks, since they were indeed cheap little publications. But the more widely accepted explanation is that “chap” comes from the Old English “céap,” meaning “barter” or “deal.” Peddlers came to be known as chaps, and they were the primary purveyors of chapbooks. Whatever the origin of their name, chapbooks became a vital tool for dissemination of information and promotion of literacy. As publishing and readers’ tastes evolved, chapbooks also provided an ideal means of addressing an increased demand for children’s literature.

Since the Middle Ages, traveling peddlers provided many necessary wares to rural communities–and that included the news. They would often regale their customers with the latest in politics, entertainment, and gossip. Then in 1693, England repealed the Act of 1662, which had limited the number of Master Printers allowed in the country. The number of printers exploded. Meanwhile, charity schools emerged, making education and literacy more accessible to the poor. The demand for cheaply printed reading materials drastically increased as a result, and all the new printers were happy to supply their needs.

By 1700, chapmen regularly carried small books–usually about the size of a waistcoat pocket–on virtually every topic imaginable. The books were generally coverless, and their illustrations were made of recycled (and irrelevant) woodcuts from other publications. In the absence of copyright laws, printers would steal illustrations or even large chunks of text from other chapbooks and reproduce them in their own editions. Early chapbooks weren’t even cut; the purchaser would cut apart the pages and either pin or stitch the book together to read.

Chapbooks grew into an incredibly powerful tool for disseminating new ideas. When Thomas Paine published The Rights of Man, he suggested that the second edition be made available in chapbook form. The book went on to sell over two million copies, an incredible feat in those days, when the average publishing run might be only a few hundred or thousand copies. Religious organizations used the form to publish religious tracts, nicknamed “godlinesses” or “Sunday schools.” There were even chapbooks for the chapmen themselves, containing information about different towns, dates for local fairs, and road maps.

The Industrial Revolution, however, brought a revolution in the printed word as well. People flocked to the cities, reducing chapbooks’ role in news delivery. Newspapers had also become cheaper to produce, so they were no longer relegated to the upper class. And chapbooks’ days seemed numbered when public solicitation was outlawed and peddlers could no longer distribute them. Meanwhile people’s tastes were changing. As the decades of the 1800’s passed, the novel was emerging as a new, preferred form, and in terms of “cheap” literature, chapbooks eventually gave way to “penny dreadfuls,” the dime novel, and other such low-brow forms.

But changing reading habits and higher literacy rates also meant an increased demand for children’s literature. From around 1780, most booksellers offered a variety of children’s chapbooks, which included ABC’s, jokes, riddles, stories, and religious materials like prayers and catechism. Thanks to improved printing techniques, this generation of chapbooks was printed with relevant illustrations and attached colored paper or card wrappers.

Though we think of chapbooks as a distinctly British form, they emerged in various forms around the world. Harry B. Weiss writes in A Book about Chapbooks, “The contents of chapbooks, the world over, fall readily into certain classes and many were the borrowings, with of course, adaptations and changes to suit particular countries.” And despite their variant forms and culturally specific content, chapbooks consistently served as a democratizing force in the dissemination of ideas.

Collectors may build entire collections around chapbooks, or they may find that certain chapbooks fit in well with their collections. For example, the 1849 edition of Juvenile Pastimes includes a rare early pictorial depiction of baseball, making it an ideal addition to a collection of baseball books. Collectors of erotica may enjoy Dumb Dora: Rod Gets Taken Again, an adult chapbook with suggestive, but not pornographic, illustrations. The variety of chapbooks means there’s a little book for everyone!

This month’s select acquisitions are a short list of delightful chapbooks. Please peruse them and contact us if you have any inquiries. As cataloguing chapbooks is quite the endeavor, we’ve also put together an article about the resources used to catalogue the items on the list, which includes our bibliographic sources at the end.

Chapbooks: A [Short] List for September

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Chapbooks.

A meanly produced publishing phenomenon, Carter & Barker, in the 8th ABC, describe them thusly: “Small pamphlets of popular, sensational, juvenile, moral or educational character, originally distributed by chapmen or hawkers, not by booksellers.”

If one dips into Neuberg’s CHAPBOOK BIBLIOGRAPHY, we find this genre had “by 1700, [become] an important part of the [chapman’s] stock-in-trade … whose varied subject matter included devils, angels, scoundrels, heroes, love, hate, fairy tales, religion, fables, shipwreck, executions, prophecies and fortune telling. … During the eighteenth century chapbooks formed the main reading matter for the poor.” Though around for centuries, the chapbook, as a viable publishing genre, had mostly expired towards the end of the 19th C, except as Carter noted, “as a conscious archaism.”

Despite oft being an object of acquisition by collectors, one can still find these little volumes floating about, and offered at [comparatively] modest prices such that building a pleasing & extensive collection of these modest works is not beyond the means of the ‘average’ person [however such a term may be defined].

Here then is Tavistock Books’ list for September. A small cache of 30 chapbooks, primarily for children, primarly American, primarily 19th Century. Prices range from a modest $45 to a decidely robust $2000, for one that will be found in David Block’s ground breaking work, BASEBALL BEFORE WE KNEW IT. Many titles offered are the only copy on the market; one or two not found on OCLC.

Should you have queries regarding any of this material, or other listings you may find on our site, please contact us. We thank you for your attention, and we hope you find something of interest while browsing these offerings.

REFERENCES CITED

Cataloguing chapbooks is a task both challenging and engaging, as evidenced by the list of sources used to catalogue this month’s list of select acquisitions.

American Imprints. AMERICAN BIBLIOGRAPHY. A Preliminary Checklist. 1801 – 1846. NY [et al]: Scarecrow Pres, 1958-1997.

Arndt & Eck. The FIRST CENTURY Of GERMAN LANGUAGE PRINTING In The UNITED STATES Of AMERICA. Göttingen: 1989.

BAL. Blanck, Jacob [et al]. BIBLIOGRAPHY Of AMERICAN LITERATURE. New Haven: 1955 – 1991.

Block, David. BASEBALL BEFORE WE KNEW IT. A Search for the Roots of the Game. Lincoln: (2005).

Cappon & Brown. NEW MARKET, VIRGINIA, IMPRINTS 1806 – 1876. A Check-list. Charlottesville: 1942.

Church. Cole, George Watson – Compiler. A CATALOGUE Of BOOKS Relating to The Discovery and Early History of North and South America Forming a Part of the Library of E. D. Church. NY: Peter Smith, 1951.

Cropper, Percy J. The NOTTINGHAMSHIRE PRINTED CHAP-BOOKS, with Notices of Their Printers and Vendors. 1892.

Davis, Roger. KENDREW Of YORK and His Chapbooks for Children. Elmete Press, 1988.

ESTC. ENGLISH SHORT TITLE CATALOGUE. http://estc.bl.uk

Gumuchian. Les LIVRES De L’ENFANCE du XVe au XIXe Siècle. London: Holland Press, 1985.

Hamilton, Sinclair. EARLY AMERICAN BOOK ILLUSTRATORS And WOOD ENGRAVERS. 1670-1870. Princeton: 1968.

Heartman, Charles F. The NEW ENGLAND PRIMER Issued Prior to 1830. 1922.

[-]. AMERICAN PRIMERS. INDIAN PRIMERS. ROYAL PRIMERS. And Thirty-Seven Other Types of non-New-England Primers Issued Prior to 1830. Highland Park: 1935.

NCBEL. The NEW CAMBRIDGE BIBLIOGRAPHY Of ENGLISH LITERATURE. Cambridge: 1969 – 1977.

NUC. NATIONAL UNION CATALOGUE. Pre-1956 Imprints.

Opie, Iona & Peter. The OXFORD DICTIONARY Of NURSERY RHYMES. Oxford: (1951).

Osborne. The OSBORNE COLLECTION Of EARLY CHILDREN’S BOOKS 1566-1910. Toronto: TPL, 1975.

Rosenbach, A.S.W. EARLY AMERICAN CHILDREN’S BOOKS. NY: Dover, 1971.

Spencer. A CATALOGUE Of The SPENCER COLLECTION Of EARLY CHILDREN’S BOOK And CHAPBOOKS. Preston: 1967.

Weiss, Harry B. SAMUEL WOOD & SONS. Early New York Publishers of Children’s Books. NY: 1942.

Welch, d’Alté A. A BIBLIOGRAPHY Of AMERICAN CHILDREN’S BOOKS Printed Prior to 1821. Worcester: AAS, 1972.

Wust. THREE HUNDRED YEARS Of GERMAN IMMIGRANTS In NORTH AMERICA 1683-1983. 1983.

George Cruikshank: “Modern Hogarth,” Teetotaler, and Philanderer

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On September 27, 1792, George Cruikshank was born in London. His father, Isaac, was a leading caricaturist of the 1790’s. Both George and his older brother, Isaac Robert would enter that profession as apprentices and assistants to their father. George Cruikshank would come to be known as a preeminent artist of his time, and as a stern, moral Victorian. That image crumbled, however, following his death.

From ‘The Cruikshankian Momus’ by the three Cruikshanks

An Outspoken Artist

Cruikshank established himself as an overtly political artist early on. He experienced his first success with William Hone’s The Political House that Jack Built, a play on the popular nursery rhyme “This Is the House that Jack Built.” The rhyme had a long history of being adapted for satire and parody. Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote a self-parody under the name Nehemiah Higginbotham in 1797 using the rhyme as his foundation; in the Rolliad’s “Political Miscellanies,” “This Is the House that George Built” criticizes George Nugent Grenville, Duke of Buckingham, for supporting William Pitt the Younger.

“Gent, No Gent, and Regent,” in which Cruikshank lampoons the irresponsible Prince Regent

From that point forward, Cruikshank’s career would be marked by a willingness to address politics, and his views weren’t always admirable. Cruikshank was very patriotic and openly racist.He followed The Political House that Jack Built with the anti-abolitionist New Union Club, satirizing an abolitionist dinner party with black guests. He also didn’t shy away from attacking the royal family and leading politicians. His commentary was so scathing that in 1820, he received a bribe to pledge “not to caricature his majesty in any immoral situation.”

Partnership with Charles Dickens

By the 1830’s, Cruikshank had reached the height of his career. John Marcone, a short-term editor of The Monthly Magazine, invited Cruikshank to do a series of illustrations for an up and coming author, Charles Dickens. Cruikshank’s first partnership with Dickens was for Sketches by Boz (1836). Three years later, Chapman and Halls issued an enlarged edition, for which Cruikshank enlarged all but one of his original illustrations and completed thirteen more. He also completed the Cheap Edition’s frontispiece, which was eventually immortalized on the cover of Dickens Quarterly.

From ‘Sketches by Boz’

Cruikshank again worked with Dickens when Oliver Twist was published in Bentley’s Miscellany (Feb 1837-Apr 1839). He also illustrated Dickens’ Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi (1838) and “The Lamplighter’s Story” in The Pic-Nic Papers (1841). By this time, however, Cruikshank’s politics had already begun to complicate his relationship with Dickens. Cruikshank, formerly a heavy drinker, had become a complete teetotaler. Dickens disapproved of the overbearing attitude of Cruikshank’s temperance works like The Bottle, and he also didn’t appreciate Cruikshank’s moralistic emendations to a volume of fairy tales.

Hop-o-my-thumb-George-Cruikshank-Charles Dickens

A Letter from Hop-O’-My-Thumb to Charles Dickens, Esq

Cruikshank and Dickens’ conflict came to a head when Dickens satirized Cruikshank in “Frauds on the Fairies” in Household Words (1 Oct 1853). Cruikshank published his own response pseudonymously, “A Letter from Hop-o-My-Thumb to Charles Dickens, Esq” in his magazine, arguing “when you wrote your criticism, you knew little or nothing of that history you so strongly condemn our friend for altering.”

This edition offers wonderful facsimile of Cruikshank’s color illustrations in ‘Oliver Twist.’

Following Dickens’ death, Cruikshank audaciously asserted in a letter to The Times (30 Dec 1871) that he’d thought of most of Oliver Twist’s plot. Cruikshank wasn’t the first illustrator to make such a claim; Robert Seymour had made a similar one about The Pickwick Papers—which Dickens vigorously denied in the preface to the 1867 edition. Dickens’ friend and biographer John Forster answered Cruikshank’s claim with evidence from Dickens’ correspondence, though admitted that Cruikshank’s intimacy with London’s underworld had been instrumental.

A Hidden Life

Cruikshank had always been regarded as a moral Victorian, and this view was enhanced by his work for the temperance movement. Cruikshank worked tirelessly to promote both the National Temperance Society and the Total Abstinence Society. Thanks to his efforts, he eventually served as Vice President of the National Temperance Society. After Cruikshank passed away on February 1, 1878, his eulogy in Punch magazine read, “There never was a more proper, simpler, more straightforward or altogether more blameless man. His nature had something childlike in its transparency.”

From ‘The Bottle,’ a work that firmly established Cruikshank as teetotaling, upright Victorian

Soon after, however, it became evident that Cruikshank had been something less than the upstanding Victorian everyone had assumed. His dying words, “Oh, what will become of my children?” puzzled his wife; the couple were childless, as had been Cruikshank and his previous wife. Soon it came to light that Cruikshank had had an affair with his maid, Adelaide Attree. When his wife had discovered the pregnancy, Attree refused to identify the father and was removed from the household accordingly. But Cruikshank simply moved her to a home close by, and she took the married name “Archibold.” The two had a total of eleven children together; the youngest was conceived when Cruikshank was 82!

While this revelation certainly dimmed his peers’ estimation of Cruikshank’s character, it did little to quell admiration for his work. To this day, Cruikshank remains a celebrated illustrator, with over 10,000 prints, plates, and illustrations to his credit. His works appear in numerous museums, and his works are highly sought after among collectors both of Charles Dickens and of nineteenth-century illustrations. Collectors of Cruikshank rely upon Albert Cohn’s bibliographical catalogue of Cruikshank’s printed work, among other numerous available resources.

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