Description

234. Lydia Mattice Brandt, “Picturing Mount Vernon,” Vol. 38, No. 1 (Spring 2013), 2-19, 15 illus.

Lydia Mattice Brandt describes the evolution of images of George Washington’s house, Mount Vernon, from its original role as an attribute in the iconography of Washington, to assuming its own identity as an architectural monument and place of pilgrimage. In the earliest prints, Mount Vernon represents the private retreat of America’s greatest public figure and is used to reinforce the comparison of Washington with the Roman statesman Cincinnatus. The appearance of the house in three series of American views, by George Isham Parkyns (1795), Alexander Robertson and Francis Jukes (1800), and William Birch (1808), established it as “an example of American architecture: well positioned on a major river, articulated with classically inspired features, and fashionably landscaped.” The memorial role of the house is represented, and its identity as a plantation worked by slaves is discussed. 

235. Donald C. O’Brien, “Steel Engravings in Illustration: The End of an Era,” Vol. 38, No. 1 (Spring 2013), 20-39, 17 illus.

Women of Beauty and Heroism from Semiramis to Eugenie, A Portrait Gallery of Female Loveliness, Achievement, and Influence (New York: Derby & Jackson, 1859) was one of the last elegant gift books designed to feature steel engravings. The author, Frank Boot Goodrich, had made a career of publishing illustrated compilations and called upon an already familiar team of artists, Jules Champagne and James B. Wandesforde (fl. 1850-1870) to draw the portraits. The plates were engraved by six English-trained engravers working in New York: William G. Jackman (fl. 1841–after 1860), Frederick W. Halpin (1805-1880), Henry Bryan Hall Sr. (1808-1884), George R. Hall (1818-?), Samuel Hollyer (1826-1919), and John Rogers (ca. 1808-ca.1888). O’Brien traces the history of the steel engraved plates that were commissioned for this work and subsequently sold for use in other publications, including The Ladies’ Repository. 

236. Correction, “A New Date for D. C. Johnston’s Symptoms of a Locked Jaw,” Vol. 38, No. 1 (Spring 2013), 40, 1 illus.

Reader response to Jeffrey Croteau, “From Blind Man’s Bluff to the Poor Blind Candidate: David Claypoole Johnston’s Anti-Masonic Illustrations for New England Almanacs,” Imprint, Vol. 37, No. 2 (Autumn 2012) (bibliography #231) establishes that the correct date for Symptoms of a Locked Jaw is 1827.