clements.umich.edu

1 , LEM EN T SLI BRA RYASSOCIATESSPRING1999"MYFAVORITETHINGS" TREASURESOFGRAPHICARTIN THECLEMENTSLIBRARY ecognizi ngtheimportanceofgraphicmaterialsashisto ricalevidence, over thepast twodecad esthe Cle mentsLibrary has actively collec tedthe pictorialrecordofAmerica's a ratherrandomaccumu-lationofill ustratedbooksande ighteenth-ce nturye ngrave dviews,RevolutionaryWarc aric atures, a few engravedBritishportrait s. and a sca tter -iogofhistoricall yimportantpictu res, the Library eventuallyacquired a sizea b lecollectionofprints .Butitwasnotuntilbuildingren ova tions werecom ple ted in 1980that itwaspossible to provide thespecia lizedcaretheydes rary' s origin alreadingroom was convertedto thePrintDivisionand Iagreed to be itsfirst curator, to organi zeadisparategatheri ng of graphicmateri al, attendto its conse rva-tionneeds, and begina be ased uc tiveassig nme nt,f rustrating only inthe lackoftime I co uld devoteto it, given my oth er Libraryrespo lon ge r an aftertho ught,prints weregiven newpriorityinacq uisitio ns.

2 The Librarydevelopeda coll ectin gpolicythat included a far broaderrangeof gra phicmaterial-from rare colo nialprints tonineteenth-c entury pulpmagazine woodcuts,from finemezzotints to mass -producedThe Ed ward Savageengrav Youth,is a triump hofclassicalallegoryAmerican style. PublishedinPhiladelph ia in1 796,its designappealedtothe city'spatrioti c sentiments and wasthe largest,wealthiestcityin America,andthe temporarycapitaloftheUnited broughtprosperity-s-bankingandcomme rce. trade and manufacturingboomed,arts andscienceflourished. Philad elphianswere rapidly expand ing theircit)' aftertheWar;creatingtree -lined str ee tsofred brick housesandelegantnewpublicbuildings designedin the designfi tfora NewRepub his audie nce with afamiliarsetofsymbols.

3 " Youth " isequatedwith theNewRepublic."Liberty;" asensuous,auburn-hairedbeautyin cup tothe ba ld eagle hoveringaboveherhead;herbare f oot tramplesthe BritishOrderoftheGarter;a the background. an Amer icanflag and Frenc h libertycap appeartorise ~.:--V! ..~~~lithographs, fromposters toprintson fabri c. Everygenrewasincluded-port rai ts, views,repres enta tio nsofhistoricalevents, allegoric al andsatirica lworks , commercial gra phicart,andepheme ted she etmusiccovers w eretran sferredto the Prin t Division,a goldm ineofpictorial evidenceforsocia l historians workin gin the nineteenthandea rlytwentie th ce creatingthe Print Division, LibraryDirect orJohnDan npursuedthe samestrategyhehasusedso successfully to developtheLibrary ' s othercollect io ns-concentrateon onearea,thenuseevery oppo rtunity to buildon that stre ng s theLibrary 'sPrintDivisionhas developedoverthe past two decade s.

4 Wehavebeen respo nd ing to the chang-ingneedsofour clie num berofsc holarsina varietyoffie lds in thehumanities areexplori ng newwaysin which visua levide nceca nbeused tostudy histori cal,literary , andc ultura l que stio nivers itycourse sare offeringundergraduates farmoreoppo rtu nitiesto do researchinprimaryso ur ces, the sametime, e d ucators and publishe rsareincorporatin gmore graphicmaterial ininstru ctiona lpublicati ons, w heth erintradi tio nalprintformorinelectronicforma ts. Te levisionproducer s and writers, respond-ing to the surgein popularity ofdocumentaryhistoryprogram s,havesought fresh. compelling imagestodramatize afamiliarhistoricalnarrativeor toexplore new gro rarebook libraries areusedto finding whatotherpeoplearelookin g for.

5 Not indulgin anyonewhospends acareerworkingwith rareand beauti fulartifacts devel ship withthe tre asuresunderher care. Overthe years, thegreatest plea sure has comefrom helpingothersexplorethe Clements' resources,for whetherI washelpin ga student orworking witha professor. catalog ing aprint or designing an exhibit. preparingatalk forUM Alumn ior even editing theQuart o,I wasreally conducting my owneducationin this extraordinary collec-tion. When John Dann invited me to doan exhibitof graph icartas a reti rementfarewell. his onlywords were, " Choosethethingsyou love most."And soIhave ! Aselec tion from"MyFavoriteThings "is offeredin the hopethatourreaderswillenj oy abriefglimpse acro ssfive Shy,Head,Reader EN ,ria&:optlm~.

6 UuLitludiis :recerensIen ua:, ebemuolennatU~nlhtl remerepet"crp eri :putau leu mi op ufp. lhh u iusu ics uelid utlrlap ecmp ucsfuffr~giu:uelbmignirasumiamrpondeb~ ,berdtadcom pen d iumpr~ :(j, ~ff~eft:Itamoderat ereprcC" rneeicop rodizafltw pta:ncc da mnoC3concimus.~UIflammu mproplUSin t t"ndens:udut fermennicogni-cornsmagisci tnc:fk:ilbrareaseloquenned eprehend es,& 'femc:co pidiofarec r: ur&:an o nonbus referremp<'di:& .Lcccrcmcommemo u nmumtenet:iquapanefamein etl:ur uuerfamateries:q uorucommeminuTeitautfumttl:utmclytosrerr arum(ltus & :fuoq uoq:ordme reddeeemes, Inlennmu sec amplcaq;ddfaent(( finJul uan erasIpCalcgentiufafl td u&:~ .w lif\a(asexprdTi earbonbustklaprdibusexcu esdentuMonoab-dU3funationum :n onnuUactumdtgn amemoraunquzpurrrmirttte:incunofumuideba ru uclc n ranquodimp 't ua:mfmua rumudun:defcrip"tortbusmanatt ~ yby PatrickYoungOpposit epage,top:Caius Julius SolinusDe Situ OrbisTerrarum etMemorabilibusquae MundiAmbitu Continentur LiberVenice,14 73 Incuna , have a uniquebeauty.)))))

7 Theseearliestprintedbookscloselyimitated manuscripts,not only in reproducinggothiccharactersbutalsoin the useofabbreviations, ligatures, andin thear rangementofwordson the p roblem0/rubricationbyha ving it addedbyhandwithClp enin redand blu doit mechanically: IJJuminationwasdonewithfinebrushesusin gaf ullrangeofco l ors as well as goldamisilver;The Renai ssanceusedancienttexts, likethisbySolinu s,a third-cent ury Roman, compilerofmarvels,Solinus toldwondroustalesoftherichesofIndi a and Ceylon,offabulous animals, exotic plants, ,bottom:JamesI. King of EnglandLettersPatent .Westminister,1622 The finestelementsofmanuscriptilluminationca nbeseenin thisseventeenth-cem ur),document ,LettersPatent.

8 BywhichJamesIraisedSi r Edwa rdRichto thepeerageasBaronKensingtonofKensin g toninM iddlesex. dated Westm inister, Latintex t, writtenin a chanceryhandinbrowninkonvellum,issurroun ded byafineilluminatedborder conta ini ngth e RoyalA nns,peacocks. andexoti c birds, twocorone tswithlion s,anda profusionofflowers. The King's portrait,within thein itial"J"of goldandbluestrapwork design. showsJamesenthroned, inermine -lined robe,againsta purplesc yof SirEdwardRich( 1590-164 9) wereamongtheearlyinvesto rsin the yearthi spatentwas granted,1622, the strugglingsettleme nt atJamestownwasdevastatedby anInd ian massacreandsoonafterswepthy a plague ,leavingprobably no morethan300surv ivo rs outofa popul ationof5,000 Engl ishcolonistsin and Miss SnowPublis he d by Bret herton.

9 London,1783aquatintA veryth in man anda very/atlady ride side by e back ,th e horsesareperfectlyp ropo rtion edto legantly drawn, th is soc ialsatire is the workofattorneyJamesSayer s(1748-1823),a gentleman-amateurwhoseeng raving swouldholdtheirownwithhisfamousprofessio nal count erparts H EQ!)i\RT OPAGE3 Left:GrantandB on nef oy, engrave rs,after Ben j aminWeMThe Wes(FamilyPublishedby Smith, I stipp leengravingBenj am inWest, histo rypaintertoGeorgeIIIandpresidentoftheR oya lAcademy,returnedtvhisAmer icanoriginsin ,~t'slatherandstep-brothe r,recentlyarrivedinLondon, theirsobe r expressions andQuakerdres sinstarkcontrast to thewarmthandeleganceofthe youngfa mi ly;appeartobe"s ittingforafewm inutesins ilentmedi tat elidedbythe oldmUlltakingoffhis hatandofferi ngup aprayerfor the moth erandin/alii.

10 "When Westexhibitedtheoriginal at the Roy alAcad emyin1777,c riticsfoundthesubj ecttoopersonalbutth epublic ado ulardemandforthisengra vingmade it oneofWest 'sbest-knownpictu res,esp ecia llyin France, whereanglomaniafoundexp ress ion in thevog ueforcollectin gEngli shstippl eeng rav :Will iamPether;afterJo sep hWrightA PhilosopherGivingaLectureo n the OrreryPublishedby101mBoyd zotintsojeig hteenth-ce ntury a Lectureonthe ecollabo rationoftwofriends,theartist JosephWrightof D erbyandengraverWilliamPe th lelig ht,with theuseof concentratedligh tto ,p roducinga fine, velvetyg round perfectlysuited10 Wright ' an age when print swere themainsou rcea/visualinf ormation, thepublicWllShung ryfo r pictures that rints thatreproduced paintingswereindemand.