#Albert R. Mann Library

[chic-a-gigot]

The Delineator, no. 4, Vol. XLVIII. Autumn Number. October 1896. Published by the Butterick Publishing Co. London & New York. Colored Plate 20. Figure D43. Evening Toilette. Internet Archive, uploaded by Albert R. Mann Library

Figure D 43. — LADIES’ EVENING TOILETTE.

Figure D 43. — This consists of a Ladies’ basque-waist and skirt. The basque-waist pattern, which is No. 8637 and costs 1s. 3d. or 30 cents, is in thirteen sizes for ladies from twenty-eight to forty-six inches, bust measure, and may be seen again on page 442 of this magazine. The skirt pattern, which is No. 8672 and costs 1s. 3d. or 30 cents, is in nine sizes for ladies from twenty to thirty-six inches, waist measure, and is differently portrayed on page 447 of this publication.

The ideas expressed in this toilette are calculated to suit the most fastidious taste. Rich faille silk with high lustre and having small black figures on its sulphur ground is handsomely offset by the decoration of chiffon, embroidery and ribbon. A well-fitted lining closed at the center of the front insures a becoming adjustment to the waist, which has a low, round neck and a full front closed along the left shoulder and under-arm seam. The fulness in the back is drawn well to the center in the same manner as in the front by gathers at the neck and shoulder edges and by shirrings at the bottom. The short puff sleeves are made with full linings, gathered, like the puffs, at the top and bottom. A coquettish effect is given by a dainty bow of ribbon on each shoulder, and a softly wrinkled ribbon surrounds the waist. The low neck is decorated with a double ruche of white chiffon.

The five-gored skirt is smooth fitting at the front and sides and may be gathered or plaited at the back. At the sides it ripples but slightly and at the front it flares broadly. The foot trimming consists of a soft, double ruche of white chiffon. Hand-wrought embroidery in black runs upward from the bottom in vine pattern, each spray starting from under a ribbon bow at the ruche.

The toilette is noteworthy not alone for its admirable grace and style but for the practical features embodied in the basque-waist and its susceptibility to variations. A high or low neck and full-length or elbow sleeves may be arranged, and elaborate or simple effects may be attained, according to the use for which the toilette is intended. Faille façonné, moire antique façonné, velvet and the light silks and delicate chiffons and laces which are always more or less fancied, will be chosen for dressy wear, and for more practical occasions mixtures of color, canvas textiles and mixtures of wool and mohair and other novelties will be selected. Lace, colored embroidery, jet passementerie and bands of jet-embroidered mousseline de sole are available for handsome decorations.

[disabled-dragoon]

The Disability Library

I love books, I love literature, and I love this blog, but it's only been recently that I've really been given the option to explore disabled literature, and I hate that. When I was a kid, all I wanted was to be able to read about characters like me, and now as an adult, all I want is to be able to read a book that takes us seriously.

And so, friends, Romans, countrymen, I present, a special disability and chronic illness booklist, compiled by myself and through the contributions of wonderful members from this site!

As always, if there are any at all that you want me to add, please just say. I'm always looking for more!

Edit 20/10/2023: You can now suggest books using the google form at the bottom!

Updated: 31/08/2023

Articles and Chapters

The Drifting Language of Architectural Accessibility in Victor Hugo's Notre-Dame de Paris, Essaka Joshua, 2012

Early Modern Literature and Disability Studies, Allison P. Hobgood, David Houston Wood, 2017

How Do You Develop Whole Object Relations as an Adult?, Elinor Greenburg, 2019

Making Do with What You Don't Have: Disabled Black Motherhood in Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents, Anna Hinton, 2018

Necropolitics, Achille Mbeme, 2003 OR Necropolitics, Achille Mbeme, 2019

Wasted Lives: Modernity and Its Outcasts, Zygmunt Bauman, 2004

Witchcraft and deformity in early modern English Literature, Scott Eaton, 2020

Books

Fiction:

Misc:

10 Things I Can See From Here, Carrie Mac

A-F:

A Curse So Dark and Lonely, (Series), Brigid Kemmerer

Akata Witch, (Series), Nnedi Okorafor

A Mango-Shaped Space, Wendy Mass

Ancillary Justice, (Series), Ann Leckie

An Unkindness of Ghosts, Rivers Solomon

An Unseen Attraction, (Series), K. J. Charles

A Shot in the Dark, Victoria Lee

A Snicker of Magic, Natalie Lloyd

A Song of Ice and Fire, (series), George R. R. Martin

A Spindle Splintered, (Series), Alix E. Harrow

A Time to Dance, Padma Venkatraman

Bath Haus, P. J. Vernon

Beasts of Prey, (Series), Ayana Gray

The Bedlam Stacks, (Series), Natasha Pulley

Black Bird, Blue Road, Sofiya Pasternack

Black Sun, (Series), Rebecca Roanhorse

Blood Price, (Series), Tanya Huff

Borderline, (Series), Mishell Baker

Breath, Donna Jo Napoli

The Broken Kingdoms, (Series), N.K. Jemisin

Brute, Kim Fielding

Cafe con Lychee, Emery Lee

Carry the Ocean, (Series), Heidi Cullinan

Challenger Deep, Neal Shusterman

Cinder, (Series), Marissa Meyer

Clean, Amy Reed

Connection Error, (Series), Annabeth Albert

Cosima Unfortunate Steals A Star, Laura Noakes

Crazy, Benjamin Lebert

Crooked Kingdom, (Series), Leigh Bardugo

Daniel Cabot Puts Down Roots, (Series), Cat Sebastian

Daniel, Deconstructed, James Ramos

Dead in the Garden, (Series), Dahlia Donovan

Dear Fang, With Love, Rufi Thorpe

Deathless Divide, (Series), Justina Ireland

The Degenerates, J. Albert Mann

The Doctor's Discretion, E.E. Ottoman

Earth Girl, (Series), Janet Edwards

Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead, Emily R. Austin

The Extraordinaries, (Series), T. J. Klune

The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict, (Series), Trenton Lee Stewart

Fight + Flight, Jules Machias

The Final Girl Support Group, Grady Hendrix

Finding My Voice, (Series), Aoife Dooley

The First Thing About You, Chaz Hayden

Follow My Leader, James B. Garfield

Forever Is Now, Mariama J. Lockington

Fortune Favours the Dead, (Series), Stephen Spotswood

Fresh, Margot Wood

H-0:

Harmony, London Price

Harrow the Ninth, (series), Tamsyn Muir

Hench, (Series), Natalia Zina Walschots

Highly Illogical Behaviour, John Corey Whaley

Honey Girl, Morgan Rogers

How to Become a Planet, Nicole Melleby

How to Bite Your Neighbor and Win a Wager, (Series), D. N. Bryn

How to Sell Your Blood & Fall in Love, (Series), D. N. Bryn

Hunger Pangs: True Love Bites, Joy Demorra

I Am Not Alone, Francisco X. Stork

The Immeasurable Depth of You, Maria Ingrande Mora

In the Ring, Sierra Isley

Into The Drowning Deep, (Series), Mira Grant

Iron Widow, (Series), Xiran Jay Zhao

Izzy at the End of the World, K. A. Reynolds

Jodie's Journey, Colin Thiele

Just by Looking at Him, Ryan O'Connell

Kissing Doorknobs, Terry Spencer Hesser

Lakelore, Anna-Marie McLemore

Learning Curves, (Series), Ceillie Simkiss

Let's Call It a Doomsday, Katie Henry

The Library of the Dead, (Series), TL Huchu

The Lion Hunter, (Series), Elizabeth Wein

Lirael, (Series), Garth Nix

Long Macchiatos and Monsters, Alison Evans

Love from A to Z, (Series), S.K. Ali

Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses, Kristen O'Neal

Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro

The Never Tilting World, (Series), Rin Chupeco

The No-Girlfriend Rule, Christen Randall

Nona the Ninth, (series), Tamsyn Muir

Noor, Nnedi Okorafor

Odder Still, (Series), D. N. Bryn

Once Stolen, (Series), D. N. Bryn

One For All, Lillie Lainoff

On the Edge of Gone, Corinne Duyvis

Origami Striptease, Peggy Munson

Our Bloody Pearl, (Series), D. N. Bryn

Out of My Mind, Sharon M. Draper

P-T:

Parable of the Sower, (Series), Octavia E. Butler

Parable of the Talents, (Series), Octavia E. Butler

Percy Jackson & the Olympians, (series), Rick Riordan

Pomegranate, Helen Elaine Lee

The Prey of Gods, Nicky Drayden

The Pursuit Of..., (Series), Courtney Milan

The Queen's Thief, (Series), Megan Whalen Turner

The Quiet and the Loud, Helena Fox

The Raging Quiet, Sheryl Jordan

The Reanimator's Heart, (Series), Kara Jorgensen

The Remaking of Corbin Wale, Joan Parrish

Roll with It, (Series), Jamie Sumner

Russian Doll, (Series), Cristelle Comby

The Second Mango, (Series), Shira Glassman

Scar of the Bamboo Leaf, Sieni A.M

Shaman, (Series), Noah Gordon

Sick Kids in Love, Hannah Moskowitz

The Silent Boy, Lois Lowry

Six of Crows, (Series) Leigh Bardugo

Sizzle Reel, Carlyn Greenwald

The Spare Man, Mary Robinette Kowal

The Stagsblood Prince, (Series), Gideon E. Wood

Stake Sauce, Arc 1: The Secret Ingredient is Love. No, Really, (Series), RoAnna Sylver

Stars in Your Eyes, Kacen Callender [Expected release: Oct 2023]

The Storm Runner, (Series), J. C. Cervantes

Stronger Still, (Series), D. N. Bryn

Sweetblood, Pete Hautman

Tarnished Are the Stars, Rosiee Thor

The Theft of Sunlight, (Series), Intisar Khanani

Throwaway Girls, Andrea Contos

Top Ten, Katie Cotugno

Torch, Lyn Miller-Lachmann

Treasure, Rebekah Weatherspoon

Turtles All the Way Down, John Green

U-Z:

Unlicensed Delivery, Will Soulsby-McCreath Expected release October 2023

Verona Comics, Jennifer Dugan

Vorkosigan Saga, (Series), Lois McMaster Bujold

We Are the Ants, (Series), Shaun David Hutchinson

The Weight of Our Sky, Hanna Alkaf

Whip, Stir and Serve, Caitlyn Frost and Henry Drake

The Whispering Dark, Kelly Andrew

Wicked Sweet, Chelsea M. Cameron

Wonder, (Series), R. J. Palacio

Wrong to Need You, (Series), Alisha Rai

Ziggy, Stardust and Me, James Brandon

Graphic Novels:

A Quick & Easy Guide to Sex & Disability, (Non-Fiction), A. Andrews

Constellations, Kate Glasheen

Dancing After TEN: a graphic memoir, (memoir) (Non-Fiction), Vivian Chong, Georgia Webber

Everything Is an Emergency: An OCD Story in Words Pictures, (memoir) (Non-Fiction), Jason Adam Katzenstein

Frankie's World: A Graphic Novel, (Series), Aoife Dooley

The Golden Hour, Niki Smith

Nimona, N. D. Stevenson

The Third Person, (memoir) (Non-Fiction), Emma Grove

Magazines and Anthologies:

Artificial Divide, (Anthology), Robert Kingett, Randy Lacey

Beneath Ceaseless Skies #175: Grandmother-nai-Leylit's Cloth of Winds, (Article), R. B. Lemburg

Defying Doomsday, (Anthology), edited by Tsana Dolichva and Holly Kench

Josee, the Tiger and the Fish, (short story) (anthology), Seiko Tanabe

Nothing Without Us, edited by Cait Gordon and Talia C. Johnson

Nothing Without Us Too, edited by Cait Gordon and Talia C. Johnson

Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens, (Anthology), edited by Marieke Nijkamp

Uncanny #24: Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction, (Anthology), edited by: Elsa Sjunneson-Henry, Dominik Parisien et al.

Uncanny #30: Disabled People Destroy Fantasy, (Anthology), edited by: Nicolette Barischoff, Lisa M. Bradley, Katharine Duckett

We Shall Be Monsters, edited by Derek Newman-Stille

Manga:

Perfect World, (Series), Rie Aruga

The Sky is Blue with a Single Cloud, (Short Stories), Kuniko Tsurita

Non-Fiction:

Academic Ableism: Disability and Higher Education, Jay Timothy Dolmage

A Disability History of the United States, Kim E, Nielsen

The Architecture of Disability: Buildings, Cities, and Landscapes beyond Access, David Gissen

Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman's Fight to End Ableism, Elsa Sjunneson

Black Disability Politics, Sami Schalk

Borderline, Narcissistic, and Schizoid Adaptations: The Pursuit of Love, Admiration, and Safety, Dr. Elinor Greenburg

Brilliant Imperfection: Grappling with Cure, Eli Clare

The Cambridge Companion to Literature and Disability, Barker, Clare and Stuart Murray, editors.

The Capacity Contract: Intellectual Disability and the Question of Citizenship, Stacy Clifford Simplican

Capitalism and Disability, Martha Russel

Care work: Dreaming Disability Justice, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

Catatonia, Shutdown and Breakdown in Autism: A Psycho-Ecological Approach, Dr Amitta Shah

The Collected Schizophrenias: Essays, Esme Weijun Wang

Crip Kinship, Shayda Kafai

Crip Up the Kitchen: Tools, Tips and Recipes for the Disabled Cook, Jules Sherred

Culture – Theory – Disability: Encounters between Disability Studies and Cultural Studies, Anne Waldschmidt, Hanjo Berressem, Moritz Ingwersen

Decarcerating Disability: Deinstitutionalization and Prison Abolition, Liat Ben-Moshe

Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to Be an Ally, Emily Ladau

Dirty River: A Queer Femme of Color Dreaming Her Way Home, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

Disability Pride: Dispatches from a Post-ADA World, Ben Mattlin

Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories From the Twenty-First Century, Alice Wong

Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability and Making Space, Amanda Leduc

Every Cripple a Superhero, Christoph Keller

Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness and Liberation, Eli Clare

Feminist Queer Crip, Alison Kafer

The Future Is Disabled: Prophecies, Love Notes, and Mourning Songs, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

Growing Up Disabled in Australia, Carly Findlay

It's Just Nerves: Notes on a Disability, Kelly Davio

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot

Language Deprivation & Deaf Mental Health, Neil S. Glickman, Wyatte C. Hall

The Minority Body: A Theory of Disability, Elizabeth Barnes

My Body and Other Crumbling Empires: Lessons for Healing in a World That Is Sick, Lyndsey Medford

No Right to Be Idle: The Invention of Disability, 1840s-1930s, Sarah F. Rose

Nothing About Us Without Us: Disability Oppression and Empowerment, James I. Charlton

The Pedagogy of Pathologization Dis/abled Girls of Color in the School-prison Nexus, Subini Ancy Annamma

Physical Disability in British Romantic Literature, Essaka Joshua

QDA: A Queer Disability Anthology, Raymond Luczak, Editor.

The Right to Maim: Debility, Capacity, Disability, Jasbir K. Puar

Sitting Pretty, (memoir), Rebecca Taussig

Sounds Like Home: Growing Up Black & Deaf in the South, Mary Herring Wright

Surviving and Thriving with an Invisible Chronic Illness: How to Stay Sane and Live One Step Ahead of Your Symptoms, Ilana Jacqueline

The Things We Don't Say: An Anthology of Chronic Illness Truths, Julie Morgenlender

Uncanny Bodies: Superhero Comics and Disability, Scott T. Smith, José Alaniz 

Uncomfortable Labels: My Life as a Gay Autistic Trans Woman, (memoir), Laura Kate Dale

Unmasking Autism, Devon Price

The War on Disabled People: Capitalism, Welfare and the Making of a Human Catastrophe, Ellen Clifford

We've Got This: Essays by Disabled Parents, Eliza Hull

Year of the Tiger: An Activist's Life, (memoir) (essays) Alice Wong

Picture Books:

A Day With No Words, Tiffany Hammond, Kate Cosgrove-

A Friend for Henry, Jenn Bailey, Mika Song

Ali and the Sea Stars, Ali Stroker, Gillian Reid

All Are Welcome, Alexandra Penfold, Suzanne Kaufman

All the Way to the Top, Annette Bay Pimentel, Jennifer Keelan-Chaffins, Nabi Ali

Can Bears Ski?, Raymond Antrobus, Polly Dunbar

Different -- A Great Thing to Be!, Heather Alvis, Sarah Mensinga

Everyone Belongs, Heather Alvis, Sarah Mensinga

I Talk Like a River, Jordan Scott, Sydney Smith

Jubilee: The First Therapy Horse and an Olympic Dream, K. T. Johnson, Anabella Ortiz

Just Ask!, Sonia Sotomayor, Rafael López

Kami and the Yaks, Andrea Stenn Stryer, Bert Dodson

My Three Best Friends and Me, Zulay, Cari Best, Vanessa Brantley-Newton

Rescue & Jessica: A Life-Changing Friendship, Jessica Kensky, Patrick Downes, Scott Magoon

Sam's Super Seats, Keah Brown, Sharee Miller

Small Knight and the Anxiety Monster, Manka Kasha

We Move Together, Kelly Fritsch, Anne McGuire, Eduardo Trejos

We're Different, We're the Same, and We're All Wonderful!, Bobbi Jane Kates, Joe Mathieu

What Happened to You?, James Catchpole, Karen George

The World Needs More Purple People, Kristen Bell, Benjamin Hart, Daniel Wiseman

You Are Enough: A Book About Inclusion, Margaret O'Hair, Sofia Sanchez, Sofia Cardoso

You Are Loved: A Book About Families, Margaret O'Hair, Sofia Sanchez, Sofia Cardoso

The You Kind of Kind, Nina West, Hayden Evans

Zoom!, Robert Munsch, Michael Martchenko

Plays:

Peeling, Kate O'Reilly

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With an extra special thank you to @parafoxicalk @craftybookworms @lunod @galaxyaroace @shub-s @trans-axolotl @suspicious-whumping-egg @ya-world-challenge @fictionalgirlsworld @rubyjewelqueen @some-weird-queer-writer @jacensolodjo @cherry-sys @dralthon @thebibliosphere @brynwrites @aj-grimoire @shade-and-sun @ceanothusspinosus @edhelwen1 @waltzofthewifi @spiderleggedhorse @sleepneverheardofher @highladyluck @oftheides @thecouragetobekind @nopoodles @lupadracolis @elusivemellifluence @creativiteaa @moonflowero1 @the-bi-library @chronically-chaotic-cryptid for your absolutely fantastic contributions!

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Submit a Book:

[mannlibrary]

Lorenzo Langstroth unvarnished

Lorenzo Langstroth, 1890. From Langstroth on the hive & honey bee, rev. by Dadant. 1892.

December 25th, Christmas Day, is a day for sharing and giving. It also happens to be the birthday of a man known as the father of American beekeeping: Lorenzo Langstroth, born Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1810. With both happy occasions in mind, Mann Library is pleased to announce a resource that we’re pretty sure students of beekeeping and its history will find a wonderful gift: a fully digitized, searchable copy of Langstroth’s handwritten personal journal. Where a researcher would have once had to make an in-person trip to our special collections reading room to attempt a deciphering of Langstroth’s (infamously difficult to read) handwriting, the journal is now freely available (and actually readable!) as both a digitized version of the original work and in a transcribed form as part of the online Biodiversity Heritage Library.

Page from "Journal on matters relating to bees, etc.," unpublished manuscript, Lorenzo Langstroth 1852-1895. in the special collections of Albert R. Mann Library, Cornell University.

For those not yet fully in the know, Lorenzo Langstroth looms large in American beekeeping history thanks to discoveries and inventions he made as a self-taught apiarist, innovations which essentially revolutionized the 19th century practice of beekeeping in North America and facilitated its development into the profitable industry of today. His guide on beekeeping, The Hive and the Honeybee, was first published in 1853 and remains in print even today.  Langstroth’s story is also poignantly notable for a reason that you don’t have to a be a beekeeper to appreciate deeply: his struggles with debilitating depression, which stymied many of his professional endeavors. While working intermittently as a pastor and teacher when his mental health allowed, Langstroth found constant, life-affirming inspiration in the bee world he observed closely through the prism of the hives he kept for most of his adult life.

The history of beekeeping stretches back to prehistoric times, but when Langstroth patented his movable frame beehive in 1852 it created a worldwide revolution in the practice of keeping bees. On this page of his journal, we see the exact moment—the “aha” moment—that Langstroth landed on his brilliant insight: the significance of applying the concept of "beespace" to design hives that allow easier harvesting of honey than possible in earlier hive structures. The rest, as they say, is history.

The journal Langstroth kept is a treasure for several reasons. It provides fascinating insight into pivotal moments of beekeeping’s technological history. It is, as well, an intimate view of resilience in face of sometimes devastating mental health challenges. And last but really not least, in the comments and pet peeves that Langstroth also recorded in his ongoing notes-to-self, his off-the-record writing offers a more mundane but no less instructive tour through the day-to-day concerns—from keeping bee hives productive to the vexing challenges of protecting trade secrets and securing patents for promising new discoveries in a timely way—that would have been top-of-mind for any aspiring agricultural entrepreneur of the 19th century.

Page from "Journal on matters relating to bees, etc.," unpublished manuscript, Lorenzo Langstroth 1852-1895. in the special collections of Albert R. Mann Library, Cornell University.

The online availability of Langstroth’s journal in both its handwritten and transcribed form has been a work very long in the making. When early 20th century entomologist Everett Franklin Phillipps joined the Cornell faculty 1924, he made it his mission to establish one of the world’s most important collections of beekeeping materials—now known as the E. F. Phillips Collection at Mann Library. Recognizing the importance of one of this collections’ gems—the Langstroth journal—for the beekeeping field, Phillips began the painstaking process of transcribing 600 pages of its cramped, highly slanted script—rendered even more illegible by the frequent ink bleed-through from other pages—into easily readable typescript. The project remained unfinished at the time of Phillips passing in 1951, and others took up the work intermittently over the following decades. But it wasn’t until the epic pandemic-era national lockdown of 2020 that intrepid collections specialist Betsy Elswit finally found herself with the time needed to finish transcribing of the journal's final 200 pages.  Thanks to this heroic work, a browse through the work on the Biodiversity Diversity Heritage Library today provides a look at Langstroth’s original writing with a side-by-side view of transcribed, machine-readable text.  Thank you Betsy! And thank you, Reverend Langstroth, for persevering through the inspirational highs and deep lows of life to impact the practice of beekeeping so profoundly, and to leave us such a rich record of such remarkable scientific observation and personal achievement.

And with that, we leave you with our best wishes for a good, hope-filled winter holiday season!

[typhlonectes]

Beetles illustration

from Brehm, Alfred Edmund and Ernst Ludwig Taschenberg. Die Insekten, Tausendfüssler und Spinnen. 1884.

Contributed in BHL from Albert R. Mann Library at Cornell University.

[miguelmarias]

Los westerns de Budd Boetticher

Defensa e ilustración de la serie "B"

Extraño caso el de Budd Boetticher, tan outsider como Samuel Fuller o Sam Peckinpah, pero menos espectacular y llamativo, más discreto y confidencial, con menos seguidores entre la afición que cualquiera de ellos (o que Don Siegel), y relegado hoy a la inacción y al olvido.

Nacido en 1916 en Chicago, lesionado jugando al «football» y enviado a reponerse en México, se enamoró —como Peckinpah— de ese país, y de la tauromaquia; se hizo torero, y ello le valió un contrato como asesor técnico en Blood and Sand (Sangre y arena, 1941) de Mamoulian; atraído desde entonces por el cine, fue primero botones, luego ayudante de dirección, antes de convertirse en un prolífico artesano de la serie «B» que trataba de sacar el mayor partido posible de los convencionales guiones y los exiguos medios materiales que se le confiaban; entre 1956 y 1960 realizó las ocho películas que le han valido su modesta celebridad entre los cinéfilos de mi generación; durante ocho años nada se supo de él, excepto que había estado a punto de morir, en México, tratando de llevar a término su obra más ambiciosa y personal, al parecer fallida, pero por la que dice querer ser juzgado; Arruza (1968), homenaje de amistad y admiración al diestro mexicano Carlos Arruza, que falleció antes de que Boetticher pudiese completar la película; al año siguiente, gracias al intérprete de su primer «western» (The Cimarron Kid, 1951), Audie Murphy, Boetticher regresa al género y a la producción marginal de Hollywood, y realiza el que sigue siendo —que se sepa— su último film, A Time for Dying.

Desde entonces, Boetticher no ha vuelto a dar señales de vida. Se supo que había escrito una crónica de sus años de intemperie y desdichas en México, When In Disgrace, y una novela, The Long Hard Year of the White Rolls-Royce, y que quería rodar en Europa —incluso se mencionó nuestro país— esta historia y un «western»; Albert Maltz escribió, a partir de un tratamiento de Boetticher, el guion de Two Mules for Sister Sara (Dos mulas y una mujer, 1969), que dirigió Siegel y que no he visto. Y nunca más se supo... la desaparición de Boetticher ha sido tan absoluta y misteriosa como la de Alexander Mackendrick después de Don't Make Waves (No hagan olas, 1967); de Nicholas Ray y Samuel Fuller llegaban, si no películas, algunas noticias de vez en cuando — confusas contradictorias, casi siempre malas, pero noticias al fin y al cabo—; de Boetticher y Mackendrick, en cambio, ni siquiera estoy seguro de que no hayan muerto, y todo hace pensar, aunque no son demasiado viejos, que —si sobreviven— su tiempo ha pasado ya irremisiblemente. No parece probable, en 1980, que Budd Boetticher consiga hacer otra película; y, de lograrlo, apostaría a que sucedería con ella lo mismo que con las dos últimas y —en España— con las que permiten considerarle un gran cineasta.

Porque, hay que reconocerlo, al hablar de Boetticher —y bien poco se hace— se piensa, casi exclusivamente, en seis de los siete «westerns» protagonizados por Randolph Scott que realizó entre 1956 y 1959 y en The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond (La ley del hampa, 1960), olvidando —tal vez injustamente— o simplemente ignorando todo lo anterior, tanto las once películas firmadas con su nombre completo (Oscar Boetticher, Jr.) de 1944 a 1950 como las trece que hizo desde 1950 a 1955. Salvo The Bullfigther and the Lady (El torero y la dama, 1951), la primera que consideró suficientemente personal como para firmarla con su apodo familiar, creo haber visto las pocas que se han estrenado en España, entre las que no se cuenta, claro está, ninguno de los «westerns» con Scott que cimentaron su modesta y minoritaria fama entre ciertos grupos aislados de cinéfilos; estrenada en 1965, The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond es la única que tuvo algún eco entre nosotros. En 1969, RTVE nos permitió descubrir Buchanan Rides Alone (1958) y, dos años más tarde, y con la notable y curiosa excepción de la primera de la serie, Seven Men from Now (1956), los restantes Scott.

Esto significa que, para los aficionados más jóvenes, Boetticher es un perfecto desconocido, poco más que un nombre —que ya ni suena a marca de ascensores—, y su cine algo tan mítico e intangible como para mí el de Art Napoleon, Arch Oboler, Ida Lupino o —hasta hace bien poco— el de Abraham L. Polonsky o Herbert J. Biberman (no confundir con el torpe Abner); temo, incluso, que las películas de Boetticher ni siquiera exciten su curiosidad, y es posible, además, que —de llegar a verlas— les decepcionasen, ya que nada hay tan ajeno y diametralmente opuesto, en su espíritu y en sus modales, en su actitud para con los personajes y el espectador, al cine de los años 70 como el de Boetticher, salvo —en otro sentido— el de Allan Dwan entre 1954 y 1958, y debo admitir que no es lo mismo formarse como espectador a base de Ford, Walsh, Hawks, Anthony Mann (o Hathaway), que a dieta de Altman, Kubrick, Ken Russell, Cavani o el último Bertolucci (que son, para mí, piensos compuestos sintéticos, ensaladas de excrementos, «spots» publicitarios con pretensiones y ruedas de molino para  comulgantes beatos, la mayoría de las veces).

Porque Boetticher representa, en su forma más extremada, las virtudes de la serie «B»: modestia, concisión, laconismo, rigor, sencillez e inventiva; es decir, las características básicas del cine clásico americano al desnudo, despojadas de todo ornamento e incluso de cualquier aspiración a la complejidad, a la profundidad, al arte o a la belleza. Por eso es preciso, ya que hace mucho que la serie «B» dejó de existir, explicar un poco el marco en el que Boetticher no sólo se formó sino que desarrolló toda su actividad como cineasta; de otro modo, resultará, creo yo, imposible apreciar qué es lo que tiene valor en su cine, más allá de los atributos genéricos del tipo de películas que hacía.

LA SERIE «B»

Pese a la existencia de, por lo menos, tres interesantes libros que se ocupan de ella, Kings of the Bs (ed. Todd McCarthy y Charles Flynn, Dutton and Co., 1975), «B» Movies (Don Miller, Curtis Books, 1973) y Hollyywood Corral (Don Miller, Popular Library, 1976), definir la serie «B» es todavía una empresa que, si se quiere ser preciso, no resulta fácil. Desde un punto de vista puramente histórico y económico, la serie «B» existió entre 1935 y 1958, y estaba compuesta por películas de bajo coste, rodadas en pocos días y sin actores conocidos, de duración inferior a los 90 minutos «standard» y destinadas al «complemento» de los programas dobles. Casi no se anunciaban, y recibían tan sólo un pequeño porcentaje de los ingresos en taquilla del cine en que se proyectaban, por lo que a las grandes compañías no les resultaba rentable producirlas, y las compraban, por lotes, a pequeños estudios especializados (Republic, P.R.C., Monogram, Allied Artists, etc.), o constituían pequeñas «unidades» propias que servían, al mismo tiempo, de cantera de talentos, escuela y celda de castigo del personal que tenían bajo contrato. A partir de 1950, con la llegada de la televisión y el declive de los índices de asistencia al cine, el público americano perdió la afición —notable sobre todo, durante la II Guerra Mundial, y también durante la de Corea— a los programas dobles, y las películas «B» fueron haciéndose escasas, convirtiéndose poco a poco en material para los «drive-in»; la venta por Howard Hughes de la R.K.O., en 1955, y —sobre todo—, la desaparición de la Republic, en 1959, marcan el fin de un tipo de películas cuyo equivalente no existe hoy día, salvo, en cierto sentido —en otros representan lo contrario—, algunas de las producidas directamente para la televisión y las patrocinadas por Roger Corman y su New World Pictures.

Ahora bien, lo interesante de la serie «B» no son las motivaciones comerciales de su existencia, ni sus condicionamientos económicos, aunque estos factores sean determinantes y sirvan para explicar sus características estéticas y narrativas. En la serie «B» el criterio rector no es la perfección —que se da por inalcanzable—, sino la eficacia; su espíritu, si se quiere, es «posibilista» e incluso, salvo excepciones, conformista: estamos a dos pasos de la convención y la rutina, la pobreza y el simplismo, lo aproximativo y la chapucería, la monotonía y la indiferencia, el maniqueísmo y la desidia, la fealdad y la cochambre: hay películas de John English, William Witney, Joe Kane, Spencer G. Bennett, Frank G. McDonald, Lesley Selander y otros muchos que son mortalmente aburridas y de una torpeza asombrosa en tan curtidos y activos veteranos, y sin que ello impida que, en ocasiones, lo mismo ellos que Joseph H. Lewis, Phil Karson, Jack Arnold, Norman Foster, Lewis R. Foster, Edward Ludwig, Andrew L. Stone, André De Toth, Gordon Douglas, Stuart R. Heisler, Rudolph Maté o Félix F. Feist hayan realizado películas interesantes o excelentes, comparables incluso a las de Samuel Fuller, Anthony Mann, Richard Fleischer o Don Siegel. Pero no hay que olvidar que el margen de acción es muy estrecho: si no hay tiempo para lo superfluo, tampoco lo hay, ciertamente, para la profundidad, y muy raramente para la innovación o la audacia. De ahí el peligro y la frustración que supone para algunos cineastas más ambiciosos o sensibles, menos dotados para las escenas de acción o menos interesados por la violencia, más cultos o intelectuales, permanecer demasiado tiempo confinados en la serie «B»; para otros, en cambio, más limitados, de menor envergadura, menos confesionales, esas mismas condiciones de producción son no sólo una excelente escuela profesional sino un marco especialmente adecuado para el desarrollo de su particular talento, necesitado, sin duda, del estímulo de las dificultades y de la disciplina que impone la carencia: por eso no ha resultado siempre beneficiosa, o totalmente satisfactoria, su graduación o ascenso a la serie «A», al menos hasta que han logrado aclimatarse al nuevo sistema de fabricación y reajustar su estilo al relativo «exceso» de medios, acostumbrándose a la mayor libertad de iniciativa y a las interferencias de «estrellas» o ejecutivos que a menudo acompañan a la responsabilidad del éxito de una inversión considerable; véase, por ejemplo, el caso de Siegel, que me parece muy ilustrativo: tras la maestría absoluta demostrada en The Killers (Código del hampa, 1964), rodada para TV, al pasar a la serie «A» alterna una obra maestra que hubiera sido imposible como «B», Madigan (Brigada Homicida, 1968), con la hueca y recargada retórica de Coogan's Bluff (La jungla humana, 1968), o la eficacia insuperable de Dirty Harry (Harry, el sucio, 1971) con los efectismos pretenciosos que malogran, en parte, The Beguiled (El seductor, 1971), o esa dinámica declaración de principios e independencia que es Charley Varrick (La gran estafa, 1973) con la impersonal habilidad de Telefon (Teléfono, 1977), o la precisión y nitidez —excesivamente brillante y atildada, sin embargo— de The Black Windmill (El molino negro, 1974) con la fofa autocompasión —tan opuesta a cuanto representaron los personajes encarnados por John Wayne hasta entonces— de The Shootist (El último pistolero, 1976), hasta llegar de nuevo a la adecuación de medios y objetivos que supone una obra tan modesta, funcional y sobria como Escape from Alcatraz (Fuga de Alcatraz, 1979), ejemplo hoy casi único de la pervivencia espiritual de la ya inexistente serie «B» y de la aplicación rigurosa y oportuna de las posibilidades de acabado que otorga el presupuesto de una serie «A» (no he visto Two Mules for Sister Sara, cuyo planteamiento es muy «B», pero con actores «A»).

Con todo ello quiero hacer ver que tampoco es cuestión de adoptar una actitud de puritano desprecio al «vil metal», que un cineasta no tiene por qué hacer votos de pobreza, que la serie «B» —refugio de originales excéntricos como Edgar G. Ulmer— tenía más de «ghetto» que de «escuela de cine», y nada de paraíso. Impuestas en «lotes» como complemento de programa por las productoras, las películas de serie «B» no tenían que abrirse camino en competencia con otras —ni apenas camino que recorrer: su trayecto era corto y acababa en vía muerta— y basaban su existencia más en la reducción de costos que en la expectativa de ingresos; por eso, y sólo por eso, permitían ciertas libertades, aunque, claro, a cambio de renunciar a otras: si garantizaban la continuidad laboral del director, también le obligaban a aceptar cualquier guion y le condenaban casi siempre, al anonimato; su sobriedad era producto de la necesidad y la penuria, más que de una elección estética; su ritmo y su concisión narrativa eran consecuencias directas de su reducido metraje; su frescura y espontaneidad se debían a la casi imposibilidad de repetir las tomas; su expresividad primordialmente visual obedecía a que los diálogos ralentizan las escenas y a que había que dar un máximo de información en cada plano; en cambio, los actores eran malos, principiantes o viejas glorias que no exigían demasiado dinero, y no había tiempo para dirigirles; entre una cosa y otra, parece inevitable que las películas «B» tendiesen a definir a los personajes por su aspecto físico y por su comportamiento, es decir, a través del «casting» y de la propia acción, sin detenerse a profundizar en su psicología o su pasado, ya que no había tiempo para explicaciones o sutilezas: la exposición y la narración habían de ser, forzosamente, simultáneas, y en buena medida implícitas, dadas por sabidas o supuestas, convencionales o arquetípicas.

Este fue siempre el terreno en el que se movió Boetticher, el marco que condiciona, desde luego, y explica, al menos hasta cierto punto, las características básicas —nada particulares, exclusivas, personales o favorables— de su cine. Lo que sucede es que Boetticher supo convertir todas estas limitaciones en un estilo que llevó a sus últimas consecuencias y que depuró progresivamente, sobre todo en las películas que hizo con Randolph Scott.

LOS COMIENZOS

Vamos a olvidar, pues, Horizons West (Horizontes del Oeste, 1952), pese a su hermoso título, «western» semi-«negro» cuyo tardío estreno en España permitió advertir que era casi un esbozo de La ley del hampa, pero de no excesivo interés intrínseco, y aquejado de cierta imprecisión y blandura en su realización, que —cosa rara en Boetticher— quedaba por debajo del intrigante —aunque mal construido— guion de Louis Stevens; el extraño y bastante impresionante Seminole (Traición en Fort King, 1953), que exploraba un territorio ya batido admirablemente —y con épico aliento— por Raoul Walsh en Distant Drums (Tambores lejanos, 1951), notable por su policromía alucinante y por su tortuosa trama, pero falto de rigor; el casi borgesiano The Man from the Alamo (El desertor de El Álamo, 1953), con espléndida fotografía de Russell Metty y notables interpretaciones de Glenn Ford, Julia Adams, Victor Jory, Chill Wills, Neville Brand y Hugh O'Brien, planificado a menudo con una amplitud y un acierto que hacen pensar en el Hawks de Red River (Río Rojo, 1948) o el Anthony Mann de The Far Country (Tierras lejanas, 1954) y Bend of the River (Horizontes lejanos, 1951), pero obra, a fin de cuenta, muy menor, si se compara con las incursiones posteriores de Boetticher en el género. No son sus «westerns», además, entre lo que conozco, lo mejor de su carrera anterior a 1956; tampoco The Magnificent Matador (Santos el magnífico, 1955), su segundo film taurino, ni el más antiguo que he visto —el único firmado con su nombre verdadero—, Assigned to Danger (Sentenciado a muerte, 1948), sino un curiosísimo y vertiginoso «thriller», The Killer is Loose (El asesino anda suelto, 1955), con Wendell Corey, Joseph Cotten y Rhonda Fleming, que valdría la pena reconsiderar, pues guardo de él un recuerdo tan grato como fascinado, que permanece intacto pero borroso después de volver a ver su segunda mitad por TV, hace unos años.

RANDOLPH SCOTT

Sería injusto menospreciar la aportación de este singular actor —el Buster Keaton dramático; el Fritz Lang de los actores, pese a que su único encuentro, quizá prematuro, diese lugar a una de las obras menos precisas y estimulantes de ese cineasta, Western Union (Espíritu de conquista, 1941)— al logro que suponen sus películas con Boetticher (al menos, cinco de ellas, presumiblemente seis). Nacido en 1903, y actor más por vocación que por necesidad —parece que heredó o ganó pronto una gran fortuna; aunque no he podido confirmar este extremo, merecería ser más que un mito—, muy aficionado al «western», Scott produjo con Harry Joe Brown casi todas las películas —naturalmente, de su género predilecto— en que intervino desde 1947, primero en el marco de la Producers-Actors Corporation, luego bajo la divisa de Ranow Productions. Antes de conocer a Boetticher había hecho, en sólo nueve años, cuatro «westerns» dirigidos por Ray Enright —Albuquerque, Trail Street (1947), Return of the Bad Men, Coroner Creek (1948)—, dos por Gordon Douglas —The Doolins of Oklahoma (1949) y The Nevadan (1950)—, dos por Edwin L. Marin —Colt 45 (1950) y Fort Worth (1951)—, seis a las órdenes del tuerto André De Toth —Man in the Saddle (1951), Carson City (1952), Thunder Over the Plains, The stanger Wore a Gun (1953), Riding Shotgun, The Bounty Hunter (1954)—, dos a las de Joseph H. Lewis —A Lawless Street (1956) y 7th Cavalry (1957)—, otro a las de H. Bruce Humberstone —Ten Wanted Men (1955)—, uno a las de Selander —Tall Man Riding (1955)—, y, al menos, tres más, entre ellos el excelente Hangman's Knot (Los forasteros, 1952) de Roy Huggins, todos construidos a partir de su peculiar personalidad y su granítica sobriedad —llena de dignidad y no exenta de ironía y escepticismo— como intérprete; es decir, que Scott aportaba ya una forma de estar ante la cámara, de dominar el encuadre y de desplazarse en su interior, un personaje que encarnaba unos determinados valores éticos y una particular filosofía de la vida, una forma de ver el mundo y de comportarse que tuvo su mejor representación en los siete «westerns» que dirigió Boetticher —Seven Men from Now (1956), The Tall T, Decision at Sundown (1957), Buchanan Rides Alone (1958), Ride Lonesome, Westbound y Comanche Station (1959)— y un hermoso epílogo en Ride the High Country (Duelo en la alta sierra, 1962) de Peckinpah.

EL CICLO SCOTT

Tal vez no sea muy exacto considerar como un «ciclo» estas siete películas, a pesar de que se trata de obras muy semejantes entre sí, hasta el punto de hacer difícil recordar exactamente cuál es cuál; existe entre ellas el mismo tipo de parentesco que entre las últimas (1949-1962) de Ozu, o —si se quiere buscar un paralelo menos exótico en apariencia, aunque también menos preciso— entre los cinco «westerns» de Anthony Mann con James Stewart —Winchester 73 (1950), Bend of the River (1951), The Naked Spur (Colorado Jim, 1953), The Far Country (1954) y The Man from Laramie (El hombre de Laramie, 1955)— o los tres últimos que hizo Hawks con John Wayne —Río Bravo (1958), El Dorado (1966) y Río Lobo (1970)—; como todas estas «series» de películas, las que forman las siete de Scott y Boetticher parece una sucesión de variaciones sobre el mismo tema —o, mejor dicho, conjunto de temas—, combinando de diferentes formas un cierto número de elementos comunes o semejantes; para entendernos, podríamos decir que cada uno de estos «westerns» es algo así como el resultado de lanzar los cinco dados de un cubilete de tal forma que, permaneciendo constante en cada lanzamiento una de las seis caras —el «as», que sería, evidentemente, Scott—, variasen los restantes cuatro dados, dentro de las cinco posibilidades que quedan.

Naturalmente, dentro de las serie hay películas más parecidas entre sí que otras; no hay que olvidar que sólo cinco están producidas por Scott y Harry Joe Brown, y no la primera, que es un film Batjac (la compañía de John Wayne); The Tall T, Decision at Sundown y Buchanan Rides Alone con Scott-Brown Productions, Ride Lonesome y Comanche Station propiamente Ranow, y las cinco fueron prefinanciadas y distribuidas por Columbia Pictures; Westbound fue producida por Henry Blanke y, como Seven Men from Now, distribuida por Warner Bros. Los guiones de Seven Men From Now, The Tall T, Ride Lonesome y Comanche Station son de Burt Kennedy, los de Decision at Sundown y Buchanan Rides Alone de Charles Lang, Jr., y el de Westbound —el menos relacionado con los demás— de Berne Giler y Albert Shelby Levino. Todas son en color, y las dos últimas, además, en Cinemascope; tres fueron fotografiadas por Charles Lawton, Jr., que es el único miembro del equipo técnico que ha intervenido en más de dos películas; entre los actores, sólo Karen Steele (tres apariciones), Skip Homeier y Andrew Duggan se repiten, aparte, claro, del omnipresente Scott, que es, con Boetticher, el único elemento común a las siete, y el que —de hecho— les confiere un «aire de familia» inconfundible que, de otro modo, no sería tan notable.

Si dejamos de lado Westbound —sin por ello despreciar este excelente «western» de la Guerra de Secesión, cuyo mayor «defecto» consiste en no ser realmente parte de la serie—, observamos que el personaje central es casi el mismo, aunque su nombre varíe; por lo menos, es o uno —el viudo vengativo— u otro —el vagabundo irónico— que tienen mucho en común (las pequeñas diferencias no dependen, además, de los guionistas, ya que Decision at Sundown es de Lang y The Tall T, de Kennedy).

Ninguna de las historias es muy original —salvo, quizá, la de Decision at Sundown—, si bien todas ellas contienen elementos, personajes o incidentes extraños —como los céreos y árboles ardiendo de Ride Lonesome—; si exceptuamos las más logradas, las que por su perfección rebasan incluso los confines del género —que son, para mi gusto, Comanche Station, Ride Lonesome y The Tall T—, tienen más interés como componentes de una serie que como obras aisladas, mientras que los cinco «westerns» de Anthony Mann con James Stewart son perfectamente individualizables, y tienen tanta relación con Man of the West (Hombre del Oeste, 1958) como entre sí. El nexo de unión de los seis Boetticher con Scott es su personaje central, que determina no sólo la historia —desde el planteamiento al desenlace— que cuenta, sino incluso el tono a la vez trágico e irónico que, en dosis variables, caracteriza la serie.

En Seven Men from Now y Decision at Sundown, el protagonista es viudo desde hace relativamente poco, y está decidido a vengarse: en la primera, de los siete asaltantes que dieron muerte a su esposa; en la segunda, de Tate Kimbrough (John Carroll), con quien su mujer le había traicionado poco antes de suicidarse. En Ride Lonesome y Comanche Station hace ya mucho tiempo que Scott perdió a su mujer: en la primera, el asesino (Lee Van Cleef) apenas recuerda haberla ahorcado; en la segunda, lleva diez años buscándola en territorio indio, confiando todavía ilusoriamente, en lograr rescatarla de los comanches. En The Tall T y Buchanan Rides Alone, en cambio, Scott interpreta a un personaje mucho menos obsesionado y melancólico, más tranquilo e indiferente a los reveses de la fortuna, al que casi le da lo mismo ir a un sitio que a otro, y que tiene una curiosa facilidad para verse envuelto en situaciones complicadas. Frente a los rasgos neuróticos —especialmente acentuados en Decision at Sundown pero presentes en los otros dos films de venganza y en Comanche Station— que pueden detectarse bajo el lacónico hieratismo del personaje, en The Tall T y Buchanan Rides Alone encontramos más bien falta de raíces, insensibilidad e indiferencia; en cualquier caso, Scott no interpreta nunca héroes perfectos ni célebres, sino anónimos pobladores del Oeste salvaje, llenos de defectos tanto como de virtudes, de tal forma que —cosa rara en los «westerns» de serie «B»— no hay en estas películas maniqueísmo sino, más bien, cierta ambigüedad, reforzada, además, por la habilidad de Boetticher y sus guionistas para conseguir que los «villanos» resulten siempre interesantes y, a menudo simpáticos o patéticos, más humanos incluso que el protagonista (demasiado encerrado en sí mismo como para permitir que el espectador se identifique con él plenamente). Hasta tal punto es inconmovible y monolítico, puritano e intransigente el personaje principal que se sospecha siempre —en Decision at Sundown con pleno fundamento— que sus relaciones con la mujer que busca eternamente o que fríamente trata de vengar no pudieron ser muy satisfactorias, sobre todo si se tiene en cuenta que nunca llega a establecer un contacto permanente con las mujeres que encuentra en su camino (Gail Russell en Seven Men from Now, Maureen O'Sullivan en The Tall  T, Karen Steele en Ride Lonesome, Nancy Gates en Comanche Station), a las que trata con una mezcla de respeto e indiferencia que llama la atención; de hecho, suelen ser más cálidas, confiadas y afectuosas sus relaciones tanto con viejos y fieles amigos (Arthur Hunnicut en The Tall T, Noah Beery, Jr., en Decision at Sundown) que mueren por salvarle (o casi por su culpa) como con algunos de los villanos que conoce al azar de sus aventuras por el desierto (Lee Marvin en Seven Men from Now, Richard Boone en The Tall T, L. Q. Jones en Buchanan Rides Alone, Pernell Roberts en Ride Lonesome, Claude Akins en Comanche Station).

Siendo tan centrales los personajes encarnados por Scott, se comprenderá que sus películas con Boetticher tengan algunas de sus características esenciales. En efecto, estos «westerns» de trama convencional y apariencia poco llamativa y ascética, en el fondo, son muy raros. Para empezar, no adoptan el modo épico —salvo en alguna secuencia aislada—, sino el irónico: no sólo sus protagonistas contemplan el mundo con una mirada desengañada, algo humorística pero con amargura, y encuentran dificultades para establecer contacto con otros seres, sino que ellos mismos están vistos con cierta ironía, a distancia, con una imparcialidad que hace ver lo que de enfermizo, neurótico o inhumano hay en su comportamiento. El laconismo de los personajes de Scott no es simplemente un rasgo positivo del hombre del Oeste —sobrio, estoico, reacio a la quejumbrosidad, digno—, sino también un síntoma de falta de interés por lo que le rodea, de ensimismamiento, de obsesión, de insensibilidad y desconfianza, de impotencia afectiva; son, además, personajes sin hogar ni futuro, anclados en un pasado traumático (Seven Men from Now, Decision at Sundown, Ride Lonesome, Comanche Station) del que ni la venganza (Seven Men from Now) ni la renuncia a consumarla (Decision at Sundown) le permiten liberarse; condenados a errar en círculos concéntricos —como la estructura de Comanche Station hace evidente, de forma patética, y los continuos cambios de situación de Buchanan Rides Alone casi cómicamente—, estos jinetes solitarios, sin rumbo ni destino, no conocerán nunca el descanso en la victoria. Sin llegar al absurdo excesivamente explícito e intelectualizado de los dos célebres «westerns» de Monte Hellman, Ride in the WhirIwind (A través del huracán, 1966) y The Shooting (El tiroteo, 1966), con los que —a mi entender, equivocadamente— se les ha relacionado, los de Boetticher con Scott son, en todo caso, enormemente heterodoxos; no, claro está, por la actitud crítica hacia sus protagonistas —que es, de hecho, uno de los rasgos más típicos de los mejores «westerns», desde Río Rojo de Hawks hasta These Thousand Hills (Duelo en el barro, 1958) de Fleischer, pasando por Johnny Guitar (1954) de Nicholas Ray, The Searchers (Centauros del desierto, 1956), Two Rode Together (Dos cabalgan juntos, 1961) o The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (El hombre que mató a Liberty Valance, 1962) de Ford, Man Without a Star (La pradera sin ley, 1955) de King Vidor, Run of the Arrow (Yuma, 1957) de Fuller, Rancho Notorious (Encubridora, 1952) de Fritz Lang, Tennessee's Partner (El jugador, 1955) de Dwan, Along the Great Divide (Camino de la horca, 1951) o The Tall Men (Los implacables, 1955) de Walsh, Great Day in the Morning (Una pistola al amanecer, 1956) de Jacques Tourneur, The Silent Man (1917) de William S. Hart, The Far Country o Man of the West de Anthony Mann, etc.,— sino más bien, porque Boetticher ha llevado a sus últimas consecuencias todas y cada una de las características arquetípicas del personaje clásico del hombre del Oeste y el resultado ha sido una serie de películas totalmente abstractas, ahistóricas, desnudas, casi geométricas en la composición de cada plano y en su construcción dramática, dominadas por la simetría y la elipsis, áridas y silenciosas, de una violencia rápida y seca, sobre las que podría decirse, con tanto rigor como acerca de los últimos films americanos de Lang —While the City Sleeps (Mientras Nueva York duerme) y Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (Más allá de la duda), ambos de 1956— que el cineasta ha creado una especie de «vacío barométrico de la puesta en escena». De ahí que incluso las mejores películas de Boetticher —Comanche Station, Ride Lonesome, The Tall T, Decision at Sundown— pequen de frialdad, y que la excelente The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond resulte demasiado despiadada como para que el pretendido patetismo de su escena final sea convincente. Podemos sentir admiración por Scott cuando, con astucia y lucidez de jugador de damas, va deshaciéndose uno a uno de sus enemigos, o cuando se ve obligado a dar muerte a un bandido que empezaba a caerle bien —como a nosotros—, o al verlo alejarse, sin esperanza y con amargura, para seguir buscando a su mujer en territorio indio, ciertamente, pero estos instantes conmovedores cobran su valor precisamente por lo infrecuentes que son, por lo poco dramatizados que están, porque resultan casi secretos e imperceptibles, por su contraste con las superficies despojadas y taciturnas de las películas en su conjunto, y, sobre todo, porque no hacen olvidar cuanto de soterradamente trágico hay en estos personajes.

EPÍLOGO

No creo que a estas alturas le preocupe a nadie saber si Budd Boetticher era o no un «autor cinematográfico» —yo tengo mis dudas, ya que veo más relación entre sus «westerns» con Scott y otros interpretados por éste a las órdenes de directores muy diferentes que entre ellos y sus restantes películas—, ni si, de haber tenido mejores oportunidades o haber contado con medios más abundantes, hubiera llegado a ser un cineasta de mayor estatura. Me conformo con saber que fue él, casualmente o no, quien dirigió las obras de madurez de un actor-productor tan interesante y con tanta personalidad como Scott, además de La ley del hampa, y quiero ver un indicio de su creciente dominio de la expresión cinematográfica en el hecho de que sus primeros cuatro «westerns» con dicho intérprete durasen tan sólo 77 minutos y los tres últimos, que son los que narran historias más complejas, necesitasen menos tiempo de proyección todavía (69 minutos Westbound y tan sólo 73 Ride Lonesome como Comanche Station).

Miguel Marías

Revista “Dirigido por” nº 72, abril-1980

[chic-a-gigot]

The Delineator, no. 4, Vol. XLVIII. Autumn Number. October 1896. Published by the Butterick Publishing Co. London & New York. Colored Plate 22. Figures D45 & 46. Reception Dresses. Internet Archive, uploaded by Albert R. Mann Library

Figure D 45. — LADIES’ DINNER DRESS.

Figure D 45. — This illustrates a Ladies’ Princess dress. The pattern, which is No. 8621 and costs 1s. 6d. or 35 cents, is in thirteen sizes for ladies from twenty-eight to forty-six inches, bust measure, and may be seen again on page 428 of this magazine.

This is one of the handsomest and newest styles in Princess gowns and shows a charming method of combining rich materials for ceremonious wear. In this instance Nile-green brocaded silk is united with black velvet and chiffon in a most effective manner, and spangled passementerie, plaited chiffon and ribbon contribute the decoration. The adjustment is made with great precision by side-front seams reaching to the shoulders, under-arm and side-back gores and a curving center seam and the closing may be made at the center of the back or along the left shoulder and under-arm seams, as preferred. The dress flares broadly at the foot in front and falls in deep flutes at the sides and back. The neck is square in front and in V shape at the back and a puff ornament of chiffon gathered at the ends and under a jewelled buckle at the center crosses the neck in front; a Bertha frill of plaited chiffon outlines the neck and passes under velvet revers on the front and back. The short puff sleeves flare handsomely and are completed with a band of spangled passementerie. A band of similar trimming covers each side-front seam of the dress to the top of a flounce of plaited chiffon that is arranged in festoon style with ribbon bows above bands of spangled passementerie at the foot.

Contrast, which is so powerful an element in good dressing, may be brought into play in this handsome mode. Judicious yet unpretentious colors and materials may be chosen without a too prodigal outlay. Becoming shades of silk, chiffon over silk, or the richer faille silks with delicate foliage or floral designs are liked for the most dressy occasions, while for ordinary wear broadcloth, canvas, wool crépon and the new novelty goods are commended. Colored embroideries, jet and spangled passementeries, chiffon and lace are all available for decoration.

Figure No. D 46. — MISSES’ PARTY DRESS.

Figure D 46. — This illustrates a Misses’ dress. The pattern, which is No. 8654 and costs 1s. 3d. or 30 cents, is in seven size for misses from ten to sixteen years of age, and may be seen in three views on page 454 of this number of The Delineator.

A most attractive combination of embroidered chiffon over taffeta silk and velvet overlaid with lace net is here pictured in the dress, and flowers, lace edging and ribbon provide the dainty decoration. A well-fitted lining closed at the back renders the surplice waist trim and comfortable. A Y facing of the velvet overlaid with lace net is seen on the lining between the surplice fronts, which have pretty fulness drawn in gathers at the shoulders and lower edges and cross in regular surplice fashion, a floral spray following the front edge of the overlapping front. The back is smooth across the shoulders and has gathered fulness at the bottom, and under-arm gores separate it from the fronts. A ribbon belt surrounds the waist and terminates in a bow at the left side of the front. Bretelles of velvet overlaid with lace net and bordered with a frill of lace edging droop over the short puff sleeves and a ribbon stock bowed stylishly at the back completes the neck.

The seven-gored skirt is gathered at the back and ripples gracefully below the hips and at the back, its shaping causing it to flare prettily at the bottom in front. A ruffle of the chiffon follows the lower edge of the skirt and a pretty effect is given by the floral decoration consisting of three sprays, each of which starts from under a ribbon bow and crosses the front-gore of the skirt diagonally.

There are a host of diaphanous fabrics from which to choose when making evening dresses for young girls. Plain varieties are quite as dainty as the embroidered and printed tissues. Lovely party dresses of silk, chiffon, dotted Swiss or nainsook may also be made up in this style in such colors as are known to be becoming. Flowers, ribbon, lace edging, spangled or jewelled passementerie and velvet are available for ornamentation.

[chic-a-gigot]

The Delineator, no. 4, Vol. XLVIII. Autumn Number. October 1896. Published by the Butterick Publishing Co. London & New York. Colored Plate 21. Figure D44. Outdoor Toilette. Internet Archive, uploaded by Albert R. Mann Library

Figure D 44. — LADIES’ OUTDOOR TOILETTE.

Figure D 44. — This consists of a Ladies’ jacket and skirt. The jacket pattern, which is No. 8661 and costs 1s. 3d. or 30 cents, is in thirteen sizes for ladies from twenty-eight to forty-six inches, bust measure, and may be seen differently portrayed on page 438 of this number of The Delineator. The skirt pattern, which is No. 8599 and costs 1s. 3d. or 30 cents, is in nine sizes for ladies from twenty to thirty-six inches, waist measure, and is shown on its accompanying label.

A leading style of jacket or blazer and skirt is shown at this figure. The jacket is here pictured made of a handsome quality of broadcloth, with a velvet collar and velvet cuff-facings, and the skirt of gay plaid wool goods. The loose fronts of the jacket are closed with four handsome cord frogs and are reversed in stylish lapels that form notches with the rolling coat collar. At the sides and back a close adjustment is effected by under-arm and side-back gores and a center seam and stylish outstanding flutes result from extra widths underfolded in box plaits at the middle three seams. One-seam sleeves that are gathered stand out in short leg-o’-mutton puffs at the top and are comfortably close-fitting below; they are completed with deep, round cuff-facings of velvet. Machine-stitching finishes the pocket laps and all the free edges of the jacket.

The skirt, which is known as the new bell skirt, is circular at the front and sides and in two gores at the back. At the front it flares stylishly and it ripples gracefully at the sides and back.

The most admired jackets are made of broadcloth, cheviot, etc., in any of the popular shades, and a velvet collar and cuffs and machine-stitching form the fashionable finish. With a stylish street jacket, a skirt of plain cloth or of bright plaid wool may be worn.

The large hat shows a lavish trimming of ostrich tips.

[chic-a-gigot]

The Delineator, no. 4, Vol. XLVIII. Autumn Number. October 1896. Published by the Butterick Publishing Co. London & New York. Colored Plate 18. Figures D39 and D40. Promenade Toilettes. Internet Archive, uploaded by Albert R. Mann Library

Figure D 39. — LADIES’ STREET TOILETTE.

Figure D 39. — This consists of a Ladies’ jacket or blazer, a vest and skirt. The jacket pattern, which is No. 8669 and costs 1s. 3d. or 30 cents, is in thirteen sizes for ladies from twenty-eight to forty-six inches, bust measure, and may be seen again on page 437 of this publication. The vest pattern, which is No. 6398 and costs 1Od. or 20 cents, is in thirteen sizes for ladies from twenty-eight to forty-six inches, bust measure, and is shown again on its accompanying label. The skirt pattern, which is No. 8643 and costs 1s. 3d. or 30 cents, is in nine sizes for ladies from twenty to thirty-six inches, waist measure, and may be seen again on page 445 of this number of The Delineator.

Fawn faced cloth is here pictured in the jacket and cream-white cloth in the vest, both garments being finished with machine-stitching. The skirt is made of wine-colored zibeline. The jacket or blazer is here worn open and made with rounding lower front corners, but it may be closed at the bust and have square lower front corners, if preferred. Side-back and under-arm gores and a curving center seam render the jacket close-fitting at the sides and back and extra widths underfolded in box-plaits below the waist produce the popular outstanding ripples. A broad sailor collar that is curved to form three points at the back extends below the bust and shapes a point on the front of each sleeve. The newest effect is seen in the one-seam leg-o’mutton sleeves, which flare in puff style at the top and fit closely below. Pocket-laps having rounding lower front corners give a natty finish to the loose fronts; they are completed with machine-stitching to accord with the edges of the jacket and collar.

The low-cut vest is close fitting and is fastened at the center with buttons and button-holes; with it is worn a striped percale chemisette having a white linen Piccadilly collar and a black satin band-bow.

The six-piece skirt is made with a straight back-breadth and has straight edges that meet bias edges in the seams; it falls in flute folds at the sides and back and flares stylishly at the front.

Pleasing effects may be attained in the toilette by the association of harmonious colors and materials. The most successful jackets, in point of fit and style, are made up in this manner of broadcloth in either light biscuit shades or in the deep, rich Autumn tints of dahlia, green, mulberry, chestnut and wood-brown and various shades of blue and gray. Machine-stitching is the usual finish, although the trim self-strappings are not at all in disfavor, being, in fact, preferred by many fashionables. An inlay of black silk was added to the collar of a jacket made from green mixed cheviot to accompany a black vest and a green canvas skirt. For the skirt, the new camel’s-hair, serge, heather mixtures with their artistic commingling of subdued colors and broadcloth are suggested.

The brown felt hat is stylishly trimmed with ribbon, lace, feathers and flowers.

Figure D 40.— LADIES’ COSTUME.

Figure D 40. — This illustrates a Ladies’ costume. The pattern, which is No. 8658 and costs 1s. 8d. or 40 cents, is in thirteen sizes for ladies from twenty-eight to forty-six inches, bust measure, and may be seen in four views on page 414 of this number of The Delineator.

Canvas wool suiting and velvet are associated in the costume in this instance, and a ribbon stock and pipings of silk and small buttons add refined and elegant decorative touches. The basque, which is closely fitted by double bust darts and the usual seams, is in rounding outline in front, where it terminates at the waist, while at the back and sides it extends in a short skirt that is shaped to stand out in stylish, rippling folds. Gracefully tapering revers extend down the front at each side of the closing and impart a dressy effect to the waist, being slashed to form two tabs over each sleeve ; the tabs are trimmed with small buttons and the revers are prettily piped with silk. The one-seam sleeves flare in leg-o’mutton puffs at the top and fit the arm closely below; they are completed with pointed, flaring cuffs that are piped with silk. A ribbon stock covers the standing collar and is stylishly bowed at the back.

The seven-gored skirt is gathered at the back and possesses the grace and elegance characteristic of the newest styles. At the sides and back it ripples fashionably and at the front it flares broadly.

The new rough-surfaced goods—canvas wools or boucles—will make up stylishly in this manner, and the novel zibeline wools belonging to the camel’s-hair family are also commended, as well as faced cloth, with velvet for the small accessories and pipings of silk and small buttons for decoration. A ribbon stock is quite essential to a dressy effect and there are so many methods of arranging and trimming this fashionable bit of lingerie that no suggestion of sameness is ever given by its use.

The hat is trimmed with bright rose ribbon having a velvet edge, and a fancy buckle in front is chic and pretty.

[chic-a-gigot]

The Delineator, no. 4, Vol. XLVIII. Autumn Number. October 1896. Published by the Butterick Publishing Co. London & New York. Colored Plate 19. Figures D41 and D42. Autumn Toilettes. Internet Archive, uploaded by Albert R. Mann Library

Figure D 41. — LADIES’ PROMENADE COSTUME.

Figure D 41. — This illustrates a Ladies’ costume. The pattern, which is No. 8631 and costs 1s. 8d. or 40 cents, is in thirteen sizes for ladies from twenty-eight to forty-six inches, bust measure, and may be seen in three views on page 418.

Rich myrtle-green broadcloth and silk are combined in this elegant costume, with lace edging for the jabot and iridescent spangled trimming and narrow lace edging for decoration. The basque adjustment is made by single bust darts and the usual seams and the closing is concealed by a double jabot of lace edging. A frill of narrow lace edging falls over the stand¬ ing collar, giving a soft and dainty touch. Bolero jacket-fronts are a pleasing feature of the costume ; they present a rounding outline and are reversed above the bust and extended to form a deep round collar at the back. Between them the jabot of lace appears fluffily, the edges of the lace falling softly on the boleros. The end of the jabot droops over a pretty crush belt of silk that is gathered at the ends and crosses the front under the jacket-fronts. Pointed epaulettes bordered with spangled trimming stand out stylishly over the one-seam leg-o’-mutton sleeves, which flare in puff effect at the top and fit the arm closely below. The back of the waist is lengthened by a peplum that ripples gracefully.

The three-piece skirt consists of a front-gore and two circular portions that meet in a seam at the center of the back, where the skirt is gathered at the top. At the sides and back the skirt falls in stylish rippling folds and at the front it flares in the approved fashion.

The revival of broadcloth invites refined and artistic dress for the street and marked individuality may assert itself in the selection of colors and decoration. Warm, rich tints of broadcloth in such shades as garnet, dahlia, mulberry, chestnut and wood-brown are liked, as well as green, blue and black. For decoration, bands of passementerie, spangled trimming, fur, etc., are commended and a soft jabot of yellow lace is becoming and rich with any shade of cloth. Aside from broadcloth, there is an infinite variety of materials suitable for Autumn and Winter wear, serge, Scotch cheviot, camel’s-hair and novelty wool goods being all available. With any of these materials velvet or satin may be associated in a costume like this, the decorative fabric being employed for the boleros, girdle and epaulettes; or a third fabric may be used for the girdle. The effect is always enhanced by trimming, which, however, should not be tawdry.

The hat has a soft velvet crown and is trimmed with lace and flowers.

Figure D 42. — LADIES’ VISITING TOILETTE.

Figure D 42. — This consists of a Ladies’ basque-waist and skirt. The basque-waist pattern, which is No. 8659 and costs 1s. 3d. or 30 cents, is in thirteen sizes for ladies from twenty-eight to forty-six inches, bust measure, and may be seen in three views on page 440. The skirt pattern, which is No. 8599 and costs 1s. 3d. or 30 cents, is in nine sizes for ladies from twenty to thirty-six inches, waist measure, and is shown on its accompanying label.

The basque-waist is pictured made of salmon silk and decorated with velvet ribbon and lace edging. The lining over which the waist is arranged is adjusted by double bust darts and the usual seams and is closed in front. The square front-yoke is closed on the left shoulder and the full front fastens at the center. The front has its fulness drawn well to the center by gathers at the top and bottom and puffs out stylishly; the seamless back has two backward-turning plaits at each side of the center flaring toward the shoulders. The one-seam sleeves flare in leg-o’-mutton puffs at the top and fit closely below, and a frill of lace edging droops from the wrist edge over the hand. The yoke is trimmed with two frills of lace edging arranged to follow the square outline, each frill being headed by a row of inch-wide velvet ribbon, and the standing collar is encircled by a softly twisted stock of Avide velvet ribbon, a pretty fan of lace edging drooping over the stock at each side. A soft twist of the wide velvet ribbon surrounds the waist.

The skirt of dahlia crépon, known as the new bell skirt, is circular at the front and sides and in two gores at the back; it may be dart-fitted or gathered in front and presents the rippling folds at the sides and back now fashionable.

A very artistic toilette may be composed with this basque-waist and skirt, if becoming colors and stylish materials are selected. Silk will be most appropriate for the basque-waist and broadcloth, serge, crépon, wool canvas or novelty wool goods are commended for the skirt. Lace edging, spangled trimming, passementerie, velvet ribbon, etc., are popular garnitures.

The hat is stylishly trimmed with fancy plumage, ribbon and a jewelled ornament.

[mannlibrary]

Leafy Giants

Acer rubrum, Red Maple Histoire Des Arbres Forestiers De l'Amérique Septentrionale, by F. A. Michaux; illustrated by Pancrace Bessa  (1810).

Earth Day 2021 is just behind us, Arbor Day 2021 is today, and it’s been almost twelve months since our last Vaults of Mann blog. We apologize for the long hiatus, friends. The pandemic year separated us from our the treasures in our beloved vault for the past year, but with access now becoming steadily more possible, we’re thrilled to get back to exploring (and musing about) the wondrous delights of library collections with you. And on that happy note, we pick up a thread we started last April—a celebration of the leafy beauties and ecological treasures that our national Arbor Day holiday honors.

Liquidambar styraciflua, American sweetgum, from The natural history of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, 1731 in the Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library, 

Trees. For eons they have provided humankind with shelter, food, tools, profit, and inspiration. No wonder that some of the largest, most numerous and most extraordinary volumes in Mann’s special collections are those that inventory and investigate the trees found across different parts of the world. They make a grand appearance in the first English language account of North America’s flora and fauna ever published, Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, by the ever curious 17th century British naturalist Mark Catesby (for a close investigation of how that utterly gorgeous 3 volume compendium came to be, we encourage you to take a look at the lecture by Smithsonian librarian Leslie Overstreet that we hosted to open one of our exhibits of a few years ago). For centuries after Catesby, the trees of the world were the focus of intense interest by European explorers, ever on the look-out for new sources of prosperity and wealth for the colonial powers of the world. Utilitarian and imperiously extractive as this interest may have been, it proved a driving force behind one of our favorite gems in the Mann vault.

In 1802, the French government commissioned François André Michaux to finish a project that had decades earlier been first assigned to his famous botanist father, André: a comprehensive survey of North American trees. Along with seeds and seedlings, the information gleaned would support France’s efforts to replenish its own timber stands—decimated by decades of logging that furnished wood for French naval ships battling England—with new and fast growing tree species imported from the New World. The result was a richly illustrated three volume survey, published over three years (1810-1813) with the title Histoire des arbres forestiers de l’Amérique Septentrionale.

Quercus douglasii, Blue Oak from The North American Sylva, by F. A. Michaux; translated from the French with notes by J. Jay Smith,  and co-authored by Thomas Nuttall (1857) 

In the course of the extensive North American travels he made while collecting the material for his work, intrepid Michaux made the acquaintance of numerous United States-based naturalists, William Bartram and Alexander Wilson among them. Steeped in the emerging field of natural history as a science worthy of study in its own right, Bartram, Wilson, and other students of the natural world took considerable interest in Michaux’s work. In 1819 an English translation of Histoire was published as The North American Sylva. In the ensuing decades, British botanist Thomas Nuttall participated in a series of expeditions and explorations in North America that gave him material to enlarge Michaux’s work with additional trees from the western part of the continent, which had not been included in the original inventory. By the early 1840′s Nuttall’s contributions were being published as volumes 4 and 5 of the The North American Sylva set. 

Kalmia latifolia, Mountain Laurel, from Histoire Des Arbres Forestiers De l'Amérique Septentrionale, by F. A. Michaux; illustrated by Pancrace Bessa (1810) in the special collections of Albert R. Mann Library / Cornell University Library

While Michaux’s inventory of North American trees may have been produced to inform his French patrons about New World resources, it was also clearly meant to impress. Much of the art illustrating the publication was the work of the famed early 19th century French botanical artists Pancrace Bessa, Pierre Josef Redouté, and his brother Henri Josef. Bessa and the Redouté brothers lived and worked during years that were marked by historic revolutionary turbulence and war in Europe. This early 19th century period also marked a high point in French botanical art, and the work of these three artists is among the finest examples of the period.  Also notable in the Histoire volumes (and the first three of the English language North American Sylva):  the use of newly developed printing technique known as color stipple engraving—which made luminous and richly hued reproductions of original artwork possible.  The illustrations added to the final two volumes of the later editions of The North American Sylva written by Thomas Nuttall, created by other artists and reproduced by less expensive printing techniques are not quite so fine, and yet still give us memorable visuals of the native woods that blanketed the North American continent before the agricultural and industrial conversions that came with the expanding young American economy.

Acer saccharum, Sugar Maple on the Cornell Ag Quad, fall 2019. Photo by Jenny Leijonhufvud.

Utilitarian views of wood- and wildland etched big changes on the landscapes of North America in the centuries after Catesby, Michaux and Nuttall, and usually not to the benefit of the continent’s native leafy giants. But with growing awareness about the environmental challenges of our times today, we’re starting to better understand and value the key role that trees as standing living organisms hold for our planet's future. To wit, this 2019 study on the potential of global tree restoration to help us out of our global warming crisis. And in the event you’re finding yourself in need of some more concrete data in support of the importance of nurturing—and adding to—the leafy giants in our world, here’s a cool tool. What does that red maple in your front yard, that tulip tree by your porch, that honey locust on your street corner do for your day-to-day well-being in the here-and-now? Check out the design.itreetools.org website to find out—and happy Arbor Day!

This post is excerpted from the online exhibit: Trees of Cornell, which celebrates the beauty and environmental health that the trees of the Cornell’s Ithaca campus bring to the campus community. 

Sources: 

True, Rodney, “François André Michaux, the Botanist and Explorer.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 78, No. 2 (Dec. 10,1937), pp. 313-327.

Panteek.com

Nissen, Claus, Die Botanische Buchillustration: Geschichte und Bibliographie. Stuttgart: Anton Hiersemann, 1966.

For online browsing via the Biodiversity Heritage Library:

Histoire Des Arbres Forestiers De l'Amérique Septentrionale, F. A. Michaux, 1810. 

The North American Sylva, F. A. Michaux and Thomas Nuttall (1841)

The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands, by Mark Catesby (1729)

[mannlibrary]

Medicinal mistletoe

Viscum album, from Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen in Naturgetreuen Abbildungen Mit Kurz Erläuterndem Texte, by Hermann Adolph Kohler (Berlin, 1887-1898) in the special collections of Albert R. Mann Library.

Ah, the quietly beautiful mistletoe, so closely associated with Victorian Christmas holiday traditions. In Köhler’s Medizinalpflanzen here in Mann Library’s special collections, we’ve found such an irresistibly fetching rendition of this plant that we can’t help but spend a moment to ponder it—and share our musings with you!

Many of us will know mistletoe—neatly clipped, bound in bright red ribbon and hung aloft in a well-trafficked location during the winter holiday season—as an invitation to nip a quick kiss from a friend who may be the subject of some (possibly secret) admiration. But did you know that mistletoe—a semi-parasitic plant native to Europe, most often found growing on apple, pear, nut, evergreen, chestnut, and poplar trees—has a rather long history as a wish-granting agent in cultural lore? Both Celtic and Norse mythologies attribute sacred powers to the mistletoe plant. And ancient Romans and Greeks associated mistletoe with some considerable capacity to promote not only true love and fertility, but peace between warring nations as well. Which is giving at least a few of us here at Mann Library some added incentive to include mistletoe in our holiday decorations this year.

From Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen in Naturgetreuen Abbildungen Mit Kurz Erläuterndem Texte, by Hermann Adolph Kohler (Berlin, 1887-1898) in the special collections of Albert R. Mann Library.

Given this honored place in Europe’s cultural history, perhaps it comes as no surprise that mistletoe continues to attract some attention as a clinical medicinal as well. No, it is not, at least not yet, an FDA approved cancer drug, but some studies, particularly in Europe, have shown some effectiveness in improving cancer-related symptoms, reducing side effects of chemotherapy, and stimulating the human immune system. Undoubtedly more research is needed to provide more definitive directives here, but again we say, the story is promising.

Köhler’s Medizinalpflanzen ranks as one of the most important and easily one of the most beautiful herbals of 19th century Europe. While publisher F. E. Köhler is often cited as its author, Claus Nissen, the renowned historian of botanical illustration, attributes authorship of the content for this compendium to Prussian physician Hermann Adolph Köhler (1834-1879), who devoted much of his career to research in the incipient field of pharmacology. In the early 1880s, German botanist Gustav Pabst began developing and editing the work for sale in installments, which were subsequently organized and published as a multi-volume compilation.  Describing over 400 plants from Europe, North America and various European colonies, Köhler’s Medizinalpflanzen evokes a particular historical moment as well:  Detailed information about the featured plants’ chemical properties and possible applications provided with each description reflects the intensifying interest in exploring the possible commercial uses of the world’s resources for the industrial age. Fine artwork by Walther Müller and Carl Friederich Schmidt (the latter known as one of the most important German botanical illustrators of the time) contributed much to the keen anticipation with which German apothecaries awaited the publication’s serial release. This extraordinary work is available for onsite browsing here at Mann Library—but for an online view do check out the copies available in the Biodiversity Heritage Library collection. We heartily recommend a relaxing and fairly uplifting browse during a quiet moment of the winter holiday season!

Additional sources: 

Kluge, M., “Kräuterbücher (8): Eine neue Sicht der Wissenschaft - wie das Mikroskop den Blick der Medizin veränderte.” Schweizerische Zeitung für Ganzheitsmedizin 2015;27:159-163. https://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/431004

Mistletoe (European), https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/integrative-medicine/herbs/mistletoe-european

Nissen, Claus. Die Botanische Buchillustration: Ihre Geschichte Und Bibliographie. 2. Aufl., durchgesehener und verb., A. Hiersemann, 1966.

“Von Köhler's Medizinalpflanzen,” Archiv der Pharmazie, v. 226, issue 10, 1888. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ardp.18882261009

Zeitschrift fuer die Gesammten Naturwissenschaften, vol. 52, 1879. Pp. 148-152. https://books.google.com/books?id=eCNLAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=Medizinalpflanzen&f=false

[typhlonectes]

Insects come in a kaleidoscope of colors and patterns.

Swiss entomologist Karl Brunner von Wattenwyl's 1897 monograph explored insects from this angle, with reflections and observations on how species utilize these elements.

Explore "Betrachtungen uber die Farbenpracht der Insekten" ("Reflections on the Colors of Insects") in BHL thanks to Albert R. Mann Library at Cornell University

https://s.si.edu/2WW7aGU

[mannlibrary]

Celebrating LGBTQ Scientists

June is Pride Month, which also makes it a great month to honor early LGBTQ scientists who made huge strides not only in their respective fields but in providing role models for LGBTQ scientists to come.

Photograph of Sara Josephine Baker taken in 1922, from the National Library of Medicine.

One of these trail-blazers was Sara Josephine Baker, born 1873 in Poughkeepsie New York. Baker was a physician and early advocate for preventive medicine and public health, primarily working with New York City’s impoverished and immigrant communities. She was the first woman to earn a doctorate in public health from NYU and Bellevue Hospital Medical College (now called the New York University School of Medicine). She was the director of New York’s Bureau of Child Hygiene, helped establish the Children’s Welfare Federation of New York, founded the American Child Hygiene Association, and held positions within numerous national and international organizations such as the Health Committee of the League of Nations. By the time of Baker’s retirement, New York City had the lowest infant mortality rate of any other large American city, in good part thanks to her work.

Photograph of children playing in the water from  Healthy Children: a Volume Devoted to the Health of the Growing Child, by Sara Josephine Baker. Boston: Little, Brown and company, 1923, from the special collections of Albert R. Mann Library, Cornell University. 

Sara Josephine baker was also a lesbian and an outspoken feminist. As a woman, Baker was a minority in the male-dominated medical field. She began to play with gender norms and would adopt a traditionally-masculine style of dress, often donning male-tailored suits and ties. Baker and her long-term partner Ida Wylie lived together most of their lives and would periodically hold meetings where women (many of them LGBTQ) who were also radical thinkers challenging the gender norms of their day would share their ideas over meals.

Book cover of Healthy Children,1923. (Note: Cellophane tape kept this book in circulation back in the day, but was not an ideal repair treatment. Today’s methods would instead reinforce the spine with cloth and conservation-quality adhesives. Still a lovely book cover though!).  

With Healthy Children, Baker addressed the health of children of preschool age (i..e ages two to six), hoping to fill a void in the existing medical literature about this vulnerable early life stage. Baker recognized the need, especially in growing, densely-populated cities, for disease and injury prevention through family education. She intended her book to give the average parent a guide to children’s basic physical and mental health and preventive medicine in the home, though, as a physician, she was also careful to note the book was not meant to serve as a substitute to good professional medical care. Often charmingly illustrated, Healthy Children covers a range of issues from child physical and psychological development, personal hygiene, malnutrition, common diseases of childhood and how to identify them, and basic medicines that should be kept in the home.

“Child’s Romper and Creeper” illustration from Baker’s Healthy Children, meant to show how good clothing design can help maintain a healthy body temperature and to provide the child with a free range of motion.

Sara Josephine Baker was a forward-thinking physician, public health advocate and family educator who had the courage to break important new ground in both her professional and personal life. For a June Pride Month that this year commemorates a major turning point in the gay pride movement, we do well to remember this lesbian pioneer and her unflinching zeal for taking big, important steps for a better, healthier and happier world.

Sources:

britannica.com/biography/Sara-Josephine-Baker

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1470556/

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1447383/

[typhlonectes]

From "Dictionnaire Classique des Sciences Naturelles", Atlas (1853) by Pierre Auguste Joseph Drapiez.

fig. 1 (center): horrid elbow crab (Daldorfia horrida); fig. 2 (top left): labeled Mithrax spinicinctus, current classification unknown fig. 3 (top right): Micippa philyra fig. 4 (bottom): spider decorator crab (Camposcia retusa), which was drawn without "decoration". Spider decorator crabs take bits of sea life and debris and stick it onto the spiny hairs attached to their legs, making them difficult to spot. 

Contributed for digitization by Albert R. Mann Library at Cornell University and Cornell University Library

via: Biodiversity Heritage Library

[mannlibrary]

Bacteria Hunters

From: Bacteria: The Smallest of Living Organisms, by Dr. Ferdinand Cohn. Translated by Charles S. Dolley. Rochester, N.Y.: 1881 (from the special collections of Albert R. Mann Library, Cornell University)

Antibiotics Awareness week celebrated in November reminds us that it’s hard to imagine a world before antibiotics. The early 20th century discovery of the “magic bullet” rocked the medical world and turned once deadly infections into a quick trip to the doctor’s office. The problem now is that diseases once effectively treated with antibiotics are mutating and returning even stronger. It turns out the magic bullet can be over-prescribed and overused, and overuse causes resistance and stronger bacteria. At a time when dangerous super-bacteria are drawing increasing attention of the world’s microbiologists, we turn our special collections spotlight to some key foundational work for the field of bacteriology done by a 19th century German scientist. 

Image reproduced from: "Bacteria: The Smallest of Living Organisms," translated by Charles S. Dolley, Bulletin of the History of Medicine, January 1939, via jstor.org (https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/44440427.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A4129cd9688644f0c8cbfcf67fb8c40a9) 

Ferdinand Cohn was a botanist who earned himself lasting fame with the  essays on bacteria that he first began publishing the early 1870s in Beiträge zur Biologie der Pflanzen, a journal he had just launched as professor and director of the Institute of Plant Physiology at the University of Breslau (now known as the University of Wrocław in Wroclaw, Poland.)  Cohn's most widely acclaimed essay "Über Bacterien, die kleinsten der lebenden Wesen"  was also published in 1876 as part of a German series of popular science lectures, where it caught the eye of American medical student Charles S. Dolley at the University of Pennsylvania, who hoped to help make the "best writings in medicine and science" from the German and French medical literature more widely available to aspiring young American scientists-in-training. Dolley's translation, "Bacteria: The Smallest of Living Organisms,"  first appeared as a limited edition pamphlet published in Rochester, N.Y. in 1881, and was later picked up by the Johns Hopkins University Press in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine (January 1939).

Pamphlet from the special collections of Albert R. Mann Library, Cornell University

Don't let the size — 31 pages — of this slim publication fool you, for it summarizes profoundly important insights that the botanist had achieved in his study of algal, bacterial, and fungal microorganisms. With his work, Cohn established a robust definition of bacteria as chlorophyll-free cells that could be classified into four basic morphological forms — cocci, bacilli, vibrios and spirilli (see the illustration at the beginning of this blog for the visuals he provided along with that classification). He gave decisive intellectual weight to an understanding of bacteria as form-constant species in their own right, rather than organisms that evolve into something else. And Cohn recognized for the first time that some bacteria can undergo a spore stage—a stage in which otherwise actively reproducing bacteria cells assume a dormant form that allows them to survive exposure to unfavorable physical (e.g. high heat) or chemical (e.g. antiseptic agents) environments .

It's hard to overstate the importance of Cohn's analysis for the major breakthroughs in bacteriology that ensued. By the mid-1870’s Cohn’s ingenious work had attracted the attention of a young country physician, Robert Koch, whose research on anthrax was quietly laying the groundwork for modern medicine's understanding of bacteria as causative agents of infection. Cohn became a key supporter of Koch’s research, publishing Koch's seminal paper about bacillus anthracis in his Beiträge journal series in 1876, and also collaborating with him in some further studies. The rest is glorious science history, as the insights achieved by both scientists proved fundamental to all the later work establishing effective ways to treat bacterial infections, including of course Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin in the late 1920’s. 

From: Beiträge zur Biologie der Pflanzen, vol. 2, no. 1, 1876. This seminal paper by Robert Koch, published in Ferdinand Cohn’s botany journal, established the causal relationship between bacillus anthracis and anthrax infection. 

As microbiologists of today turn their attention to the problem of increasingly antibiotic-resistant super-bugs, it’s easy to imagine their intellectual forbears, the Cohns, Kochs, Flemings and the other greats of modern bacteriology, cheering them on — with no small sense of urgency — in their important work on behalf of global health. We might also do well to imagine these giants of science history reminding us that the global public has its own role to play in understanding how bacteria work and what steps we can take in our own habits and industry practices to hold the line against growing antibiotic resistance. For further thoughts on that, be sure to check out the info pages by the Center for Disease Control and the World Health Organization. 

Additional references: 

Drews, Gerhart, "The roots of microbiology and the influence of Ferdinand Cohn on microbiology of the 19th century," FEMS Microbiology Reviews, Volume 24, Issue 3, 1 July 2000, Pages 225–249, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1574-6976.2000.tb00540.x

“Ferdinand Cohn, German Botanist,” Encyclopaedia Britannica https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ferdinand-Cohn

Gradman, Christoph, "Cohn, Ferdinand Julius," https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.proxy.library.cornell.edu/doi/10.1038/npg.els.0002386

Leikind, Morris C., Introduction to "Bacteria: The Smallest of Living Organisms," translated by Charles S. Dolley, Bulletin of the History of Medicine, January 1939, via jstor.org (https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/44440427.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A4129cd9688644f0c8cbfcf67fb8c40a9) 

Seidensticker, Oswald, Introduction to Ferdinand Cohn's  "Über Bacterien, die kleinsten der lebenden Wesen" German Scientific Monographs for American Students, Boston: Henry Holt & Co.,  1889, via hathitrust.org (https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hxdcmt;view=1up;seq=7)

[typhlonectes]

Illustrations of Terrestrial Slugs

from Taylor, J. W. (John W.). Monograph of the land & freshwater Mollusca of the British Isles. 1894-1914.

Digitized by Cornell University Library Albert R. Mann Library at Cornell University.