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#Yay chromoliths!
uwmspeccoll · 6 months
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Feathursday Woodcocks!
It may be Fat Bear Week, but for us it's also Dancing Woodcock Week! The American Woodcock (Scolopax minor), fairly common in our area during the summer and fall, is well known for is rocking dance behavior. No one is quite certain why they do this, but it has been conjectured to be foraging behavior to coax invertebrates to the surface, or alternatively to indicate to predators that they are aware of their presence. Both seem like pretty lame reasons to us. We just think they've got a groove going on. It's probably why one of their several colloquial names is timberdoodle.
Our Woodcocks are chromolithographs from Nests and Eggs of Birds of the United States by Thomas G. Gentry and published by J. A. Wagenseller of Philadelphia in 1882, which includes chromolithographs of around 50 paintings of North American birds, eggs, and nests by the American naturalist painter Edwin Sheppard.
We recently learned that not only do they dance, but they sing too!
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uwmspeccoll · 7 months
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Shakespeare Weekend
This weekend we look at Shakespeare’s first tragedy, Titus Andronicus the thirty-third volume of the thirty-seven volume The Comedies Histories & Tragedies of William Shakespeare, published by the Limited Editions Club (LEC) from 1939-1940. The play was written between 1588 and 1593 and published three times in quarto before being included in the 1623 First Folio. Known as Shakespeare’s most violent and bloody play, Titus Andronicus was met with criticism throughout the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries before regaining interest in the 20th century, culminating in Julie Taymor's quirky 1999 film adaptation Titus. Nevertheless, the play is still regarded as one of Shakespeare's most reviled plays. 
Nikolai Fyodorovich Lapshin (1891-1942) illustrated the LEC’s edition of Titus Andronicus with his fresco-esque paintings. Lapshin was born in St. Petersburg and was a member of the Leningrad Union of Artists and was known for his watercolor landscapes and numerous children's book illustrations. His muddied scenes depicted throughout Titus Andronicus wonderfully capture the dolor and violence of the play set against a Roman landscape. To preserve Lapshin’s bold brush strokes and nuanced layers, LEC reproduced his images for the publication through chromolithography. The resulting depth and drama of the illustrations perfectly assist readers in imagining the grisly tragedies of the play. 
The volume was printed in an edition of 1950 copies at the Press of A. Colish. Each of the LEC volumes of Shakespeare’s works are illustrated by a different artist, but the unifying factor is that all volumes were designed by famed book and type designer Bruce Rogers and edited by the British theatre professional and Shakespeare specialist Herbert Farjeon. Our copy is number 1113, the number for long-standing LEC member Austin Fredric Lutter of Waukesha, Wisconsin. 
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View more Limited Edition Club posts. 
View more Shakespeare Weekend posts. 
-Jenna, Special Collections Graduate Intern 
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uwmspeccoll · 2 months
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Classics Spotlight
This 1928 edition of The Eleven Comedies by Aristophanes was published by American publisher Horace Liveright in a limited edition of 2050. While the translator is unknown, the work was translated from its original Greek to English. Originally published by the Athenian Society, a renowned literary society in London, in 1912, this edition was exclusively available to its subscribers.
It consists of two volumes with chromolithographic plates as well as black and white illustrations created by Belgian artist Jean de Bosschere. His artwork brings the characters and scenes of the comedies to life, enhancing the reader's engagement with the text.
Aristophanes, a playwright from late 5th-century Athens, was known as the "Father of Comedy" for his significant contributions to the genre. His plays, characterized by their satirical and often political nature, set the standard for comedic writing and continue to inspire modern comedians and playwrights.
-- Melissa, Special Collections Classics Intern
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uwmspeccoll · 6 months
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A Catbird/Towhee Feathursday
The Catbirds have been meowing under our windows of late, but the Towhees have been fairly inconspicuous this summer. There are a variety of catbird and towhee species around the globe, but in our neck of the woods we have the Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) and the Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus). The Catbird is in the family Mimidae along with Mockingbirds and Thrashers, while the Towhee is a sparrow in the large Passerellidae family of New World Sparrows.
We present these brilliant chromolithographs of the Gray Catbird and the Eastern Towhee (referred to here as the Towhee Bunting) from Nests and Eggs of Birds of the United States by Thomas G. Gentry and published by J. A. Wagenseller of Philadelphia in 1882, which includes chromolithographs of around 50 paintings of North American birds, eggs, and nests by the American naturalist painter Edwin Sheppard. Eastern Towhees typically nest on or near the ground, which Sheppard depicts here.
View more posts from Nests and Eggs.
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uwmspeccoll · 3 months
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Science Saturday
Here are some wood engravings and a chromolithograph from a new addition to our Historical Curriculum Collection, two titles bound in one volume: A Handbook of Natural Philosophy and Elements of Sound, Light, and Heat, both by American educators William James Rolfe (1827-1910) and Joseph Anthony Gillet (1837-1908), published in 1868 as part of the 6-volume Cambridge Course of Physics series by Boston educational publisher Woolworth, Ainsworth, & Co. with the second title also published in New York by A. S. Barnes & Co.
The chromolithograph of the spectrograph was printed by the Boston German-American lithographer Augustus Meisel (1824-1885). The wood engravings (probably metal plates produced from the original blocks) depict, from the top, a hydraulic press, a vacuum jar, a stationary steam engine, and a steam locomotive. The last image depicts the interaction of waves:
It represents the forms produced by the intersection of direct and reflected water-waves in a vessel. The point of disturbance is marked by the smallest circle in the figure, and is midway between the centre and the circumference. . . . In like manner a great variety of sound-waves may exist together in the air. . . . In this way thousands of waves may be transmitted through the air at the same time without losing their individual character. The same case holds good here as in the case of water-waves; namely, that every particle of air is affected by a motion which is the algebraic sum of all the single motions imparted to it.
View more Science Saturday posts.
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View more posts with wood engravings!
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uwmspeccoll · 10 months
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Decorative Sunday
This week we present some dados from volume 9 of the Jeypore Portfolio of Architectural Details, published in twelve volumes by Bernard Quaritch between 1890 and 1913. A dado is the lower part of a wall, below the dado rail and above the skirting board, that is often given over to decorative treatment.
Issued under the patronage of Maharaja Sawai Madhu Singh, the Jeypore Portfolio was prepared under the supervision of Colonel Samuel Swinton Jacob, Indian Staff Corps, Engineer to the Jeypore State, and Lala Ram Bakhsh, head draftsman and teacher in the Jeypore School of Art, and was photo-lithographed by William Griggs of London, the inventor of photo-chromo-lithography. The Portfolio was intended to serve as a record of the architectural heritage of the Jeypore State and the north-west region of Rajasthan. As a record, it would “rescue (such) designs from oblivion and give them new life.”
Of the 12-volume set we only hold volumes 7 (String and band patterns), 9 (Dados), and 10 (Parapets). These have been digitized and may be found in our digital collections.
View other posts from the Jeypore Portfolio.
View more Decorative Sunday posts.
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uwmspeccoll · 4 months
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A Thanksgiving Feathursday
These Wild Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) and their brood of enormous eggs are from a chromolithograph in Nests and Eggs of Birds of the United States by Thomas G. Gentry and published by J. A. Wagenseller of Philadelphia in 1882, which includes chromolithographs of around 50 paintings of North American birds, eggs, and nests by the American naturalist painter Edwin Sheppard.
Turkey fact: we always thought that the name "Turkey" for both the bird and the country of the same name was just a coincidence. But we learned today that the names are actually related (how did we not know this!). Turns out that indigenous peoples had bred a domesticated form of the Wild Turkey for thousands of years, and the Spanish imported this breed to Eurasia. The breed, or an unrelated species of guinea fowl conflated with the breed, was subsequently introduced to England from the Turkish Middle East, so its name is associated with that connection. Stick that in your oven and roast it!
Happy Thanksgiving, gobble, gobble!
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View posts of Thanksgiving Days past.
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uwmspeccoll · 7 months
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A Red-Flourish Feathursday
Today we present a chromolithograph of a male Scarlet Tanager (Piranga olivacea), a male and female Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus), and a male and female Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus) from a painting by German naturalist and artist Anton Goering (1836-1905), reproduced in our 2-volume set of Our Native Birds of Song and Beauty by the late-19th-century director of the Milwaukee Public Museum Henry Nehrling, and published in Milwaukee by George Brumder from 1893-1896.
The Tanager and Grosbeak are currently in the Cardinal family, while the Towhee is a sparrow. All three are fairly common in our neighborhood, but unfortunately, we rarely see them. However, we do hear them, or at least we think we hear them, since the song of the Tanager and Grosbeak are similar, and even worse, they both sound, to our ears, somewhat similar to the very common American Robin, which is an unrelated thrush:
Scarlet Tanager song
Rese-breasted Grosbeak song
American Robin song
Fortunately, the Towhee has a very distinctive call that we find easily recognizable:
Eastern Towhee song
Because German was prominently spoken in Milwaukee through the middle of the 20th century, these birds are also identified in Nehrling's book by their common German names:
Scarlet Tanager = Scharlachtangara
Rose-breasted Grosbeak = Rosenbrüstiger Kernbeisser
Eastern Towhee = Erdfink
View more posts from Nehrling’s Our Native Birds.
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uwmspeccoll · 2 years
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The Feathursday Blues
Summer is coming to a close and our academic year is about to begin, so we’re feeling a bit blue about leaving summer behind, but we’re also excited about the new school year. So, this week we bring you some cheery chromolithographic birds of blue to begin our September. Unfortunately, those lovely little thrushes, the Bluebirds (Genus: Sialia), are not included here, but we think these blue fellows will do. They are, from top to bottom:
Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris).
Lazuli Bunting (Passerina amoena).
Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea), male and female.
Blue Grosbeak (Passerina caerulea).
This chromolithograph is from a painting by the noted German wildlife artist Gustav Mützel, found in our 2-volume set of Our Native Birds of Song and Beauty, by the late-19th-century director of the Milwaukee Public Museum Henry Nehrling, and published in Milwaukee by George Brumder from 1893-1896.
View more posts from Nehrling’s Our Native Birds.
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uwmspeccoll · 1 year
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Sarah Strikes Again!
On December 30, the very last research day of 2022, our former long-time graduate intern and social media science editor Sarah Finn (now the Archival Projects Librarian at the Milwaukee Public Library) visited Special Collections to do research with some of our rare or scarce natural history publications including these four early-20th-century biological wall charts. As we unrolled the charts onto our tables (a two-person effort), we were so struck by the exquisite presentation of these invertebrates, we just had to share.
The undated, chromolithographic charts, measuring approximately 135 x 130 cm (4.4 x 4.3 ft.), were produced by Austrian zoologist and natural history artist Paul Pfurtscheller (1855-1927). They form part of his Zoölogische Wandplaten series which began in 1902 and included about 70 charts. The first charts in the series were originally published in Vienna by A. Pichler's Witwe & Sohn, and we hold a few of these earliest charts. The charts shown here, however, were printed in Stuttgart by Adam Gatternicht lithographers for The Hague publisher Martinus Nijhoff, and distributed in the U.S. by a variety of firms, including A.J. Nystrom & Co. in Chicago and Clay-Adams Co. in New York.
Thanks to Alice Ladrick our department manager for taking the photos. We particularly like the rather jolly-looking snail in the last image!
View other posts from our Biological Wall Chart collection.
View post from our Science Saturday series, initiated by Sarah.
View all posts by and about Sarah Finn, who was also our fine press, botany, and decorative arts editor.
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uwmspeccoll · 1 year
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Decorative Sunday
This week we present some parapet designs from Jeypore Portfolio of Architectural Details, published in twelve volumes by Bernard Quaritch between 1890 and 1913. The plates displayed here are from volume 10 on parapets, the decorative extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, balcony, or other structure..
Issued under the patronage of Maharaja Sawai Madhu Singh, the set was prepared under the supervision of Colonel Samuel Swinton Jacob, Indian Staff Corps, Engineer to the Jeypore State, and Lala Ram Bakhsh, head draftsman and teacher in the Jeypore School of Art, and was photo-lithographed by William Griggs of London, the inventor of photo-chromo-lithography. The Portfolio was intended to serve as a record of the architectural heritage of the Jeypore State and the north-west region of Rajasthan. As a record, it would “rescue (such) designs from oblivion and give them new life.”
Of the 12-volume set we only hold volumes 7 (String and band patterns), 9 (Dados), and 10 (Parapets). These have been digitized and may be found in our digital collections.
View other posts from the Jeypore Portfolio.
View more Decorative Sunday posts.
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uwmspeccoll · 1 year
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Labarte’s Histoire des Arts Industriels, part deux!
Last month we posted images from the first album of plates of Histoire des arts industriels au Moyen Âge et à l'époque de la Renaissance, published in four volumes between 1864-1866 by A. Morel et Cie. of Paris. In that post, we discussed the creator, Jules Labarte, and a bit of the publishing history. This post will focus on Imprimerie Lithographique de Lemercier, the firm responsible for image reproduction in Labarte’s Histoire. 
Founded by Rose-Joseph Lemercier in 1837, Lemercier was the largest lithography firm in Paris between 1850 and 1870 and was instrumental in industrializing the lithography business in France and integrating new photolithographic processes into his repertoire. The son and grandson of basketmakers, Lemercier was apprenticed out to follow in the family business, but he quickly became enchanted with printing, studying first under Joséphine-Clémence Formentin before apprenticing for Édouard Knecht, nephew and successor of Aloys Senefelder, the inventor of lithography. 
Lemercier attempted his own innovations, including an effort to develop his own photolithographic process in the early 1850s. Ultimately, he purchased the patent for the process developed by Alphonse Poitevin. The image below is an example of that process:
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View more posts with chromolithographs.
View more Decorative Sunday posts.
-Olivia, Special Collections Graduate Intern
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uwmspeccoll · 1 year
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Decorative Sunday
In 1823, an aspring young lawyer named Jules Labarte (1797-1880) married Joséphine Debruge-Duménil*, the only daughter of the wealthy art collector Louis-Fidel Debruge-Duménil (1788-1838). He was enthralled by his father-in-laws collection, one of the first major private collections of Medieval and Renaissance Art in France, and by 1835 he had abandoned the law to dedicate himself to the study of art history. A few years later, Debruge-Duménil passed away unexpectedly, and Labarte was charged with identifying and cataloging his collection of over fifteen thousand artifacts, a task he took on with great meticulousness. 
The resulting catalog was published in 1847 by La Librarie Archeonologique de Victor Didron with a 400 page introduction. This well-researched introduction became a highly sought after text, and Didron pressed Labarte for years to produce a second edition. Labarte refused for years, but allowed for a English translation, published in 1855 by J. Murray of London as Handbook of the Arts of the Middle Ages and Renaissance as Applied to the Decoration of Furniture, Arms, Jewels, Etc. 
The English edition only increased the appetite for a revised French edition, to which Labarte finally agreed. Between 1864 and 1866, Histoire des arts industriels au Moyen Âge et à l'époque de la Renaissance was published in Paris by A. Morel et Cie. in four volumes, with two additional volumes of plates. Printing was done by Henri Plon, an ancestor of 16th century Danish typographer Jehan Plon. The plates are primarily chromolithographs produced by Lemercier, the largest lithography firm in Paris at the time. Keep your eyes peeled for a follow up post where we will share images from the second album and discuss Rose-Joseph Lemercier (1803-1887).
The above images are all sourced from the first album of plates. Critics praised the book’s illustration for its rich colors and “photo-like accuracy.” You might look at the last image above (of the statue St. Anne and her Children by German artist Hans Greiff) and question that characterization based on the somewhat bizarre faces, but lo and behold, the faces on the actual statue are a bit strange! See for yourself:
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Find more posts on publisher August Morel here. 
Peruse more Decorative Sunday posts here. 
-Olivia, Special Collections Graduate Intern
*Special shout out to Institute National d’Histoire de l’Art (INHA) for providing me with the first name of Labarte’s wife Josephine, who is most commonly (and annoyingly) referred to in the literature as “daughter of Louis-Fidel Debruge-Duménil” or “wife of Labarte.”
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uwmspeccoll · 2 years
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Science Saturday
IT’S THE BEETLES!
Sarah Finn, our long-time graduate intern and former social media science editor (now Archival Projects Librarian at Milwaukee Public Library) was always deeply intrigued by insects, especially beetles. So, in her honor we present these wood-engraved and chromolithographed beetles from our 1885 three-volume edition of J. G Wood’s Animate Creation, adapted to American zoology by the American physician and zoologist Joseph B. Holder and published in New York by Selmar Hess. The publication, a revision of Wood’s original 1853 British publication The Illustrated Natural History, was originally issued in 60 fascicles, with the chromolithographs printed by the noted Boston lithographing firm L. Prang & Company. Many of the images used in these volumes also appeared in other natural history publications in America and Europe, such as Brehms Thierleben. 
View another post from Animate Creation.
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uwmspeccoll · 2 years
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Feathursday Orioles!
Here are a few chromolithographic Feathursday Orioles, along with a Kingbird and a Flycatcher, from our 2-volume set of Our Native Birds of Song and Beauty, by the late-19th-century director of the Milwaukee Public Museum Henry Nehrling, and published in Milwaukee by George Brumder from 1893-1896. The lithographs are based on original water color paintings by the German naturalist painter Anton Goering. The individual birds from top to bottom are:
Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula), male.
Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula), female.
Orchard Oriole (Icterus spurius).
Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus).
Bullock's Oriole (Icterus bullockii).
Scott's Oriole (Icterus parisorum).
Hooded Oriole (Icterus cucullatus).
Scarlet Flycatcher (Pyrocephalus rubinus).
View more posts from Nehrling’s Our Native Birds.
View more Feathursday posts.
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uwmspeccoll · 2 years
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Decorative Sunday 
This Sunday we present plates from L’ornament des Tissus: Recueil Historique et Pratique (The Ornament of Fabric: A Historical and Practical Collection), a French portfolio publication of one hundred chromolithographs highlighting textile design through the ages. The portfolio was published in 1877 in Paris by Ducher et Cie, publishers for the Société Centrale des Architectes, with introductory essays and explanatory texts accompanying each plate by Auguste Dupont-Auberville, a successful banker and collector of porcelain and textiles.
Charles Kreutzberger illustrated the textile designs and the lithography was completed by Frédéric Régamey. Text was printed by L'imprimerie Alcan-Lévy, the printing outfit of Félix Alcan. Alcan’s father Moyse Alcan was a publisher in their hometown of Metz, and his grandfather Gerson-Lévy was an educator, publisher, author, and translator, and was one of the earliest advocate of Reform Judaism in France.
See image captions for description of plates. 
You can find more Decorative Sunday posts here. 
-Olivia, Special Collections Graduate Intern
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