HLB 24 1 BOOK.Indb

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

HLB 24 1 BOOK.Indb “Containers of ideas”: The collection of printmaking artifacts of Philip Hofer The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Duroselle-Melish, Caroline. 2013. “Containers of ideas”: The collection of printmaking artifacts of Philip Hofer. Harvard Library Bulletin 24 (1), Spring 2013: 45-64. Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:42673627 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA “Containers of Ideas”: Te Collection of Printmaking Artifacts of Philip Hofer Caroline Duroselle-Melish n 1939, shortly after his arrival at harvard as founding curator of the Department of Printing and Graphic Arts in the Treasure Room of Widener ILibrary, Philip Hofer started planning an exhibition on early modern printmaking techniques, for, as he wrote to a correspondent, such an exhibition was greatly needed and few had been mounted in the country at the time.1 Hofer intended the show to be on permanent display and to comprise not only prints but also a number of printmaking surfaces, including woodblocks and copper plates from his collection. Hofer’s plan for an exhibition on the subject of technique so early in his tenure at Harvard refected his view of the feld of graphic arts: technique was the necessary point of departure for understanding the prints and illustrated books he collected, and such knowledge included the examination and the collecting of the printmaking surfaces used to produce images. Such refections were the fruits of his formative years frst as a student and collector, then as a curator, teacher, and publisher. Tey were shaped by the reproductive print tradition of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and in response to the world of graphic arts from the 1920s and 1930s. Philip Hofer was born in 1898 into a well-to-do family from Cincinnati, Ohio.2 Afer obtaining his undergraduate degree from Harvard in 1921, he moved back to Ohio where he worked in the family coal business for several years. In 1927, he returned to Harvard to get a masters degree in fne arts. Afer graduating, Hofer went to live in New York and worked in investment banking, taking care of the family’s wealth afer his father died in 1929. During this period, he also built a reputation as a fne Tis article is an extended, fully documented version of a talk given at the 2010 meeting of the Renaissance Society of America in Venice, Italy. Te author would like to thank Ilaria Andreoli for inviting her to give a paper there, Hope Mayo for reading the text and encouraging her to submit it for publication, and Susan Gonzales for providing invaluable assistance in the Harvard Art Museums Archives. 1 Letter from Philip Hofer to T. Stephenson, January 16, 1939, Department of Printing and Graphic Arts Departmental Files, Houghton Library (cited hereafer as P&GA Files). 2 For an account of Hofer’s personal and professional life, see William Bentinck-Smith, “Prince of the Eye: Philip Hofer and the Harvard Library,” Harvard Library Bulletin 32, no. 4 (Fall 1984): 317–347. Caroline Duroselle-Melish 45 Figure 3.1. Alexandre Iacovlef. Portrait of Philip Hofer. Paris, 1928. 56 x 44 cm. MS Typ 714, Department of Printing and Graphic Arts, Houghton Library. 46 “Containers of Ideas”: Te Collection of Printmaking Artifacts of Philip Hofer collector that led to his appointment in 1930 as “Advisor for the Spencer Collection” of “illuminated books and manuscripts and works of fne printing, illustration, and binding” at the New York Public Library, while continuing to work in fnance. His main responsibility at the NYPL was to advise trustees of the library on purchases for the collection. In 1934, he joined the staf of the Pierpont Morgan Library, then headed by Belle da Costa Greene, as assistant director. Tis appointment turned out to be an unhappy arrangement, and in 1937 he resigned. Shortly afer, in 1938, he received an ofer to work at Harvard and to establish a Department of Printing and Graphic Arts in the Treasure Room of the Widener Library where rare books and manuscripts were then housed. In 1942 when Houghton Library opened its doors, Hofer became its frst curator of Printing and Graphic Arts. Hofer started collecting books seriously when he was an undergraduate. By the time he was a graduate student, he was a collector of medieval manuscripts, books, prints, and drawings. His interest in the latter was perhaps encouraged by his mother, herself a collector of drawings and other artworks.3 His collecting preferences, however, were clearly stated in a 1934 letter to Fogg Art Museum director Paul Sachs: Hofer knew best “books, manuscripts, drawings [. .] in that order.” 4 No doubt, the course “Te History of the Printed Book” that he took in graduate school had nurtured his enthusiasm for books. Taught by George Parker Winship, assistant librarian in charge of Harvard’s collection of rare books and manuscripts, the course dealt with the cultural and social history of book production, mainly from the ffeenth century.5 One of the main components of the course pertained to the collecting of books and the training of “the taste of book-buyers,” which involved learning how to evaluate books as art objects, that is, mostly, for their aesthetic qualities. Within the sphere of books, Hofer quickly carved out for himself a collecting niche: the feld of illustrated books. Te fact that he sold 200 books from his library in 1933 in New York indicates a shif in his interests.6 Specifcally, he desired to depart from the 3 Letter from Paul Sachs to Hofer, October 7, 1927, HC3, box 44, f 869, Harvard Art Museums Archives (cited hereafer as HAMA). 4 Letter from Hofer to Paul Sachs, April 22, 1934, HC3, box 45, f 871, HAMA. In another letter to Paul Sachs, Hofer described his early collection of drawings as “entirely a dilettante selection”: March 10, 1944, HC3, box 45, f 876, HAMA. 5 Michael B. Winship, “Fine Arts 5e: Te Invention and the Afermath” in George Parker Winship as Librarian, Typophile and Teacher: Talks by Tomas R. Adams, Martin W. Hutner, and Michael B. Winship, Delivered in the Memorial Rooms of the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library on April 17, 1997; Together with a List of Students in Fine Arts 5e Compiled by Mariana S. Oller (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard College Library, 1999), 28–40. 6 Ritter-Hopson Galleries, Press Books, First Editions, Colored Plate Books and Other Choice Selections from the Library of Philip Hofer, New York City: Unrestricted Public Auction . (New York City: Ritter-Hopson Galleries, 1933); and Bentinck-Smith, 331. Caroline Duroselle-Melish 47 conventional taste for frst editions and Anglo-American fne press books of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Similarly, in his new collecting orientation, Hofer did not systematically purchase incunabula but went for the lesser known (and therefore less expensive) sixteenth- and seventeenth-century illustrated books.7 Hofer was becoming a selective and sharp collector preferring quality to quantity; his frequent trips to Europe were hunting excursions to capture select trophies, even when other collectors would not have considered them such. In many respects, he already deserved the title “Prince of the Eye,” he was later given.8 Whenever possible, he tried to document the entire chain of production of a printed image. In the early 1930s, he started acquiring drawings for book illustrations and printmaking surfaces. During this period he purchased William Blake’s series of drawings intended for the engravings of Te Book of Job, as well as a plate engraved by the artist for Gay’s Beggar’s Opera.9 At the age of 32, Hofer had one of the best private collections of Francisco Goya prints and drawings in the world, and he owned three of the artist’s etched plates.10 His collection also included a lithographic stone and several woodblocks by Honoré Daumier. Beyond their historical and aesthetic value, these artifacts satisfed his passion for objects, and gave him “pride and joy,” as he explained to a correspondent.11 As with his books and manuscripts acquisitions, Hofer collected prints, drawings, and printmaking matrices produced in various countries over a wide range of time.12 In his activities as curator, Hofer demonstrated early on a strong interest in the technical aspect of printmaking. Te frst exhibit he organized at the New York Public Library was on the art and technique of the woodcut.13 A number of shows 7 William A. Jackson, “Te Hofer Collection,” no. 24 in the Contemporary Collectors series, Te Book Collector 9 (Summer and Autumn 1960): 151-164, 292-300; and Philip Hofer, “Te Illustration of Books,” Te Dolphin, no. 3 (1938): 400. 8 Bentinck-Smith, 317. 9 Letter from Hofer to Paul Sachs, October 7, 1930, HC3, box 44, f 869, HAMA; and William Blake, Illustrations of the Book of Job . Reproduced in Facsimile from the Original ‘New Zealand’ Set Made about 1823–4, in the Possession of Philip Hofer, with a Note by Philip Hofer (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1937), 6. 10 Letter from Hofer to T. Stephenson, January 16, 1939, P&GA Files. 11 Letter from Hofer to Fred Anthoensen, February 28, 1945, P&GA Files: “I have four Daumier blocks and they are my pride and joy.” 12 Hofer also collected the works of contemporary artists such as Eric Gill: see Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Loan Exhibition of Work of Five Contemporary English Artists; Engravings, Drawings, Water Colours, Illustrated Books, & Small Carvings.
Recommended publications
  • Merrymount Press Records: Finding Aid
    http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8j96csq No online items Merrymount Press Records: Finding Aid Finding aid prepared by Diann Benti and Kate Peck. The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens Manuscripts Department The Huntington Library 1151 Oxford Road San Marino, California 91108 Phone: (626) 405-2191 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.huntington.org © January 2020 The Huntington Library. All rights reserved. Merrymount Press Records: mssMerrymount 1 Finding Aid Overview of the Collection Title: Merrymount Press Records Dates (inclusive): 1893-1950 Collection Number: mssMerrymount Creator: Merrymount Press Extent: 364 boxes and 236 volumes (439.92 linear feet) Repository: The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Manuscripts Department 1151 Oxford Road San Marino, California 91108 Phone: (626) 405-2191 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.huntington.org Abstract: This collection consists of the business records of the Merrymount Press of Boston, Massachusetts, and papers of its owner Daniel Berkeley Updike (1860-1941). The Press, which operated for 45 years, was known for its excellence in typography and design, especially in the field of decorative printing and bookmaking. Language: English. Access Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services. Publication Rights The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher. Preferred Citation [Identification of item]. Merrymount Press Records, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
    [Show full text]
  • TM Cleland Papers
    T. M. Cleland Papers A Finding Aid to the Collection in the Library of Congress Prepared by Grover Batts with the assistance of Thelma Queen Revised by Joseph K. Brooks Manuscript Division, Library of Congress Washington, D.C. 2011 Contact information: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress Manuscript Division, 2012 Finding aid URL: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms011089 Collection Summary Title: T. M. Cleland Papers Span Dates: 1880-1964 Bulk Dates: (bulk 1920-1963) ID No.: MSS16147 Creator: Cleland, T. M. (Thomas Maitland), 1880-1964 Extent: 6,750 items ; 27 containers ; 11 linear feet Language: Collection material in English, Swedish, and French Repository: Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Abstract: Book designer and illustrator. Correspondence, drawings, and title pages and designs for books and advertisements. Selected Search Terms The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically therein. People Altschul, Frank, 1887-1981--Correspondence. Anthoensen, Fred, 1882-1969--Correspondence. Armitage, Merle, 1893-1975--Correspondence. Artzybasheff, Boris, 1899-1965--Correspondence. Beilenson, Peter, 1905-1962--Correspondence. Bennett, Paul A., 1897-1966--Correspondence. Biddle, George, 1885-1973--Correspondence. Bradley, Will, 1868-1962--Correspondence. Cleland family--Correspondence. Cleland family. Cleland, Elinor Woodruff, b. 1871--Correspondence. Cleland, T. M. (Thomas Maitland), 1880-1964. Colish, Abraham, 1882-1963--Correspondence. Cotten, Joseph, 1905-1994--Correspondence. Covey, Arthur Sinclair, 1877-1960--Correspondence. Dothard, Robert L.--Correspondence.
    [Show full text]
  • Stanley Marcus Did
    Printed & bound A Newsletter for Bibliophiles February 2019 Printed & Bound focuses on the book as a collectible item and as an example of the printer’s art. It provides information about the history of printing and book production, guidelines for developing a book collection, and news about book-related publications and events. Articles in Printed & Bound may be reprinted free of charge SOMESUCH MINIATURE BOOKS provided that full attribution is given (name and date of Not many collectors of miniature books start their own publication, title and author of publishing companies to produce these tiny tomes, but that’s article, and copyright exactly what Stanley Marcus did. Already a noted collector information). Please request permission via email of rare and fine press books, as well as CEO of his family’s ([email protected]) before renowned Neiman-Marcus stores, Marcus then became a reprinting articles. Unless collector of miniature books. otherwise noted, all content is As his collection grew, Marcus’s first wife, Billie, written by Paula Jarvis, Editor decided that she would like to present him with a miniature and Publisher. version of his memoirs, Minding the Store, for his seventieth Printed & Bound birthday. However, while researching the world of Volume 6 Number 1 publishing, she realized that she should involve her husband February 2019 Issue in the process. Thus, Stanley Marcus embarked on his own publishing enterprise, dedicated to miniature books, and in © 2019 by Paula Jarvis c/o Nolan & Cunnings, Inc. 1975 brought out Minding the Store under his new Somesuch 28800 Mound Road Press imprint. (He had originally hoped to name it Nonesuch Warren, MI 48092 Press after the road he lived on, but that name was already in use by an English firm.) This first production was a bit Printed & Bound is published in disappointing as Marcus discovered that the greatly reduced February, June, and October.
    [Show full text]
  • A Finding Aid to the William Mills Ivins Papers, 1878-1964, in the Archives of American Art
    A Finding Aid to the William Mills Ivins Papers, 1878-1964, in the Archives of American Art Cathy Stover 1988 Archives of American Art 750 9th Street, NW Victor Building, Suite 2200 Washington, D.C. 20001 https://www.aaa.si.edu/services/questions https://www.aaa.si.edu/ Table of Contents Collection Overview ........................................................................................................ 1 Administrative Information .............................................................................................. 1 Biographical Note............................................................................................................. 2 Scope and Content Note................................................................................................. 3 Arrangement..................................................................................................................... 4 Names and Subjects ...................................................................................................... 4 Container Listing ............................................................................................................. 6 Series 1: Professional and Personal Papers, circa 1908-1961................................ 6 Series 2: Writings, circa 1910-1960....................................................................... 18 Series 3: Publications, 1896-1958......................................................................... 22 Series 4: Miscellaneous, 1915, undated...............................................................
    [Show full text]
  • The Name of the Merrymount Press Is Derived
    BART -^ Electrotypes, Wood-mounted: The Merrymount Press Collection. I52E5 M38 No.683- 683C No.683A No.683B No.683C MPB 337 Arnold, James N. Inscriptions on the Grave-Stones in the Old Churchyard of St. Paul's Narraaansett.— (Boston: The Merrymount Press, 1909) Title-page vignette. HEH 242185 MPB 362 Alfred S. Woodworth In Memoriam. — (Boston: The Merrymount Press,1911) Title-page vignette. HEH 242208 MPB 364 Parks, Leighton. The Vision of God in the Open Heavens. — (Boston: The Merrymount Press, 1911) Title-page vignette and cover decoration. HEH 242209 MPB 383 Stebbins, Roderick. In Memoriam Whitcomb Field. — (Boston: The Merrymount Press, 1911) Title-page vignette. HEH 242224 MPB 388 In Memory of Eleanor Ladd Clark. — (Boston: The Merrymount Press,1913) Title-page vignette. HEH 278875 aw> BART -A I52E5 M38 No.683- 683C MPB 403 Parker, Cortland. In Memoriam Arthur Rverson. — (Boston: The Merrymount Press, 1914) Title-page vignette. HEH 242233 MPB 458 A Brief History of St. Mary's Church, South Portsmouth & Holy Cross Chapel, Middletown, R.I. — (Boston: The Merrymount Press,1916) Title-page vignette. HEH 279756 MPB 470 Groton School. Responsive Readings. — Groton, Mass. (Boston: The Merrymount Press) Title-page vignette. HEH 278976 MPB 482 Mary Anna Inaell. — (Boston: The Merrymount Press, 1917) Cover-title vignette. HEH 242300 MPB 724 Peabody, Endicott. S In Memoriam William Amorv Gardner. — Groton: Groton School, 1930 (Boston: The Merrymount Press) Title-page vignette. HEH 242457 MPB 788 In Memoriam Gladys Emily Streibert. — New York, 1935 (Boston: The Merrymount Press) Title-page vignette. HEH 242498 MPB 834 Schneider, Herbert Wallace. Meditations in Season on the Elements of Christian Philosophy.- New York: Oxford University Press, 1938 (Boston: The Merrymount Press) Title-page vignette.
    [Show full text]
  • The Contributions of Linn Boyd Benton and Morris Fuller Benton to the Technology of Typesetting and Typeface Design
    Rochester Institute of Technology RIT Scholar Works Theses 5-1-1986 The Contributions of Linn Boyd Benton and Morris Fuller Benton to the technology of typesetting and typeface design Patricia Cost Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.rit.edu/theses Recommended Citation Cost, Patricia, "The Contributions of Linn Boyd Benton and Morris Fuller Benton to the technology of typesetting and typeface design" (1986). Thesis. Rochester Institute of Technology. Accessed from This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by RIT Scholar Works. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses by an authorized administrator of RIT Scholar Works. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Sc~l of Printing Rochester Institute of Techno~ Rochester I New York CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL MASTER'S niESIS This is to certify that the Master's Thesis of Patricia Knittel Cost name of student with a major in Printing Technology has been approved by the Thesis Comnittee as satisfactory for the thesis requirement for the Master of Science degree at the convocation of June 24, 1986 date Thesis Comnittee: Herbert Johnson Thesis Advisor Archibald Provan Thesis Advisor Joseph L. Noga Graduate Progran Coordinator Miles Southworth Director THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF LINN BOYD BENTON AND MORRIS FULLER BENTON TO THE TECHNOLOGY OF TYPESETTING AND TYPEFACE DESIGN by Patricia Knittel Cost A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in the School of Printing in the College of Graphic Arts and Photography of the Rochester Institute of Technology May 1986 Thesis Advisors: Herbert H.
    [Show full text]
  • Call 392 Ronald Peters Collection of Private Press Printers and The
    Ms Ronald Peters Collection of Private Press Printers and The Call Typophiles • 392 Collection ofcorrespondence, drawings, drafts, proofs, production materials, and printed epehemera by and about private press printers, including The Typophiles, 1913-1977. Gift ofRonald Peters, 2000. Extent: 64 Boxes (8 metres) • • Ms. Call. Peters Collection 2 392 • Arrangement Note These papers are arranged largely as they were received from Ronald Peters, and this finding aid is adapted from one Peters provided, retaining his comments. • • Ms. Call. Peters Collection 3 392 .:' • Boxes & Items 1-8, Thomas Maitland Cleland ovs 63 For a description ofthis collection see The Wide Open Mind; a Catalogue ofa Thomas Maitland Collection. Toronto: Privately printed, 1992 Boxes 1-2 Manuscripts, 1913-1954 Box 1 1913, Giambattista Bodoni folder 1 Lewis Buddy to Cleland, 1913, 1 TLS. Buddy had edited Wisdom of Horace Walpole. It was privately printed in 1905 on hand-made Italian paper (75) copies and on imperial Japan (5 copies), and was the first to be printed in the Bodoni type especially case for Harvard University Press. The volume originally appeared as volume 5, Detached Thoughts in the Works ofHorace Walpole (1798). folders 2-5 "Giambattista Bodoni ofParma". Lecture given to Society of Printers, Boston, 22 April 1913 folder 2 Typescript with holograph revisions in folder with printed title on cover, 30 leaves folder 3 Holograph text, 25 leaves • folder 4 Holograph and typescript, 28 leaves. Removed for folder with printed label pasted on cover folder 5 A Keepsake in Honour ofGiambattista Bodoni ... Society ofPrinters ... April Twenty-second, Nineteen hundred & thirteen" folders 6-8 " Life ofGiambattista Bodoni" by Giuseppi De Lama.
    [Show full text]