Norman M. Fox

Book Collector, Innovator, and Friend of Skidmore College and Saratoga Springs In memory of a dear friend, Norman M. Fox

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By Catherine J. Golden, Professor of English and Aimee Hall, Class of 2019 Assisted by Wendy Anthony, Special Collections Curator Norman M. Fox (1919-2016):

Book Collector, Innovator, and Friend of Skidmore College and Saratoga Springs Lucy Scribner Library, July 28-September 30, 2016 The Norman M. Fox Collection

 Housed in Skidmore’s Special Collections, the Fox Collection features approximately 400 books by authors and illustrators including Aubrey Beardsley, William Blake, Robert Browning, Lewis Carroll, , Robert Cruikshank, , George Eliot, the Grimm Brothers, Washington Irving, Sir Walter Scott, William Thackeray, and Oscar Wilde. The Man Behind the Book Collection

 Born in Brooklyn on 28 July 1919 in Brooklyn, Norman was the son of Russian immigrants. He was the third son born to Isador and Pauline Sirgutz Fox and the only son born in America.

 Norman attended City College until he was drafted to serve his country in WW II. He was selected to be a member of a special training program operating out of MIT in Boston. Norman served honorably in the Philippines, New Guinea, and Japan. After the war, Norman met a Canadian beauty named Eva Rudin; they married in New York in 1947 and moved to Saratoga Springs. Left: Family portrait showing Above: Norman Fox with his Norman as a child, courtesy of wife Eva, courtesy of Cassie and Cassie and Harvey Fox Harvey Fox  Above: Norman and his beloved books, courtesy of Cassie and Harvey Fox

 Left: A rare sporting image of Norman, courtesy of Cassie and Harvey Fox Creative Business Ventures: n. Fox Jewelers and Spa Records

 Norman was a businessman. He opened the Saratoga Appliance Shop and then n. Fox Jewelers and became an active participant in downtown business for thirty years.

Left: Watercolor image of n. Fox Jewelers on Broadway in downtown Saratoga. The clock in front of the store is dedicated to Norman.

Above: Jewelry bag from n. Fox Jewelers  With Charles Adler, Norman founded Spa Records in 1952, winning a 1953 Paris Gold Medal for a recording of Mahler's Third Symphony. The late David Porter, longtime President of Skidmore College and close friend of the Fox family, notes that Spa Records “at the very dawn of the LP era produced a remarkable list of recordings - more than 75 discs - including an astonishing array of composers and performers, many in premiere performances: George Antheil playing his own piano works; Alfred Brendel, one of the century's greatest pianists, performing works by Strauss, Busoni, and Beethoven at the very start of his career; the first Above: Vinyls from Spa Records of a recording of Franz List’s Dante recording ever made of Beethoven's Symphony, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and Vienna State Opera piano version of his violin concerto; Chorus, with F. Charles Adler as conductor pioneering recordings of Schoenberg, Cowell, and Ives."  In 1961, Norman became Founding President of the Saratoga Merchants Association, currently known as the Downtown Business Association. He fought construction of the arterial highway that was going to bypass the downtown business district. Upon selling his store to his son, Harvey, in 1977, Norman served as Chair of the Special Assessment District for nineteen years. His twelve-year service as Vice-Chair of the City Planning Board and as President of the Historical Society was instrumental in the revitalization of Saratoga Springs. For all his efforts to enhance the city he loved, Above: Saratoga Springs Rotary Logo Norman received many honors—the Kathryn H. Starbuck Lifetime Achievement Award (2003), the Rotary Club Community Service Award (2004), and the Saratoga Springs Preservation Society Award (2005) to name a few.  To Skidmore College, Norman M. Fox was much more than a businessman; he was a renaissance man with a true love of rare books and first day covers. In 1990, when Hannah Adler, Charles Adler’s wife, passed away, Hannah left her book collection, on loan to Skidmore College, to her friend Norman, who was serving as the local steward of the Adler Collection. Norman used a bequest from his dear friend’s estate to initiate a yearly lecture (then called the Adler Lecture) to discuss 19th-century literature and art. Skidmore English professor Catherine J. Golden chairs the committee. Current members are Maggie Greaves and Jay Rogoff, English; Tillman Nechtman, History; David Howson, Arts Administration; Wendy Anthony, Special Collections Curator; Janis Petroski, College Events.

Above: Friends, Hannah Adler and Norman Fox  The lecture series, renamed the Fox- Adler lecture series, has featured prominent scholars, journalists, book artists, and bibliophiles. In 2005, with his family - Harvey Fox, Cassie Fox (Skidmore '80), and Cindy Fox Aisen - the Fox family gave what is now known as the Fox Collection to the College along with a generous gift to endow the lecture series in perpetuity.

Above: Norman admiring a display with his son and daughter-in-law, Harvey and Cassie Fox Above: Norman Fox, the series founder, with (left to right) grandson Jevan and wife Jerusha Fox, Cassie and Harvey Fox, Catherine Golden, President Philip Glotzbach, and Irvin Ungar, 2011 Fox-Adler Lecturer speaking on Arthur Szy whose works Norman collected.  Norman took delight in the ways the Fox Collection became an invaluable resource for Skidmore faculty and students. Under the guidance of Catherine Golden, Professor of English, and Wendy Anthony, Special Collections Curator, students have created countless library exhibitions and catalogues based on this rich collection.

Above: Dear friends: Norman and Catherine Above: Students from Catherine Golden’s “Victorian Golden, Skidmore College English Professor Illustrated Book” class exploring the treasures of Special Collections from the Norman M. Fox Collection for their exhibit.  Above: A 2002 catalogue supported by Norman M. Fox entitled “Dressed to Express: Costume in Victorian Illustration,” a student exhibit of books from the Fox Collection; this class project for Catherine Golden”s “Victorian Illustrated Book” class, was a collaboration between Scribner Library and the Tang Museum. Above: A page from another catalogue supported by Norman Fox entitled “Reading Beyond the Lines: Victorian Art & Illustration”; under Golden’s guidance, this class exhibit was displayed at the Lucy Scribner Library from Nov. 27, 1995 - Jan. 26, 1996. The Fox-Adler Lecture Series

 Norman suggested many topics for the Fox-Adler Lecture, such as talks on George Cruikshank, William Blake, Arthur Szyk, book collecting, and Leonard Baskin, the subject of the 2016 lecture. Speakers in the series include Barry Moser, Scott McCloud, Robert L. Patten, Valerie Steele, and Victor Navasky.

Scott McCloud Victor Navasky by Edward Sorel The programs represent a selection of the wide range of Adler and Fox-Adler lectures over the years. The series has featured both academic-themed lectures and illustrators discussing their work as book artists.

Valerie Steele on Joseph Viscomi on William Victorian fashion in 2007 Blake in 2009 Isaac Gewirtz on book collecting in 2013 Fall 2016 Lecture on Baskin, one of Norman’s Favorite Artists

 Norman Fox was a dedicated collector of Leonard Baskin’s art. Prints and books from Fox’s Baskin collection are currently on display at the Tang for the “Leonard Baskin” exhibit. Before his death, Norman requested that this year’s lecture be about Baskin’s work.

Left: Poems of Ted Hughes, illustrated by Leonard Baskin, 1975

Above: Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare, illustrated by Leonard Baskin, 1973  Inspired by William Blake, Leonard Baskin (1920-2000) was an internationally renowned artist and bookmaker whose work is held in museums and Special Collections departments around the world. He is famous for his woodcuts, engravings and book press, samples of which are on display here. Baskin founded the Gehenna Press in 1942. This fine book press published 100 books over 50 years, making it the longest lived and most productive private press ever. Baskin’s best known artistic collaboration was with British Poet Laureate Ted Hughes. They worked together for over three decades with Baskin illustrating many of Hughes’ books. Baskin even moved his family and press to England for nine years to be close to Hughes. In 1983, Baskin returned to Massachusetts, where he became the mentor to another Fox-Adler speaker, book artist Michael Kuch.

Left: Leonard Baskin’s Left: Leonard collection of drawings, Baskin’s 1976 Smitty’s Cocks: Eight Wood Right: James Engravings, Baldwin, 1998 illustration by Leonard Baskin for Gypsy & Other Poems, 1989 “Seven Deadly Sins,” poems by Antony Hecht, illustrated by Leonard Baskin, 1958 Mark Dimunation

This Baskin expert is the 28th annual Fox-Adler lecturer. Dimunation is Chief of the Rare Books and Special Collections Division of the Library of Congress, the largest collection of rare books in North America. A specialist in 18th- and 19th-century English and American arts and letters, Dimunation has lectured and written extensively about rare books. Dimunation’s talk entitled "Strange and Marvelous Books: Leonard Baskin and the Gehenna Press" Above: Mark Dimunation, Chief of the Rare honors Norman’s legacy and love of Books and Special Collections Division of the Baskin. Library of Congress The Norman M. Fox Collection

 A very thorough catalog of the collection by Professor Catherine J. Golden is also available in the circulating collection (call number Z881 .S375 1993) and in Special Collections.

 The following pages include some of the highlights from the Fox Collection that students regularly use in book exhibits.

Above: Student Favorite from the Norman Fox Collection: Charles Dickens’s Master Humphrey’s Clock, first edition in parts, London: Chapman & Hall, 1840-41. Above: Mrs Octavian Blewitt’s The Rose and the Above: Aubrey Beardsley’s Under the Hill and Other Essays Lily. London: Chatto and Windus, 1877. This in Prose and Verse with Illustrations. London: John Lane, frontispiece is believed to be the last book 1904. First edition. This handsome volume has a blue cloth illustration etched by George Cruikshank. cover with a peacock feather gold impress design. Left: Richard Harris Barham’s Ingoldsby Legends, London: Richard Bentley, 1864. The handsome volume has a brown moroccan leather binding with gold-tooling.

Below: This hand-colored foldout illustration by George Cruikshank comes from The Comic Almanack, London: Charles Tilt, 1850-53. Cruikshank parodies women’s rights.  Left: Humorous plate from Points of Humour, 1823-24, by George Cruikshank

 Above: Second Tour of Dr Syntax, in Search of Consolation: A Poem by William Combe (1820); comical illustration, “Dr. Syntax and the Bees,” by The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club by Charles Dickens, illustrated by Robert Seymour and (Phiz), 1837

Below: "Mr. Pickwick Slides“ by Phiz shows Samuel Pickwick as a beloved figure of folly.

Above: Cover of the first edition  Below: Plate from Handley Cross: Or, Mr. Jorrocks's Hunt by Robert Smith Surtees, 1854, illustrated by John Leech, skilled in drawing society scenes Below: Cruikshank’s “Mr. Bumble and Mrs. Corney Taking Tea.” Note the Paul Pry figurine on the mantel; Pry, a well-known intrusive character from John Poole’s play Paul Pry (1825) signals Bumble will “pry” into Mrs. Corney’s belongings before proposing marriage.

Above: ’s Cruikshank’s Water-colours. London: A&C Black, 1903. Front cover is gold, orange, and brown impress; spine gold-stamped; top edge gilt  Two famous illustrations from “Oliver Twist” in Bentley's Miscellany, volumes 1 & 5 (1837-1839) by Charles Dickens, illustrated by George Cruikshank

 Above: “Oliver Asking for More” Above: “Fagin in the Condemned Cell”  Cruikshank had a large range of illustrations from the serious to the fantastical.

 Above: Plate One from The Bottle, a temperance series in 8 plates by George Cruikshank, 1847

 Left: From Puss in Boots by George Cruikshank, n.d. Illustrations by George Cruikshank for The Comic Almanack

 Above: "A New Government of Queen's Branch,” a hand-colored, fold-out illustration, 1850, puts a gentleman on trial for breaking off an engagement; the jury and judges are all women! Here Cruikshank exaggerates men’s and women’s fashions to comic effect.

 Above: “Will You Be Our Vis à Vis?” 1853  Above: “A Splendid Spread,” 1850 Cruikshank demonstrates his ability to draw animals as humans and again pokes fun at gender roles; the dark glasses reveal the “woman of mind” has lost her sight from too much intellectual work.

 Above: "Fellows of the Zoological Society,” 1851  Above: “My Wife is a Woman of Mind,” 1847 The library has begun to document the Norman M. Fox Collection in digital form. Virtual browsing of the shelves is now possible utilizing ARTstor's image viewer. Each shelf item is cataloged in ARTstor with the number that corresponds to its entry in the printed catalog (Z881 .S375 1993) as well as its call number, which can be searched using the Library's Catalog. New images are being added and additional links provided to this invaluable resource for Skidmore faculty and students. Thank you to Norman M. Fox for his creative vision and to the entire Fox family for sustaining the Fox-Adler Lecture, an important town and gown event.