Introduction
C.W. Dyson Perrins (1864-1958)
Although separated by a generation and the vast distance of the
Atlantic Ocean, Charles William Dyson Perrins and Lessing J. Rosenwald
had much in common. Both men inherited significant wealth from
ancestors who founded well-known companies, both men were important
collectors of rare books, woodcut prints, and objets d'art,
and both became noted philanthropists who made generous gifts to
the public institutions of their respective countries. Mr. Dyson
Perrins gave or bequeathed objects of high artistic value and historic
interest to the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Gallery,
the Ashmolean Museum, and the British Museum, among others.
C.W. Dyson Perrins's grandfather was one of the original partners
in the firm of Lea and Perrins, makers of Worcestershire sauce
and the source of his wealth. In his own right, Mr. Dyson Perrins
was more involved in another famous English firm, the Royal Worcester
Porcelain Company, formed in 1753. In addition to early printed
books illustrated with woodcuts, Mr. Dyson Perrins became a great
collector of English porcelain. After World War I, when the Royal
Worcester factory was experiencing economic difficulty, Mr. Dyson
Perrins took over its management and kept the company operating
at his own expense. In 1934, he bought the company outright After
World War II, Mr. Dyson Perrins decided to sell his collection
of printed books at a series of auctions at Sotheby's in London
between June 1946 and June 1947 in order to re-equip the Royal
Worcester factory, which had been converted to manufacturing electrical
parts for the war effort. The sale of his illustrated books saved
for the British people one of the few remaining companies that
had survived from the early years of Great Britain's industrial
revolution.
The Dyson Perrins sales were among the first important book auctions
to take place after World War II. They attracted many prominent
American book buyers, including Lessing J. Rosenwald for the Library
of Congress, Philip Hofer for Harvard University, and Belle da
Costa Greene for the Pierpont Morgan Library. Many of the books
Mr. Rosenwald purchased are known in only a few copies, and, in
a few cases, they are unique. The exhibition A Heavenly Craft demonstrates
both Mr. Rosenwald's determination to preserve for the American
public many of the highlights collected by Mr. Dyson Perrins, now
held in perpetuity at the Library of Congress, and his knowledge
of early printing and book illustration.
Lessing J. Rosenwald (1891-1979)
Lessing J. Rosenwald, like C.W. Dyson Perrins, was not only a
formidable collector but also an important philanthropist. In 1943,
Mr. Rosenwald signed the first in a series of deeds of gift that
would divide his collection of illustrated books and prints between
the Library of Congress and the National Gallery of Art. According
to Paul Needham, Schiede Librarian at Princeton University, Mr.
Rosenwald's gift to the nation is "one of the great acts of cultural
philanthropy in the history of the United States."
Born in Chicago in 1891, Mr. Rosenwald was the son of Julius Rosenwald
(1862-1932), the organizational genius who created the retail giant
Sears, Roebuck, and Company. Lessing Rosenwald attended Cornell
University, but left before graduation to work with his father
at Sears. He began as a clerk in the shipping department and worked
his way up through various departments of the firm before moving
in 1920 to Philadelphia and taking charge of a new Sears branch
plant. When his father died in 1932, Lessing Rosenwald
took control of the company as chairman of the board. In 1939,
at the age of forty-eight, he retired from Sears, Roebuck to devote
himself to philanthropic work and the further development of his
collection.
Pages
16-17 with Rosenwald’s notes from the Catalogue
of the Magnificent Library Principally of Early Printed and
Early Illustrated Books Formed by C.W. Dyson Perrins, Esq,
the catalogue
for the first sale at Sotheby’s in London on June 17 and 18, 1946.
Rosenwald Archive
Rare Book and Special Collections Division (78)
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Lessing
J. Rosenwald’s inventory book, July 1946, showing purchases
made at the first Dyson
Perrins sale.
Rosenwald Archive
Rare Book and Special Collections Division (79)
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In the late 1920s, Mr. Rosenwald began collecting prints and illustrated
books. By the 1940s, with the help of Philadelphia bookseller A.W.S.
Rosenbach, he had assembled one of the preeminent collections in
the United States. In 1946, Mr. Rosenwald saw an opportunity to
add to his already impressive collection of early printed books
by participating in the sale of the Dyson Perrins collections at
Sotheby's. Mr. Rosenwald was the most important buyer at this sale.
He purchased eighty-four titles, including all of the books that
appear in this exhibition.
After Mr. Rosenwald's death in 1979, his books, a collection of
2,653 titles, plus much of his archive and reference library was
delivered to the Library of Congress. Fred Goff, former chief of
the Rare Book and Special Collection Division, called the Rosenwald
Collection "the jewel in the crown" of the Library of Congress.
This exhibition is a testament to this statement. It is representative
of the largest, and, by many standards one of the most important,
parts of Mr. Rosenwald's unparalleled library--his collection of
early printed books illustrated with woodcuts.
A Margaret Adams Parker.
Impressions from
woodcut block,
no. 82, 2005.
Ink and gouache on paper.
Rare
Book and Special Collections Division (83-84)
B Margaret Adams Parker.
Woodcut block, 2005.
Copy of image in
Passio Domini Jesu Christi.
Augsburg:
Johann Schonsperger, 1490. Poplar.
Rare
Book and Special Collections Division (82)
C Woodblock cutting tools,
late twentieth century. Courtesy of Margaret Adams Parker (85a-c)
D Inking tools, late twentieth century. Courtesy
of Margaret Adams Parker (86a-c) |
Creating a Woodcut
All but two of the images displayed in this exhibition are woodcuts
created in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Woodcut images
were used extensively during this period to illustrate books. The
process of creating a woodcut has changed little over the intervening
six centuries. Although the quality and shape of the knives used
today are somewhat different, the action of making a woodblock
is essentially the same.
Choosing wood for the block is the first step in creating a woodcut.
In the fifteenth century wood from fruit trees, especially pear
trees, was used because of the strength of the wood's grain. These
hardwoods could withstand the pressure the printing press exerted
on the block and insured that the woodblock could be used repeatedly.
Hundreds of legible images could be produced before a new block
had to be cut.
Once the block is planed and sanded flat, an image is either drawn
directly onto the surface of the block or transferred from another
drawing or print. The woodcut artist then uses the lines of the
block as a guide, cutting away all the wood that surrounds the
lines and leaving the lines in relief. The woodblock is then set
onto the bed of a printing press along with type, and ink is applied
to the lines on the block and the type. Finally paper is set on
top of the block and the action of the printing press forces a
transfer of ink to paper, revealing an image which is the reverse
of the image on the block. The areas that have been cut away read
white, and the lines in relief read black.
The woodblock illustrating Christ Washing the Feet of the
Apostles (B) was recently cut by Margaret Adams Parker,
an artist from Alexandria, Virginia. It is copied from the image
in exhibition item number 3, originally printed in Augsburg in
1490. Ms. Parker is a printmaker whose primary medium is woodcut.
She has a special interest in late medieval graphic arts, and
some of her most important works are in the collections of the
Library of Congress.
The new block that Ms. Parker cut is made of poplar, a hardwood
somewhat softer than the fruit woods used in many early woodcuts.
Ms. Parker executed the woodcut by transferring a copy of the original
image onto the block and cutting away all the wood surrounding
the lines, leaving the image in relief. She then inked the lines,
placed paper on top of the block, and put the woodblock through
her press.
Ms. Parker made two woodcut prints (A) from the newly cut woodblock.
The first, printed in black ink but not colored, demonstrates the
transfer of the inked lines of the block to the paper. The
second print, hand-colored with watercolor wash, demonstrates how
a black-and-white image can be highlighted with color, enhancing
its readability while at the same time providing a decorative touch
to the page. Comparison of Ms. Parker's images with the 1490 original
evidences the skill with which Ms. Parker executed her cuts.
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