Library Company of Philadelphia
It’s time for another #SleepingInTheStacks feature! Titled Miss Sleepy-Head, this circa 1840-1880 comic valentine reads:
My pretty maid, to me it seems / You’re always in the land of dreams; / Take my advice, and never wed - / Your mate should be a feather bed.
Comic valentines, very popular in the United States beginning in the early 1840s, are quite different from the lacy, heart-shaped cards that one associates with the holiday today. The cartoons and verses poke fun at various occupations, ethnicities, human frailties, romantic aspirations, habits and pastimes, political activities, as well as participation in the American Civil War.
We know Miss Sleepy-Head is meant as a joke, but we’re kind of jealous of her sleepy ways.
See more comic valentines here!
The Busy World.
Just before he left for America, Birch began work on a series of Hogarthian satirical and humorous engravings called The Busy World, or London Dissected, based on drawings by Dutch- British artist Benedictus Antonio van Assen. They clearly anticipated the many vignettes of street life scattered throughout Birch’s later views of Philadelphia. Some were sold separately, hand-colored or plain, before and after he emigrated. This manuscript list of completed prints includes all the prints shown here, and another list of projected prints and a short list of subscribers found in his papers indicate that he was perhaps halfway through with this project when he abandoned it.
William Birch, Ingenious Artist: His Life, His Views of Philadelphia, and His Legacy is on display now through October 19, 2018. To learn more visit: http://librarycompany.org/birch2018/
These characters drawn on the flyleaf of a financial daybook (1791-1792) from the Benjamin Rush papers show that doodling in otherwise meticulous notebooks is a centuries-old pastime.
Rush Family Papers. Daybook, 1791-1792. Ms. Yi 7271 vol. 53.
A sharp-eyed reader spotted something out of place at the back of a pamphlet titled “Constitution of the Female Association of Philadelphia, 1803.” The page number “23” following page number “32” was clear sign that something was amiss.
This week’s publishers’ binding is elegant in its simplicity. We love the delicate gold ferns against the green cloth, and the bevelled edge boards create a luxurious hand-feel. Notice also the type on the gold-stamped title. This spare and understated design is consistent with the aesthetic trend in American publishers’ bindings in the 1860s. Found on our copy of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s May-Day, and Other Pieces (Boston, 1867). #PublishersBindingThursday
Browse the Library Company’s database of 19th-Century Cloth Bindings to see more!
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. May-day, and other pieces. Boston : Ticknor and Fields.
1867.
This week’s #SleepingInTheStacks feature shows a humorous example of Philadelphia on a “busy” day, including a man asleep on the job as his horse eats grass in the middle of a street in front of Independence Hall. #asif
People have always loved capturing their likeness, silhouettes were an affordable way to have a portrait made.
William
Birch visited Peale’s Museum to have this silhouette made. Philadelphians of
all means went to the art and natural history museum to have their profile cut
for one penny.
This silhouette is currently on display in our exhibition William Birch, Ingenious Artist: His Life, His Philadelphia Views, and his Legacy. For more information visit: http://librarycompany.org/birch2018/
William Birch, ca. 1805. Paper silhouette with embossed stamp from Peale’s Museum. Library Company of Philadelphia.
![Now available: All the hats for all your various and hilarious needs. We recommend the calash bonnet for those abundantly sunny days, it’s like window blinds for your face!
[Late 18th century bonnets.] John Fanning Watson. Extra-Illustrated...](https://64.media.tumblr.com/f793fb58ff11a0265bdf60578eaa6f1f/tumblr_p87tk8ugsi1u23qdao1_250.jpg)
Now available: All the hats for all your various and hilarious needs. We recommend the calash bonnet for those abundantly sunny days, it’s like window blinds for your face!
[Late 18th century bonnets.] John Fanning Watson. Extra-Illustrated Manuscript of Annals of Philadelphia (1830)
Jules Verne may not have thought of Star Wars, but he is the father of science fiction. His works paved the way for our favorite heroes in a galaxy far far away.
Jules Verne. From the Earth to the Moon. New York, Scribner, Armstrong, 1874.
Is a rendering of “A Highly Restricted Residential Park” what you think? Yes and no. Associate Curator of Prints and Photographs Erika Piola highlights a recent acquisition of an original drawing from long-term donor David Doret in her Curator’s Favorite “To Beguile and Belie.”