[John Serz scrapbook]
Title
[John Serz scrapbook]
Description
Scrapbook of print specimens, proofs, and original drawings primarily delineated and compiled by German-born Philadelphia engraver John Serz. Contents include book and periodical illustrations; separately-issued views; portrait prints; certificates; and job printing specimens. Majority of graphics depict religious, landscape, historical, genre, and fashion views, including plates from "Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints" (New York, 1864); Auerbach’s "Tales of the Black Forest"; Sartain’s Magazine; Graham’s Illustrated Magazine; W. Alvin Lloyd’s Railroad Guide; and Demorest’s Monthly Magazine. Religious and historical themes include the Last Supper, the Crucifixion, and other Biblical scenes, Mary and Jesus, scenes of prayer, William Penn's Treaty, the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo, and the Civil War. Other well-represented material is separately-issued city, bird's eye, landscape, and collegiate views showing European and American sites, including Albany; Baltimore; Boston; Dresden; Hildburghausen; Humboldt (Ca.), New York; Washington, D.C.; Fort Putnam; Philadelphia; Georgetown College; Notre Dame University; Lake of Four Cantons (i.e., Lake Lucerne) and Rutli, Switzerland; West Point; Suspension Bridge over Niagara; and Tivoli. Scrapbook also contains numerous portrait prints (often frontispieces); advertisements; European prints, as well as watercolors and drawings, which show the Centennial Exhibition (1876); landscapes, village scenes, and tree and flower arrangement studies., Portrait print sitters include John Stainbach Wilson, M.D.; Mary A. Niemeyer; Daniel Webster; Hannah Rose Hoffman; and E. R. Beadle. Advertisements depict primarily Philadelphia storefronts and factories and often also show street and pedestrian traffic. Businesses include X. Bazin Perfumery Laboratory (917 Cherry St); Joseph J. Canavan Morocco Factory (1225 N. Fifth St.); Allen’s Furniture Warehouse (1209 Chestnut Street); Joseph Beckhaus Carriage Factory (1204 Frankford Ave.); Gumpert Bros. cigars (1341 Chestnut St.); Oxford Carpets Mills (Wm. Hogg, Jr.)(140 Oxford St.); Baugh & Sons, Manufacturers of Raw Bone Super Phosphate Lime (120 S. Delaware Ave.); Theo. Wilson & Co., Steam Ship, Bread, Cracker & Cake Bakery (212 & 214 N. Front St.); White, Hentz & Co., Rectifiers of Spirits & Importers of Wines & Liquors (222 N. Second St.). European prints include plates from Bernard-Romain Julien "Cours Elementaire" and from Wilhem Hermes's figure drawing books "Berliner Zeichenleher," i.e. United States Systematic Drawing Schools (New York edition); engravings by Serz, several published by German publishers Schneider U Wegel, and primarily showing views of German villages Unterberg (Bavaria) and Nuremberg, and bridges, castles, and churches; and chromolithographs, including the title page, from the Korn'schen series of views of Nuremberg "Ansichten von Nurnberg". Other content includes job printing specimen vignettes and labels depicting allegorical, patriotic and industrial imagery; proofs of the "Rose of Philadelphia, "Rose of Washington, D.C.," and labels for patent medicine manufacturer David Jayne illustrated with Jayne's Building, Chinese characters, and a dramatic scene; and images of wild and domestic animals, including a condor, lemming, sheep, dogs, horses, hippo, boar, camel, and elephant., Contents also include certificate specimens for a temperance society, Sunday School, and the fraternal organization Alpha Omega; the relgious-themed prints "A Curious Piece of Antiquity on the Crucifixion of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," "Jesus Healing the Sick," and "The Two Thieves: The Holy Land Exhibiting the Places & Cities Mentioned in the Old & New Testament"; the Serz color engraving Kriegs =Neurigkeiten (i.e. War News) showing men gathered at a table in a village tavern; an advertisement for Philadelphia calico printer Wm. Simpson & Sons depicting a sepulchral monument; and a post mortem portrait engraved by Serz showing Napoelon II, i.e., Duke of Reichstadt., Various American and European artists, engravers, lithographers, and printers, including W. H. Bartlett; J.C. Garrigues & Co.; H. B. Hall & Sons; Heliographic Co. of NY; Langlumé; G. Lury; A. H. Payne; J. C. MacRae; J. Poppel; John Sartain; F. Silber; Joshua Shaw; and F. W. Topham., Various American and European publishers, including D. & J. Sadlier & Co.; John Dainty; Francois Delarue; Friedrich Kornschen; F. W. Thomas & Sons; Parmelee & Co.; Henry Tuessli & Co.; and Max Jacoby & Zeller., Some prints annotated with lines of perspective., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Loose items retained in album., Gift of Madelyn Wolke, Lucianne Reichert, and Clifford A. Mohwinkel Jr., John Serz (1808-1881), born in Nuremberg, Bavaria, worked as an engraver in Germany before immigrating to Philadelphia circa 1851. Naturalized in 1856, Serz earned enough income from his trade to be taxed by the I.R.S. during the Civil War. During the 1870s, his bird's-eye print "Philadelphia and Environs" was advertised in the "Public Ledger" and he served as professor of drawing at the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music. Serz was also a president and secretary of the old Artists Club and member of several German societies, including the German Society of Pennsylvania. He died of a skull fracture in 1881.
Creator
Serz, John, ca. 1810-ca. 1878
Date
[ca. 1842-ca. 1893]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *albums (flat) [P.9773]
[Scrapbook of European views]
Title
[Scrapbook of European views]
Description
Scrapbook containing photographic and printed views of European cities, landmarks, and historical sites. Images depict the city and landscapes; castles, palaces, and estates; cathedrals and chuches; and hotels and resorts of Germany, Russia, Spain, Austria, France, Italy, Switzerland, and Great Britain. Images also show bridges, sailing vessels, pedestrians and street traffic, persons on promenades, horse-drawn vehicles, waterways, mountains, and squares and parks. Views (interiors and exteriors) of prominent sites include Vienna Arsenal (as a museum - 1874); Crucis and Netley Abbeys; Chester Cathedral; Staffordshire-in-Arms; the resting place and residence of Wordsworth; tomb of the Lafayette family; the house and bedroom where Msr. Le Duc D'Orleans died; Ripon Cathedral; Haddon Hall; the Crescent (Buxton); Shangana Castle (includes notes by Smith about her "happy days" spent there and the death of Augustus William Heyman); and Peveril Castle. Also includes several Laurie & Whittle vues d'optique published by "act of parliament May 12, 1794" depicting views of European cities, including Venice, Rome, Madrid, Paris and Versailles, as well as a number of plates from F. Sinnett's "La France de nos jours" (ca. 1860). Views of the Wilhelm monuments at Charlottenberg; Derwentwater; Lausanne; and the Druid Stones are also included in the scrapbook., Title supplied by cataloger., Some items contain manuscript notes by Smith inscribed on mount or verso. Notes often detail personal memories., Various artists and photographers, including Alfred Lorens, G. Zocchi, Anth. Canale (Canaletto), M. Marieschi, J. Rigaud, J. Philippe, Asselineau, Chapuy, Wegelin, E. Dardoize, L. L. Raze, E. H. Buckler, T. Bailey, G. Hawkins, J. Croston, T. Allom, H. Gastineau, J. Brandard, W. Coles; L. Aspland, and W. Westall., Various engravers, including T. Bowles, Parr, J. Robert, J. Tinney, Johann Baptist Marie Chamouin, T. Speorli, S. Lacey, W. Le Petit, H. Adlard, W. Floyd, and W. Banks., Various printers and publishers, including Cuvillier, Lemercier, Laurie & Whittle, A. Hauser (Veith et Hauser), Destouches, Deroy, Bulla Freres et Jouy, Tirpenne, Jacottet, Spengler, Becquet frères, William Judson, A. LaRiviere, Day & Son, J. Gow, J. C. Bates, Newman & Co., James Gratton, and M & N. Hanhart., Forms part of M. Rebecca Darby Smith Scrapbooks Collection., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012.
Creator
Smith, Mary Rebecca Darby
Date
[ca. 1794-ca. 1874]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare 4-Alcove 2 [Is 6 1518.Q, vol. 3]