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- Title
- [Scrapbook of prints]
- Description
- Scrapbook containing predominantly clipped book and periodical illustrations, including a number of vignettes engraved by W. E. Tucker after the work of Thomas Birch, showing European and American landscapes and landmarks, animal portraiture, and genre and Biblical scenes. Landscape and landmark views mainly depict the Eastern United States and Great Britain. Titles include Passaic Falls; Bandit's Home; The Woodlands, near Philadelphia-Seat of J. Lisle Esq.; Philadelphia from the Elm Tree, Kensington; The Prison at Venice; Abbey Gate of St. Edmundsbury, Suffolk; The Little Irish Girl; The City of Pompeii; The Deluge; The Three Maries at the Tomb of Christ; The Residence of Samuel Breck Esq. on the Schuylkill; Barlborough Hall, Derbyshire; Church Street, St Paul's Church & the Cemetery Gate of St. Augustine's Monastery, Canterbury; The Happy Family; and Plate XV from a 1782 edition of Don Quixote. Several of the views contain persons on foot, images of estates or rural life, farm animals, and modes of transportation on land or sea. Animal portraitures depict birds, sheep, goats, cows, and a wolf. Scrapbook also contains early European landscape lithographs designed by J. Rothmuller and G. Englemann; a lithograph signed with the monogram JPL; illustrated title pages from Oliver Goldsmith's "The Traveler" and William Shenstone's "The School Mistress"; a portrait of Elizabeth Fry; cutouts depicting a tiger and a Moses-like figure; watercolor and gouache drawings of flowers, a butterfly and a ruins; a pressed feather; and three newspaper clippings referring to poets M. LaMartine, Lady Flora Hastings, and Felicia Hemans., Title supplied by cataloger., Label pasted on inside front cover: A. R. Poole, Fancy Stationer, 66 Chestnut St., Philada., Some pages contain paste marks from removed items., Various artists, including T. Doughty, T. Birch, J. V. Barber, P. Dewint, B. K. Fox, L. T. Lee, J. Martin, J. Rothmuller, Charles Barber, Joseph Fussell, R. Westall, G. S. Newton, A. Mosses, B. West, Geo. Shepherd, John Boaden, and Stothard., Various engravers, including W. E. Tucker, W. Miller, C. G. Childs, J. Lybrand, Hall, Charles Pye, Robert Brandard, Mottram, J. W. Steel, J. B. Longacre, E. Smith, J. Neagle, H. Adlard, Hamilton, and William Blake., Various printers and publishers, including Engelmann, Whittaker & Co., Joyce Gold, Pendleton, and Harrison & Co., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Binding in poor condition., Mary Rebecca Darby Smith (1814-1886) was the daughter of Philadelphia Quakers Hannah Logan Fisher (1777-1846) and James Smith (d. 1826) and great great granddaughter of scholar and William Penn's secretary James Logan. Smith, known as an eccentric, never married and traveled widely from the mid to late 19th century. Between 1859 and 1886, she resided in Washington, D.C (1859-1861) and traveled to Europe (1860-1870; 1874-1876; 1880-1886), including the British Isles, Rome, Venice, Paris and St. Petersburg. She was also an autograph collector, author, poet, and socialite. Smith died and was buried in London in November 1886. Her estate was valued at over $30,000 and she left several bequests, including to the Library Company, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and friends throughout the East coast of the United States, Europe, and Russia.
- Creator
- Smith, Mary Rebecca Darby
- Date
- ca. 1782-ca. 1835
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare 4-Alcove 2 [Is 6 1536.Q, vol. 1]
- Title
- [Deborah Passmore Gillingham scrapbook of prints, drawings, and specimens]
- Description
- Scrapbook of chiefly engravings, drawings, and specimens compiled starting in 1847 by Quaker amateur artist Deborah P. Gillingham. Contains several circa 1810s-1850s book and periodical illustrations, including from "Godey’s Lady’s Book," the "Union Magazine", and the "Literary Souvenir" (London), that depict genre, sentimental, historical, European, and literary scenes and views, as well as portraits of prominent American and European literary, religious, and political figures, particularly abolitionists. Titles of illustrations include "Cinderella"; "Harvest Wagon"; "Bolton Abbey, Wharfdale"; "Lockport, Erie Canal"; "Bit"; "The Sisters Clio"; "Steps to Ruin"; "The Rescue"; "Warming the Mitten"; "Going to School"; "Queen Henrietta Interceding for the King"; "France, Lyon"; and "Fall of Terni." Many of the "Union Magazine" illustrations are after the work of artist Tompkins H. Matteson and depict scenes with children, women, families and/or couples. Illustrations also include the 1848 comic plate "The Lost Glove" depicting an African American servant and a dandy ("Union Magazine," April 1848) and an 1838? portrait of "Joanna," the enslaved woman with whom British–Dutch colonial soldier and author of "The Narrative of a Five Years Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam" (1796, reprinted 1838) John Gabriel Stedman had a relationship. Portrait sitters include Lucretia Mott, Gerrit Smith, Elias Hicks, Thomas Clarkson, Thomas Moore, Daniel O’Connell, Alice B. Neale, and Benjamin Lundy. Illustrations also depict Philadelphia landmarks, including Franklin Institute, Schuylkill Water Works, and Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane. Philadelphia views also include a separately-issued lithograph depicting Clermont Academy printed by Childs & Inman after George Lehman., A number of pencil works and ink drawings comprise the scrapbook with many captioned and depicting dwelling, landscape, and landmark views of Switzerland and Great Britain. Includes pencil sketch "from memory" of "Jungfrau, Switzerland" (Alps) by "E.B.E"; pencil drawing "The House in which Shakespeare was born. Henley Street. Strafford Upon Avon"; gouache and watercolors of "Chinese Fish"; pencil drawings with Chinese white captioned "Austin's Farm at Supiston Suffolk. The early residence of Robert Bloomfield" and "Mill at Bannockburn in which James 3rd was killed"; a pencil drawing of Friends Bank Meeting House inscribed "Mary Young"; pencil drawing of "Residence of George Fox" inscribed "John Young"; and two landscape watercolors by English Quaker social reformer and anti-slavery activist Elizabeth Heyrick., Scrapbook also contains several labeled botanical and material specimens from historical, Biblical, literary, and cultural landmarks and sites, as well as "Specimens of sea moss (i.e. algae) from Cape May May 1848" (one arranged in the letters "D.G.") and the hair of "E.M. Chandler." Often placed in folded sheets of paper with inscribed labels, specimens include "From the scene of Grays Elegy by Mantle Tower That Yew Tree shade"; "From the grave of Cromwell"; "Waterloo"; "Piece of South Sea Island Cloth"; "Mummy cloth unrolled by Gliddon 1851"(Egyptologist George Robbins Gliddon publically unwrapped mummies as performances in Boston and Philadelphia, 1851-1852); and "Pompei.", Additional items of note include a pencil sketch by Gillingham of "East Mount. The residence of John Pease England"; etchings depicting Suffolk landmarks by Henry Davy; the anti-slavery manuscript poem "America" signed and dated by British Quaker novelist, poet, and abolitionist Amelia Opie (Norwich 1846); the anti-slavery manuscript poem "Do as thou wouldst be done by"… signed and dated by British Quaker poet Bernard Barton (Woodbridge September 19, 1846); and circa 1847 calling cards by Chinese writing specialist Tsow Chaoong (Philadelphia 1847-1849) handwritten in English and Chinese characters “D.P. Gillingham” and "Y. M. Gillingham." A small number of circa 1900s clippings and photomechanical prints of portraits and landscapes also comprise the contents., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from content., Inscribed on p. [1]: Deborah P. Gillingham 10 mo 20. 1847., Marbled paper binding., Several pages contain tissue paper overlays., Incomplete pencil sketch of dwellings on verso of drawing of "The River Side of Earlham" on p. [10]., Various artists, engravers, printers, and publishers include Childs & Inman; John Collins; Henry Davy; A. L. Dick; George Lehman; Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green; Tompkins H. Matteson; Henry Sadd; John Sartain; and Thomas Sinclair., RVCDC, Access points revised 2022., Housed in phase box., Number of items missing or removed from pages., Page numbers added by cataloger lower right corner., Loose pages and inserts of gold paper removed, placed in enclosure, and housed with scrapbook in phase book., Deborah Passmore Gillingham (1820-1877), cousin of professional botanical illustrator Deborah Griscom Passmore (1840-1911), was an amateur botanical illustrator. Disowned from the Orthodox Philadelphia Meeting, Northern District in 1842, Passmore became a member of the Hicksite Green Street Meeting. She married Philadelphia wool merchant Yeamans Moon Gillingham (1817-1885) in 1844 and relocated with him to Moorestown, N.J. in 1850 following his retirement. The couple had a son Aubrey Howard Gillingham (1850-1885). In 1855 the family was recommended by the Green Street Meeting for the Eversham Monthly Meeting, N.J. At her death, Gillingham was a member of the Moorestown Monthly Meeting. Among her bequests were funds to endow beds at the Philadelphia Orthopedic Hospital and Dispensary and the Women’s Hospital.
- Creator
- Gillingham, Deborah Passmore, 1820-1877, compiler
- Date
- [ca. 1810-ca. 1910, bulk 1830-1850]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums [P.2019.6]
- Title
- William Russell Birch Collection
- Description
- Collection containing primarily engravings, watercolors, and drawings executed by English-born artist and engraver William Birch and his descendants between the 18th and later 19th century. Several of the graphic materials are by William Birch and represent engraved work he completed in Britain before 1794 and following his immigration to the United States that same year. His British work includes plates from his unpublished satiric volume “The Busy World, or London Dissected ...” (ca. 1792-ca. 1793) showing a charlatan at work, a fight between Richard Humphreys and Daniel Mendoza, a May Day procession, and rag dealers (P.2016.50.28-33); loose plates from his book of British landscapes “Les Delices de la Grande Bretagne” (1791) (P.2016.50.34, 36, 42); the rural and scenic “The Porcupine Inn Yard Rushmore Hill” (p.2016.50.38); the disaster print “The Great Fire of London in the Year 1666” (P.2016.50.55); and portraits of the poetical character Secander (P.2016.50.40) and his mentor “Sir Joshua Reynolds” (P.2016.50.22). His American work includes variant editions of plates from his “Views of Philadelphia” originally published as a series 1798-1800 (P.2016.62.21-37); variant editions of plates from his “Country Seats” originally published in 1808 (P.2016.62.38-45a); and the 1800 commemorative portrait “George Washington. Late President of the United States of America” (hand-colored and black and white [P.2016.50.59 & P.2016.62.55])., British and American work of Birch is also included in the collection in the form of watercolors, drawings, paintings, a sketchbook, and as photographic reproductions. These graphics depict portraits of family members (some photographed ca. 1910s by Charles W. Parker), including his children Priscilla, Thomas, George, and Albina while young as well as his purportedly his mother Anne (P.2016.50); ca. 1800s plan and views of his Bucks County country seat Springland (purchased in 1798) (P.2016.50.48-50); views of the Philadelphia country seat China Retreat, Gunpowder Falls near Hampton, MD, and the George Read estate in New Castle, DE (P.2016.50.43, 45-46); an annotated sketch of Westminster Bridge from the Adelphi Terrace (P.2016.50.51); a drawing of a group of boys (P.2016.62.2); and pencil sketches of male and female figures within an undated sketchbook (P.2016.62.59). Additionally, Birch’s work is represented by a preparatory sketch of an A. Sheffer portrait of Lafayette (P.2016.50.21); portrait drawings of unidentified sitters (P.2015.25 & 26); a ca. 1795 miniature enamel painting of his daughter Deborah (P.2016.50.67); a palette of his paint colors (P.2016.50.66); and an 1830s oil painting of an older Thomas Birch (1779-1851) attributed to William (P.2016.62.1)., Other original and reproduced material is attributed to William Birch or by Birch family members or by other artists and engravers. This includes a 1742 Thomas Worlidge pencil portrait of William’s father Thomas (P.2016.50.14), a Birch portrait of William King (father-in-law of son Thomas), and portraits and a "Museum" (i.e., Peale Museum) blind-stamped silhouette of Birch (P.2016.50.16); ca. 1785 Robert Freebairn watercolor of Hampstead Heath (Birch’s British county of residence); engravings by M. Marigot of “Mount Vernon ...” and “View of the City and Port of Philadelphia ...” from Janson's "Stranger in America" (London, 1807); Franklin Birch 1860s pencil sketches of a printing press and plows (P.2016.62.5-6)); Louise S. Birch's oil renderings of flowers (P.2016.62.12-13); sketches of a title page to the 1852 edition of Thomas Day’s “The History of Sanford and Merton” and of rural and landscape scenes and animal studies (Thomas Birch?; P.2016.62.3, 8-11); John McAllister, Jr. 1860 restrikes (some signed by Agnes McAllister) of Philadelphia views by Charles Willson Peale, Thomas Birch and William Strickland and the 1798 “Congressional Pugilists cartoon (P.2016.62.46-52; and engraved portraits of Major Genl. Brown (P.2016.62.53) and Edward Shippen (P.2016.62.54)., Collection also contains a unique ca. 1810 mockup by Birch for a revised and enlarged edition of his “Country Seats” (P.2016.62.59).The album includes plates from the first edition as well as a proof plate of the Devon view, three watercolors showing “Analostun, or Masons Island with one wing of the house at Georgetown and two of Mr. Custus’s in the distance”; “Point Breeze. The Residence of Joseph Bonapart – at Burdentown on the Delaware”;“The Mill & House of Mr. E. Esirel late sheriff of Phila., Near Christeen,” and a pencil sketch “Mr. Bells Buildings at Richmond.” Other unique items in the Birch Collection include his two variant volumes of manuscript copies of “The Life and Anecdotes of William Russell Birch ...”(bulk written after War of 1812 and into the 1820s), including accounts of his work and travels (P.2016.50.61 & 62); “Birch’s American Cottage. Volm. 2nd” of personal anecdotes, including discussion of Springland (P.2016.50.63); Birch’s “Book of Profitts” with entries dated 1813-1830 (P.2016.50.64); and probably his personal copy of “Les Delices de la Grande Bretagne” (P.2016.50.65). An imperfect copy of “Les Delices” formerly owned by original subscriber Francis Longe (and including his book plate) and a copy of “Transactions of the Society Instituted at London” (1785) referencing a Birch award (p.183) are also included with the materials (P.2016.50.65 & 60)., A small number of manuscripts written by William Birch comprise the collection as well. These materials include a ca. 1800-ca.1805 calligraphic and manuscript title page to "Views of and from The Country References of William Birch. Drawn by Himself wih a sett of Drawings of Springland"; a ca. 1818 letter to an unidentified granddaughter (P.2015.50.1); an undated letter addressed to the Duke of Grafton and Duke of Richmond about “forgetting their subscriptions” (possibly about subscription to Delices... [1791]) (P.2015.50.2); scraps with names of subscribers to “Busy World” (P.2015.50.3) as well as titles completed and to be completed (P.2015.50.4&5); ca. 1805 list of views of “Beautys of Springland not Pictured” (P.2015.50.6); and an 1811 receipt for 5 dollars issued to Ben Wilson for “Views.” (P.2015.50.7). Ephemera also forms the Birch Collection and includes Birch’s certificate of United States citizenship issued in 1808 (P.2016.50.52); a broadside advertising the 1789 titles to be issued by “J. Bell of the British Library” and addressed to Wm. Birch, Hampstead Heath (P.2016.50.53); the bookplate of historian and writer Thomas Birch (1705-1766) (P.2016.50.35 &P.2016.62.15); completed tags for William Birch miniatures on display at the 1911 The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and The Pennsylvania Society of Miniature Painters Tenth Annual Exhibition (P.2016.62.17-20); early twentieth-century receipts and labels for works by Thomas and William Birch (P.2016.62.62-66); and an unused enamel plate (P.2016.50.27)., Various artists, engravers, printers, and photographers including William Russell Birch, Thomas Birch, Franklin Birch, Louise Birch, J. N. Gimbrede, Jan Griffier, Augustus Kollner, M. Marigot, Charles W. Parker, Charles Willson Peale, P. Roberts, J. Rogers, Julius F. Sacshe, Ary Sheffer, Samuel Shelley, Thomas T. Stiles, Gilbert Stuart, Benedictus Antonio Van Assen, E. Wellmore, J. Wood, and Thomas Worlidge., Various publishers and distributors including J. Bell, William Birch, R. Campbell & Co., James Cundee, E. Jeffrey, Edward J. Parker, R. Pollard, C. Taylor, and T. Thornton., Research files, genealogical reference files, and modern photographic reproductions of the artists' work that accompanied the collection when acquired are available at the repository., See Emily T. Cooperman and Lea Carson Sherk, Picturing the American Scene (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011)., See Emily T. Cooperman, ed., The Country Seats of the United States. William Russell Birch (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009)., See S. Robert Teitelman, Birch's Views of Philadelphia. (Philadelphia: The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1982, rev. 2000)., See Martin P. Snyder, "William Birch: His Philadelphia Views," The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 73 (July 1949), 271-315., See Martin Snyder, "Birch's Philadelphia Views: New Discoveries," The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 88 (April 1964), 164-173., See Martin P. Snyder, "William Birch: his ’Country seats of the United States,’" Pennsylvania magazine of History and Biography 81 (1957), 225-254., Lib. Company. Annual Report, 2017, p. 49 - 51., P.2018.55 photographic reproduction of Mrs. Robinson engraved by William Birch after Sir Joshua Reynolds housed with collection., William Russell Birch (1755-1834), trained in England under Sir Joshua Reynolds, was a respected Philadelphia engraver, miniaturist, and enamel painter. Birch was also one of the most important landscape artists in America’s Federal period. He engraved and published the first viewbook of an American city, "The City of Philadelphia in the Year… 1800" and the respected "The Country Seats of the United States of North America" in 1804. His son Thomas Birch (1779-1851) assisted him in the drawing and engraving of his viewbooks. He became a respected artist in his own right and specialized in marine paintings.
- Date
- [ca. 1742 - ca. 1913]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Birch Collection [P.2016.50 & 62 and P.2017.54 and P.2018.55]
- 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]