One of the great things about antique prints and maps is that even after 35 years in the business, I still am surprised and delighted on a regular basis by things we come across. Just yesterday, while organizing some of our prints here in the shop, we came across two prints with remarkably similar images of foolish men jumping. No connection at all between the prints, but a pretty funny coincidence.
The first print is from a delightful series of illustrations of
Mother Goose rhymes by Frederick Richardson. These prints, issued in 1915, are fun both because they include many of the rhymes I learned as a child, but also because of the charming illustrations. This print has a rhyme I am not so familiar with, but the drawing is a hoot. This man is definitely foolish though he seems to come out of his trials ok.
The second print was issued over four decades before and it shows French journalist and "demagogue," Henri Rochefort. The print was issued in
Vanity Fair on January 22, 1870 and the description of Rochefort by the magazine is anything but flattering.
It may be total coincidence that the two images are so similar, but we might speculate that perhaps Richardson was familiar with this image from
Vanity Fair and decided to borrow it for the
nursery rhyme print. Whatever the case, another of the many fun things we've run into over the years.
For years I have been trying to get some information about a print my parents bought at Niagra Falls in 1965. It is a landscape of a dirt road and a red barn and silo on a hill in the distance. It measures about 20" by 26" and is singed - Ashley with an A in a circle. I'm looking for information on original, artist, and age or whatever else you could tell me. Your website is the closest I found with a promising lead.
ReplyDelete