Asher B. Durand Extra-Illustrated or Grangerized?

Catalogue of the Engraved Work of Asher B. Durand. Introduction by Charles Henry Hart (1847-1918), (New York: Grolier Club, 1895). Graphic Arts (GAX) 2009- in process

In April of 1895, there was an exhibition held at the Grolier Club in New York City focused on the engravings of American artist Asher Brown Durand (1796-1886). 350 copies of the catalogue were printed in a large-paper edition in May of that year and circulated to the members of the Club.

A devoted fan of Durand’s work (as yet unidentified) took that catalogue and extra-illustrated it with all the original engravings he/she could acquire. This acquisition will provide Princeton researchers with not only a description of what Durand produced but also a copy of the actual print.

The term extra-illustrated refers to a book that has more prints or illustrations in it than when the book was published. These were usually added by trimming and tipping the prints onto extra pages (or sometimes right on top of the text) and then, rebinding the original text pages with the new plates.

The British term “Grangerizing” has a slightly different connotation, stemming from James Granger’s Biographical History of England (1769), which was published with blank leaves already provided for the reader to fill with prints. Grangerizing became a popular hobby in England and unfortunately, many other books were cut up to provide the extra prints for these homemade editions.

For more information on the difference between the two terms, and more history, see: H. J. Jackson, Marginalia: Readers Writing in Books (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001). Firestone Library (F) Z1003 .J12 2001