From Far from the Madding Crowd to Back Onto Center Stage

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My, what big paws you have…   Cotsen’s beloved tiger now back in residence in his old haunt atop the Wall of Books and ready to greet Cotsen Gallery visitors again.

Life is all about serenity, isn’t it? Comfort, peace of mind, and the chance to hang out the “Do Not Disturb” sign when you want a little down time and R&R…

But sometimes you can have a little too much of a good thing, can’t you?  A little too much quiet, calm, and distance from old friends — or admiring fans, in the case of public figures.

Perhaps this was how the Cotsen Gallery’s peaceable kingdom of stuffed animals and fairy tale figures felt during their year-long vacation from the Cotsen Gallery during the (now completed) renovations of the Gallery and Wall of Books?  All of them usually live on top of and inside the Wall of Books, keeping company with many of the oldest and most notable books in the Cotsen collection (dating from the 15th through the 18th centuries).

Of course there’s no way for mere mortals to know what “inanimate” objects think and feel, but children’s literature is full of stories where dolls, plants, and objects of all sorts have secret inner lives and even adventures.  (For some more info on that fascinating aspect of children’s stories, take a look at “The Secret Lives of Plants” on the Cotsen blog.)

During the renovation work, the animals and books from the Wall of Books lived together in the extremely quiet, calm, and quite secure depths of the Rare Book vaults. But apart from the occasional passer-by staff members paging books for library patrons, this must have been a bit lonely after a while.

“Where did all our visitors and the children go?” —- Cotsen’s “peaceable kingdom” animals in the Rare Books vaults during renovation of the Cotsen Gallery.

No admiring visitors saying “hello,” no undergraduates passing by, and — most important of all — no delighted children coming in to visit, admire you, and sometimes even talk to you. (Providing a space for children to enjoy was a key part of Lloyd Cotsen’s vision for the Cotsen Library, in addition to establishing a rare book collection for use by scholars, researchers, faculty, students, and Princeton classes.)

Madeleine and friends inside the Rare Book vaults. “It’s nice and quiet in here, but we miss all our friends!”

Well, that phase is over now.  After a nice hiatus, all the Cotsen animals and figures are back in their familiar homes — atop the Wall of Books, inside the Wall with the books, and inside the Cotsen curatorial offices.  Tan, rested, and ready, as they say… And eagerly waiting for new visitors and old friends to pay them a visit, as of this coming Monday, April 23.

Cotsen’s bear and sheep back inside the Wall of Books, perhaps getting a quick nap in anticipation of all their visitors?

Cotsen’s bear and sheep back inside the Wall of Books, perhaps getting a quick nap in anticipation of all their visitors?

Why not stop by and say “hello”?  The animals will thank you — in their own quiet way, of course… Wait a second, did I hear a whisper of a talking stuffed animal or a talking horse?

Color Pictorial Paper Bindings on 19th-Century Picture Books

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Over the last few months, I’ve been selecting the illustrations for the forthcoming third volume of the Cotsen catalogue, which will describe over 5,000 children’s books published between 1800 and 1899.  It’s been enormous fun to get acquainted with the hidden jewels of nineteenth-century graphic design.  I’ve been especially delighted by example after example of  books bound in boards covered with paper color-printed with magnificent illustrations.

In the following three front covers the artists have transformed the front boards into posters.  I also like them as different representations of  children learning to see.

Pracht-ABC-Buch. Stuttgart: H. Müller’s Kunstverlag, [1868]. (Cotsen 5808)

Wilhelm von Breitschwert’s  cover design for Pracht-ABC: das schonste Bilderbuch, (ca. 1868) puts a new spin on an old theme in educational illustrations: teaching children with paintings or wall charts.  The gigantic picture book is a free-standing gallery whose pages can be explored by any number of children.  Dominating the composition is the mother holding a baby on her shoulder to whom she points out (and presumably explains) different images.   Another of her toddlers tugs at her skirt, anxious for his turn to begin.

Alexander Pock’s Bilderbuch für die Jugend. Wien: Verlag der Gesellschaft für Vervielfältigende Kunst, [1899]. (Cotsen 10986)

The interplay between the animals and the humans in Alexander Pock’s cover is deliciously complicated.   The family is standing with their backs to the viewer as they watch a program of short subjects posted to the right.   A natty fox is pointing to one currently on display–a fox chasing a boy caught out in a lie–but it’s unclear if it’s a magic lantern show, a moving panorama or a film.  The chimpanzee in the hat tries to catch the eye of the boy next to him, hoping for a hand-out.  The bear and eagle in the niches above the standing figures look over their heads, but the viewer has no idea what they are see in the distance to the right.

A Travers l’Exposition. Paris: Librairie de Theódore Lefev̀re et Cie, Émile Guérin, [1889?]. (Cotsen 43278)

The children’s heads are literally bursting through a map of the 1889 Paris Exposition universelle, which they will “tour” via the picture book.  The Tour Eiffel (unfinished at the event’s opening) marked the entrance to the spectacle and is likewise the gateway into this illustrated account of the shows that were on display inside.  Of course in the plates, the brother and sister are accompanied by their chic maman, but the cover holds out the liberating prospect of wandering around on their own.

There are plenty more where these bindings came from–and some of the best of the best will be illustrated in the Cotsen catalogue when it comes out at the end of this year.