Don't Wipe Your Nose With This Map

by Stephen J. Gertz

Evelyn Mulwray: It's a handkerchief!
[slap]
Jake Gertz: I said I want the truth!
Evelyn Mulwray: It's a map…
[slap]
Evelyn Mulwray: It's a handkerchief…
[slap]
Evelyn Mulwray: A handkerchief, a map.
[More slaps]
Jake Gertz: I said I want the truth!
Evelyn Mulwray: It's a handkerchief AND a map!

The Travelling Handkerchief  has come to town, Fairburn's Map of the Country Twelve Miles Round London by E. Bourne, printed on calico, 590 x 540 mm, in 1831, a scarce, early handkerchief map.

The map is circular, and reaches Teddington in the south west, clockside to Norwood, Harrow on the Hill, Chipping Barnet, Dagenham, Purley and Kingsston, wherever they are. I'm in Los Angeles, clockside to Westwood, harrowing on Barrington, Pico and Sepulveda; what do I know? This cartographical Kleenex™ is decorated by vignette views of Chelsea and Greenwich Hospitals in the bottom corners, and a banner heralding the title is held aloft in an eagle's beak.

Washington D.C. based on
Samuel Hill's engraving of Andrew Ellicott's plan.
Printed in Boston, c. 1792.

Handkerchief maps date back to the late 18th century. Examples featuring the plan for Washington D.C. werre sold as "'an authentic plan of the Metropolis of the United States,' advertised as an accurate guide for the prospective purchaser of lots but also as 'a very handsome ornament for the parlor or counting room" (Luria, Capital Speculations: Writing and Building Washington, p. 14). These handkerchief maps are believed to have been printed in Boston in 1792 in connection with "the sale of lots in the new 'Federal Town'" (Works Progress Administration, Washington: City and Capital, p. xiv).

Map of the Baltic theatre of the Crimean War
Paris, Dopter, c.1855.
Engraved map, printed on silk. 650 x 610mm.
Map of the Baltic Sea during
the Crimean War, when the British and French
sent their fleets to blockade St Petersburg.
It is decorated with vignettes of St Petersberg,
Kronstadt, naval scenes and French and British coat-of-arms.

During the 19th century, the British Army's Quartermaster-General Department in India issued handkerchief maps of Delhi and Attock for use by their troops, and they were published as souvenirs during the Crimean War.

The Absent-Minded Beggar.
London, the Daily Mail Publishing Co. Ltd, c.1899.
Linen handkerchief printed in blue, 460 x 470mm.
Printed handkerchief published by the Daily Mail
to rise funds for the "Soldiers' Families Fund"
after the outbreak of the Second Boer War (1899-1902).

Guildhall Library in London has an example of The Travelling Handkerchief in its collection and of another handkerchief map scarcity, An Illustrated Map of London, published in 1850.

Anonymous.
London and its Environs for 1832.
Engraving on cotton. 915 x 890mm.

Handkerchief maps were issued to U.S. Air Force servicemen during WWII as escape maps if shot down over enemy territory. On acetate rayon, linen, or silk, they were lightweight, waterproof, hard to tear and tough to disintegrate; they were able to take a beating yet still fulfill their purpose. The British also issued handkerchief maps to their air force crews and ground troops in all theaters of operation.

The Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection at University of Wisconsin has sixteen mid-20th century handkerchief maps of U.S. states, Canada, the 1939 World's Fair, etc. in its collection.

Surviving eighteenth and nineteenth century handkerchief maps in collectible condition are quite rare.

Jake Gertz: My nose is bleeding, gimme your handkerchief.
Walsh: Forget it, Jake, I'm lookin' for Chinatown. It's on here somewhere.
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BOURNE, E. The Travelling Handkerchief. Fairburn's Map of the Country Twelve Miles Round London. London: John Fairburn, 1831. Engraved map printed on calico. 590 x 540mm.

Howgego 216 (3).
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The Travelling Handkerchief and other British handkerchief map images courtesy of Altea Gallery, with our thanks.

Image of Washington D.C. handkerchief map courtesy of George Washington University GW Magazine, with our thanks.

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Politics, Astrology, And The Weather: A Guide To The 2012 Election

by Stephen J. Gertz

Because of its topical nature, Booktryst revisits a book we first took a look at in 2010, here with an updated slant.

 

Action in the sky = Politics on the ground.
Frontispiece to Meteorologia Philosophico-Politica.

"The more things change the more they stay the same" 

(Alphonse Karr, Les Guêpes, 1849).

Every four years American Presidential politics plays out an ancient non-partisan script: Virtue is stained, throw the bum out.

In 1698, Francisco Reinzler published Meteorologia, Philisophico-Politica, a tract on the influence of weather and astrology on politics and guide to reading meteorological omens via astrology so that correct political decisions can be made.

If this seems outlandish, consider that politicians routinely stick a moistened finger in the air to discern the direction of the wind. Perhaps "you don't need a weatherman to tell which way the wind blows," but no politician says or does a thing until atmospheric conditions are considered. We all know what happened to President Bush when he misinterpreted the omen that hurricane Katrina augered.

One of the last of the great emblem books - those popular volumes from the 16th-17th century that instructed through symbolic illustrations - Meteorologia, Philisophico-Politica remains as fresh today as when originally published.

In the tableau above, for instance, the bright, shining city on a hill is under assault by a meteor shower, i.e. the opposition party. It's time to drive the snakes out.

Above, we learn that, not only is it lonely at the top, it's dangerous when the sky thunders and lightning strikes the tower of power. The President may wish to hunker-down and spend the weekend at Camp David away from the tumult.

 

It's an all-out assault on Congress, the pillars of the Capitol struck by angry citizens who strike as bolts of lightning.

 

Meanwhile, inside the House of Representatives all is not well. The primaries have decimated incumbents, slaying careers on the floor of that venerable chamber. As Zeus hurling thunderbolts, the people are pissed-off and no one is safe.

But never fear, Virtue, suppressed for the last four years, will rise and conquer after the election. Then, Virtue will slowly and inevitably be corrupted until, four years later, she resembles a  Gorgon and must be cleansed anew through another wash, rinse, and spin cycle. Afterward, of course, she'll be hung out to dry.

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REINZER, Francisco. Meteorologia Philosophico-Politica, in duodecim Dissertationes per Quaestiones Meteorologicas & conclusiones Politicas divisa, appositisque Symbolis illustrata... Ausburg: J. Wolfus, 1698.

First edition, second printing, rarer than the first printing (of 1697), and subsequent 1709 and 1712 editions, with no copies at auction within  the last thirty-five years.  Folio (12 1/4 x 7 3/4 in; 311 x 197 mm). [6], 297, [5 index], [2 blank] pp. With engraved frontispiece by A.M.Wolffgang after W.J.Kadariza, and eighty-three in-text copperplate emblem engravings  by J.Müller, J.Stridbeck, & J.S.Krauss after W.J. Kadariza.

Praz p. 463. De Backer-Sommervogel IV, 1640.3. Landwehr 494.

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Images courtesy of David Brass Rare Books, with our thanks.
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Long Lost U.S. Senate Records Discovered by Rare Book Dealer

by Stephen J. Gertz

If you, concerned citizen, like I, wonder how the government was spending our money during the years 1879 - 1909 but have thus far been stymied in your efforts to get to the bottom of things, wonder no more. Fascination awaits.

The hand-written  ledgers, bound into five volumes, of the United States Senate Appropriations Committee covering those years and AWOL for who knows how long, have been found by a Northern California rare book dealer.

The ledgers, written almost exclusively in pen - both black and red ink – with some entries and notations in pencil, enumerate the annual appropriations for:

 I. Agriculture, Army, Fortifications, Pensions, Post-Office, 1870-1909.
II. Diplomatic, District of Columbia Appropriations.
III. Legislative Appropriations, 1870-1901.
IV. Military Academy, Naval Appropriations, 1870-1909.
V. Sundry Civil Appropriations, 1870-1901.

The Senate Appropriations Committee, arguably the most powerful committee in Congress, formally came into being during 1867,  its purpose to help divide the labors of the Finance Committee into the separate tasks of tax collection & disbursements.  The challenge then, as now, was keeping track of the funds when issued. In other words, who got what, where's the beef, where's the pork?

The entries are listed in exquisite detail, each volume collating to 546 - 896 pages divided into numbered double-page spreads. A note within the Diplomatic ledger indicates that there was a sixth volume, alas, missing, concerned with Indians and Deficiencies.

Some interesting entries:

• The President was paid $25,000 annually between 1870 and 1873. In 1874 that figure jumped to $50,000. The Vice-President was paid $8,000, the same as the Secretaries of State, Treasury, War, Navy and the Interior.

• $85,000 was allocated for wrapping-twine in 1886, an increase of $30,000 over the previous eight years. The wrapping-twine industry lobbyists were, apparently, busy that year. Or, the Senate was unusually active wrapping Christmas gifts during the holidays.

• Between 1894 and 1901, $25,000 was allocated for payment of rewards for the detection, arrest, and conviction of post office burglars and robbers - the good ol' days when "going postal" referred to miscreants, not employees.

• $10,000 was allocated for the “purchase of certain books and records of the late, so called, Confederate Government.”

•  $30,000 was allocated to investigate “alleged outrages in the Southern States” - presumably lynchings but the notes are unclear - and $50,000 to investigate senatorial elections in Kansas, Louisiana and Arkansas.

• Pension allocations for veterans of the War of 1812, the Mexican War, bronze medals for the veterans of the Spanish-American War, the erection of cemeteries and monuments for these wars. Curiously, none are noted for the Civil War, perhaps too close in time and painful memory.

• In 1882-83 $5,000 was allocated for an experiment lighting naval vessels with electricity, and allocations were made in 1898-99 for the purchase of modern electric machinery and appliances at West Point.

•  Between 1886 and 1893, $15,000 was allocated to turn cast-iron ordnance into steel-lined, breech loading, torpedo howitzers for throwing high explosives. $250,000 was allocated in 1897 for “testing methods of throwing high explosives from guns on ships.”

• In 1906  $20,000 was budgeted to mark the graves of soldiers and sailors buried on the isle St. Michel, known as ‘Crab Island’, Lake Champlain, who died at the Battle of Plattsburgh, September 11, 1814.

• $385,000 was allocated for building the naval station at Guantanamo, Cuba in 1904-05; $735,000 for the naval station at Cavite, Philippine Islands; and $862,395 for the station at Olongapo, Philippine Islands.

• But only $23,500 was allocated for government costs associated with annexing Hawaii on July 7, 1898.

• There is a curious allocation [Ledger III, O307] of $2,000 for the Committee on Alcohol in the Arts. Not quite funding for NPR but nice to know that Congress was paying attention to cultural affairs - though probably via artful showgirls and free-flowing champagne. It was undoubtedly  a popular and coveted committee assignment.

• Entry O197 in Ledger III notes an indefinite sum to be allocated for the “Suffering Poor of India," which, bizarrely, was a part of Naval appropriations. I smell a buried earmark to thwart the Anti-Suffering Poor of India bloc.

• Ledger IV, Diplomatic Appropriations, notes $1,929,819 allocated to pay British subjects as  guaranteed by the treaty of May 8, 1871 between the U.S. and Great Britain.

•  Ledger IV also enumerates expenses and allocations for running the District of Columbia, including $240 allocated for the annual salary of a florist at the reform school, pollen, apparently, a necessary adjunct to the rehabilitation of incarcerated juvenile delinquents; and $5,000 allocated to the Women’s Christian Association. Other religious charities, Catholic, Christian, etc. were also funded. The wall separating church and state was porous in those days.

It would be impossible to list every interesting or odd entry.  Suffice it to say that the ledgers contain a remarkable degree of detail and an exquisite amount of information. Here are the minutiae that we taxpayers have paid for over the years – from the $326 allocated to repair cooking utensils at the Military Academy in 1890-91 to $111,820 allocated to publish the laws of the 3rd Session, 42nd Congress, 1876 and an additional $100,000 to fold those printed laws.

In short, there's enough red meat in the ledgers to keep the the modern Right and the Left chattering for years to come about Small v. Big government, waste, pork-barrel earmarks, and all manner of spending by the U.S. government during the period the ledgers cover.

The volumes were accidentally found by Vic Zoschak, proprietor of Tavistock Books in Alameda, CA.

Says Zoschak, "It has been said of eBay that almost anything can be found there at one time or another.  After my purchase of these 5 ledgers last January, 2010, I can't help but give that statement some credibility.  The seller listing them really didn't recognize them for what they were, but to be honest, nor, at the time, did I.  They just sounded 'neat', and like something on which I thought I could make a profit."

Vic Zoschak, Jr., of Tavistock Books.

His cataloger, after close examination and research, realized what a treasure the ledgers represented and suggested that Zoschak contact the National Archives. The National Archives, however, had no clue that the ledgers were missing, or indeed, that they existed in the first place.

Zoschak, a member of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA), is in the process of donating the trove to the Library of the Senate, exactly where it should be placed, for the benefit of scholars and posterity.

In the end, perhaps the most telling ledger entry of all confirms our worst fears and reminds us that what's going on in Washington today is no different than what went on 1870 - 1909 and that climate change stops at the borders of the District of Columbia:

• $2,000 allocated for “Writs of Lunacy” in Washington, D.C.

It was surely nowhere near enough. But if a writ of lunacy were issued for every member of Congress it'd be standing room only in the asylum and nothing but room at the Capitol.
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Mr. Small Goes To Washington

Unrivaled Collection of "Washingtoniana" Donated To D.C. University.

By Nancy Mattoon

Dinner Napkin: "Plan of the City of Washington, in the
Territory of Columbia" (n.d.).

Rare handkerchief map of the city of Washington based on the Samuel Hill engraving of Andrew Ellicott’s plan. Printed in red ink on cotton cloth. Allegorical corner vignettes of Indians, foliage, and a sailing ship. Printed in Boston and sold in Washington as a souvenir. Artist: After design of Andrew Ellicott; Publisher: Samuel Hill, Boston, Mass.

(All Images Courtesy Albert H. Small Washingtoniana Collection.)

A single man's lifelong dedication to collecting materials about his hometown is about to benefit scholars everywhere. Albert H. Small, a prominent Washington, D.C. real estate developer, has just donated his extensive archives of Washington history to George Washington University. He's also kicked in a little money to renovate a historic home to house his collection, $5 million to be exact. A career collector and philanthropist, Small received a National Humanities Medal from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) in 2009 from President Obama. This award was for "his devotion to sharing early American manuscripts with our Nation’s cultural and educational institutions... His generosity has helped educate countless Americans about those who founded our country."

Jigsaw Puzzle: "The Capitol at Washington,"
McLoughlin Bro., New York.
(Color Lithograph, 1888).
Lithograph used as a puzzle, mounted on cardboard, shows east front of Capitol with pedestrians and carriages.

According to Chris Coover, senior specialist, books and manuscripts, at Christie’s in New York, "Albert Small, a native Washingtonian, has methodically assembled the single most significant and extensive collection in private hands relating to the history and development of Washington and the District of Columbia. Small’s remarkable collection – some 50 years in the making and impossible to duplicate today – is a treasure trove of rare maps, drawings, letters and documents, lithographs, books and ephemera, and is a testament to his passionate enthusiasm as a collector."

Letter from George Washington
to Congress Dec. 13, 1791. (signed).

Text reads: "I place before you the plan of a City that has been laid out within the District of ten miles square, which was fixed upon for the permanent seat of the Government of the United States."

The collection is comprised of nearly 700 items, including a letter written by George Washington to Congress in 1791 outlining the ten square miles designated as the new capital city of the United States. James M. Goode, a historian who helped Small assemble many of the maps, prints and photographs in the archive explains, "He collects through auctions, print shows and catalogs. He must get 400 catalogs a year. The rarer the material, the more excited he gets. The Washington letter got away once. About 30 years ago the letter was at auction and... it went to Malcolm Forbes. When Forbes died, it went up on auction again and Mr. Small bought it."

Civil War Camp Flag. (1861, Wool Fabric).
This small U.S. flag was used before an officer’s tent in the field during the civil war. It is known as a camp flag. This example has a rare arrangement of 34 starts in a "circle-in-a-square" medallion. In the center is a large single star flanked by 3 stars, which form a "Y", surrounded by a wreath of 14 stars, the remaining line the border to create a square. Kansas was admitted as the 235th state in 1861 and West Virginia in 1863.
Flag should be displayed vertically.

Small was insistent that the collection be kept intact. "George Washington [University] has had a division on Washington history in their American Studies program for 40 years. He decided that was the best place for it because it will be used for research by the students," said Goode. George Washington University President Steven Knapp says the collection will provide "unparalleled opportunities not only for our current students and scholars but also for future generations to study the history of our nation through the study of this nation’s capital."

"Encampment Georgetown D.C. 1861."
(Watercolor by Augustus Kollner).

The donation to the University builds on Mr. Small’s long history of preserving and sharing America’s heritage. In 2005, he donated the earliest known image of the house at Washington D.C.'s 1600 Pennsylvania Ave– a watercolor done in 1801 by J. Benford – to the White House, where it now hangs. The University of Virginia was the recipient in 2004 of Small’s collection on the Declaration of Independence, where it is housed in the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library.

"Bust Portrait of Abraham Lincoln."
Photographed by Alexander Gardner.
Black and White Photo, 18 Nov 1863.
Albumen print taken from original glass negative, limited edition of 75 copies #49.

Albert H. Small himself has spoken of the importance of his gift. "I have been building this collection for 50, almost 60 years. I wanted to place it somewhere where it could get the best exposure for people. George Washington is going to set up a program for the study of the collection. And every year another group of students will use it and it will be a continuing thing...Most people don't know this history. You can be an average person and not know anything about the history of the city. We have a real thriving capital now, but back in 1790 it was a swamp."

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Politics and the Weather (A Weird Rare Book Adventure)

by Stephen J. Gertz

Action in the sky = Politics on the ground.
Frontispiece to Meteorologia Philosophico-Politica.

It was either sunny and warm or cold and rainy on Election Day last week, depending on your political perspective. 

Climate change was in the air in the aftermath of the election, though no one seemed to know whether it was man-made or a natural phenomenon. Politicos and the Commentariat have moistened fingers in the air and still no one knows which way the wind is really blowing. About the only thing everyone can agree upon is that a high-pressure system is stuck over Washington with no relief in sight.

In these troubled times, our obvious need is for a guide to politics based upon the weather, right? But where to find one?

Hop in my  Time Machine, zip into the future, take a look at the lissome Eloi, recoil from the troglodyte Morlocks, and gnash gears as we tear into reverse,  wave to Washington D.C. 2010, and  wind up in Ausburg, Bavaria 1698.
 

Say hello to Meteorologia Philosophico-Politica, a remarkable, delightfully bizarre, unique, and fantastical natural science emblem book by Francisco Reinzer (1661-1708), a Jesuit priest and professor of philosophy, rhetoric, and theology, who took the science out of poli-sci by tying it to atmospheric conditions, astrology, and Western Hermetic tradition.

Within, he posits that political wisdom can be derived from meteorological phenomena and that  appropriate political policy and behavior can be revealed by them, the weather as oujia board, sort of like predicting political action by examining the entrails of  a TV meteorologist. (Watch out, Willard Scott). Reinzer liberally references his Jesuit brothers of the prior generation, Fathers Athanasius Kircher (d. 1680) and Gaspar Schott (d. 1666) and their works throughout, including Mundus Subterraneus (1664), Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae (1665), Physica Curiosa (1662), etc.

Scoff if you will but the results of last week's election were foreseen by Reinzer long ago.

Dawn on the Potomac, Nov. 2, 2010.

Citing the writings of Julius Caesar, Cicero, and Pliiny, amongst other ancient politician-scribes, Reinzer proffers advice, like Machiavelli to Lorenzo de'Medici, to his patron, Joseph I, eldest son of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, and King of the Romans/Emperor-designate, on political action within the context of, well, just about everything in the atmosphere and on the ground as it was then understood.

Divided into twelve Dissertations of eighty-three questions and answers with marvelous copperplate engravings to illustrate each, Reinzer (1661-1708) covers, with typical Jesuit thoroughness, every aspect of the atmosphere and its manifestations. Among the associated subjects discussed and illustrated are mining, metal working, diving for corals, fossils, ice and freezing landscapes, volcanos, pharmacy and hot springs. What those things have to do with politics is a mystery to me. And unless you’ve had a classical education it will be all prehistoric Greek to you, too.

It’s written in Latin.

7PM EDT, Nov. 2, 2010, Washington D.C.

But for the sake of this discussion, let’s say, for instance, that a vote is up in the legislature to pass a major, landmark health care bill. All of a sudden, a tornado rips down the Mall right up to the Capitol building. Coincidence? Not to Reinzer! Hunker down, wait for it to blow over, then vote your health care bill; no one can think straight when the House is carried away. Best to wait until the tornado stops and the home of Congress finally rests atop the Wicked Witch of the East. Welcome to Oz.

High humidity? Moisture in the air means tears in Congress. We know from empirical knowledge that this is true; Washington D.C. is a steam bath during the summer months; it’s no accident that Congress recesses from August to mid-September. When Congress sits, don't want to shvitz. Sweat the big issues when it's cold outside.

"A dark and stormy night"? Let Bulwer-Lytton’s opening line in purple to Paul Clifford be your watchword: War is in the air. Button up your trench coat; before the military starts shooting, legislators will be lobbing mortar shells across the aisle in mortal trench combat.

Message to Sharron Angle from The Big Man, up.

You can only raise taxes when the earth shifts its axis.

If a hurricane should hit get your ass on the scene, don't sit.

If lightning should strike tell Congress, "Take a hike."

If an earthquake rocks town welcome back Jerry Brown.

This book was published during a fascinating time in the sciences. By 1698, Isaac Newton and the Rationalists had begun to move science away from the Hermetic blend of naturalism and metaphysics into a strictly fact-based, tested by replicable experiment endeavor; the transition of the Renaissance  to the Age of Enlightenment. Men like Kircher and his disciple, Schott, stood at the nexus of the old way and new. Even though Kircher was roundly criticized for his many blunders in thinking by the new generation of scientists, he was still the most influential investigator of nature of his time, whether you agreed with him or not. In 1698, he’d been dead for eighteen years; we tend to think that Hermeticism in the sciences died with him. It did not. It lingered as a legitimate, if somewhat dubious, way to look at the world for another generation. Reinzer and Meteorologia Philosophico-Politica provide the evidence.

The Democratic Caucus, 11PM EDT, Nov. 2, 2010.

With fifty states each with their own typical climate and weather patterns, as well as micro-climates, trying to gauge political action by atmospheric conditions is tough. As anyone living in Florida can tell you, it can be raining on one side of the street and sunny on the other; clear skies one minute, a downpour the next. We know how wacked-out politics in Florida can often be. Perhaps Reinzer was on to something.

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REINZER, Francisco. Meteorologia Philosophico-Politica, in duodecim Dissertationes per Quaestiones Meteorologicas & conclusiones Politicas divisa, appositisque Symbolis illustrata... Ausburg: J. Wolfus, 1698.

First edition, second printing, rarer than the first printing (of 1697), and subsequent 1709 and 1712 editions, with no copies at auction within  the last thirty-five years.  Folio (12 1/4 x 7 3/4 in; 311 x 197 mm). [6], 297, [5 index], [2 blank] pp. With engraved frontispiece by A.M.Wolffgang after W.J.Kadariza, and eighty-three in-text copperplate emblem engravings  by J.Müller, J.Stridbeck, & J.S.Krauss after W.J. Kadariza.

Praz p. 463. De Backer-Sommervogel IV, 1640.3. Landwehr 494.
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Images courtesy of David Brass.

Political wonks and the curious can read the full text of Meteorologia Philosophico-Politica here. A Latin to English dictionary and grammar will help. A lot.

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