Collections

Recent Acquisition

Spring and Summer Fashions for 1842

Spring and Summer Fashions for 1842, Published by Scott & Wilson, 146 Broadway, N-York. New York: Scott & Wilson, 1842.

This fashion advertisement is an unusual one. First, the dimensions are large — the sheet measures 21 x 28 inches. Even in the early 1840s, we would expect an advertisement such as this to be printed as a lithograph; this, however, is a hand colored aquatint, a far more difficult printmaking process and one that was comparatively expensive to print. The composition is also unusual since Niagara Falls is not usually used as a backdrop for commercial prints such as this. Finally, most of the fashions are for men, also uncommon. This print appeals to me precisely for this reason as we look forward to focusing a future CHAViC conference on imagery of and for men. I saw the print at the conference of the American Historical Print Collectors Society and AAS purchased it from Roger Genser, a dealer in Santa Monica, California.
Anonymous Fund #1.

-Georgia B. Barnhill, Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Graphic Arts

Recent Acquisitions Index

"One day I am visited by a collector of ordination sermons; the next, by a collector of 4th of July orations; then comes a collector of geography; another wants religious newspapers; another wants every book printed in New York before 1700. I accommodate myself to all; for I want every thing and collect every thing, and I have more zeal than the whole of them: and in this way I am kept very busy."
~Christopher Columbus Baldwin
 3rd Librarian of AAS