Given the importance of the engraved image in the 18c—in illustrated books, suites of prints, pamphlets, broadsides etc., it behooves that the Library, rich in all of the above, should possess some of the key period texts that treat this pivotal medium. In fact, very few sources give a sustained, critical assessment of engraving’s broader societal meaning: aspects of the consumer public, the political impact of prints, the logic of collecting etc.
Here a few weeks ago, one of them, K. H. Heineken (1707-1791), addressed what constituted an appropriate print collection to service the political ambitions of its princely owner. Another is this 62p. 1804 pamphlet authored by Pierre-Philippe Choffard (1731-1809) titled Historical Note on the Art of Engraving, the miracle result of a shot-in-the-dark search on French eBay purchased for a pittance. Choffard is the greatest master of the cul-de-lampe (literally: lamp bottom), the tiny typographic ornament that marks the end of chapters in a book. Whereas, conventionally, these might comprise a simple triangle or a fleuron, Choffard evolved highly intricate, masterfully etched vignettes full of whimsical attributes and floral motifs that place him among the greatest printmakers of his age. Many of the Redwood’s French illustrated books feature culs-de-lampe by Choffard.
His Historic Note comes at the twilight of his career and at the opening of a new century, giving him the platform to synthesize the wisdom of a long, Ancien Régime career into a wide-ranging rumination on: engraving as a liberal art; its value to the nation and the dominance of France over England; of French line (burin) over British tone (mezzotint); his apprehensions on the future of the French school etc. The pamphlet is extremely rare: OCLC/World cat lists a mere 7 copies in the USA, none in New England (not even at Harvard or Yale). But what makes the Redwood’s copy truly exceptional is that it is an ex dono authoris copy (gifted by the author): as per the inscription on the cover page, the Redwood’s copy was given directly by Choffard to its original owner in the opening years of the 19c.
