Confederate Etchings (5 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Large folio portfolio. Portfolio Good, general wear. Images printed on rice paper and tipped onto heavy paper boards. Contents VG, some creasing to rice paper, some chipping to boards. All twenty-nine plates and the table of contents sheet present. Originally published in 1864, these sets reproduced in the 1880s are the only versions readily available to collectors.

Leather. Condition: Fine. No date. [1880]. Folio. Binding dimensions 35.5 x 27.5 cm. Index and 29 plates, without title-page, as issued, printed on fine India paper and mounted on thicker stock, with titles in light pencil to the bottom margins. The second edition, with the same collation as the first but with 29 plates, not 30, as issued. Only 100 copies were issued of this edition. Howes writes that "the original issue was probably suppressed by the author as the caricatures bordered on treason. The re-issued form was doubtless made up of the suppressed sheets or printed from the original copper-plates. One of the plates.had evidently been lost in storage, so does not appear in that issue" (V138aa). Striking design binding by Jeremiah Larkins (1833-1907). Signed "Larkins" on the front turn-in, c. 1900. Bound in navy morocco with fore-edges of boards stamped with the title in gilt, wrapped (front and back) with a Confederate battle flag mounted right on the leather, with leather paste-down endpapers, wide turn-ins, with gilt stamped devices to the corners, and navy & gold floral endpapers. The Confederate battle flag (the most recognized version with the diagonal blue cross and white stars on a red background), represent the States that seceded from the United States during the American Civil War. The flag typically has 13 stars, symbolizing the 11 states that officially seceded from the Union: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee, plus Missouri and Kentucky, which had Confederate governments-in-exile but never fully left the Union in practice. The stars are meant to represent the unity of the Confederate states in their rebellion against the U.S. federal government. Some light scuffing to the leather endpapers, and very light rubbing to a piece of the flag cover at the spine, bookplate to first blank (v). This is an excellent copy, and clean and bright throughout. The book covered in thin linen and laid-in to a four-flap chemise with leather title mounted to the upper cover. The upper cover of the chemise is heavily damp-stained and damaged but the book is near perfect and the binding very attractive.

The second, and earliest obtainable, edition of Volck's famous collection of Civil War etchings, reissuing work that first appeared in the original first and second series issued by subscription between 1861 and 1864. The first edition or series of Civil War etchings by Volck was published under the name "V. Blada," apparently for subscribers, in a supposed edition of 200 copies, sometime during the middle of the war. That first series was entitled SKETCHES FROM THE CIVIL WAR. It contained thirty etchings and was suppressed because its content bordered on treason. A second series was issued sometime after the first, but before the end of the war, bringing the total number of etchings to forty-five. However, all of these wartime issues are rare to the point of extinction, and none have appeared on the market in modern times. This set is the reissue as described by Howes, generally thought to have been done in the 1880s. The printed label on the front cover indicates it is one of only 100 copies printed, but the number line is not filled out. The etchings vary between rather idealized southern scenes, such as Stonewall Jackson leading his men in prayer, to vicious and vitriolic attacks on the North (a white being sacrificed on an altar labeled "Negro Worship"). It is due to the inclusion of such images that it is easy to see why they were deemed treasonous. The sketches are superbly executed and often reproduced in modern histories of the Civil War. In his book on Volck, George McCullough Anderson states: "The vitriolic nature of some of these drawings leaves no doubt that V. Blada felt strongly and expressed those feelings in the manner he knew best - as a non-combatant seeking to build morale and support for the cause in which he believed. His weapons were his artistic temperament and ability." "The original issue was probably suppressed by the author as the caricatures bordered on treason. The re-issued form was doubtless made up of the suppressed sheets or printed from the original copper-plates. One of the plates, 'Meeting of the Southern emissaries and Lincoln,' had evidently been lost in storage, so does not appear in that issue." - Howes. A rare group of controversial Civil War views, here in a later issue, made from the original plates. Not in Sabin or Coulter. HOWES V138, "aa." ANDERSON, THE WORK OF ADALBERT JOHANN VOLCK, passim. Folio. Original half black cloth and paper-covered portfolio, printed paper label on front board reading, "Confederate War Etchings. 100 Sets Printed. No. [blank]." Remnant of cloth ties, boards shelfworn and rubbed, two closed tears and fraying to cloth at spine head, modern bookplate on rear pastedown. Pencil check marks to each entry on Index leaf. Mounts a bit toned and stained with some edge wear, etchings in very nice condition. Overall very good.

Hardcover. Condition: Fair. Complete set of 29 chine colle etchings with the original portfolio boards and index sheet as issued, in a modern cloth and leather case. This is a complete set of the Civil War satirical images and one of the few items published from a southern point of view. Volck who lived in Baltimore was sympathetic to the south and he published these etchings under the assumed name of V. Blada. Issued as loose prints generally in 1863 and republished as a portfolio, in wraps, circa 1880. This set was issued in the 1880's. Paper size 11 1/2 x 15 3/4" (29.2 x 40 cm). Stated on the cover an edition of 100. With the original publication board, that show wear, spine missing, the etchings themselves are in very good condition, fine rich impressions. Inventory #30638-1 Titles of the prints 1. Worship of the North. 2. Passage through Baltimore. 3. Writing the Emancipation Proclamation. 4. Battle in Baltimore, April 19th, 1861. 5. Searching for Arms. 6. Enlistment of Sickles' Brigade, N.Y. 7. Buying a Substitute in the North during the War. 8. Marylanders Crossing the Potomac to Join the Southern Army. 9. Election in Baltimore, November, 1862. 10. Stone Blockade off Charleston, S.C. 11. Making Clothes for the Boys in the Army. 12. Slaves Concealing their Master from a Search Party. 13. Return of a Raiding Party from Pennsylvania. 14. Valiant Men "Dat Fite Mit Siegel." 15. Tracks of the Armies. 16. Formation of Guerrilla Bonds. 17. Jamison's Jayhawkers. 18. Smuggling Medicines into the South. 19. Offering of Bells to be Cast into Cannon. 20. Albert S. Johnston Crossing the Desert to Join the Southern Army. 21. Gen's Stuart's Raid to the White House. 22. Gen'l Stuart's Return from Pennsylvania. 23. Butler's Victims of Fort St. Philip. 24. Prayer in Stonewall Jackson's Camp. 25. Counterfeit Confederate Notes Publicly Offered for Sale in the "City of Brotherly Love." 26. Free Negroes in the North. 27. Free Negroes in Hayti. 28. Cave Life in Vicksburg during the Siege. 29. Vicksburg Canal.

Very Good. Second Edition. Complete set of 29 plates and the plate list each a mounted India proof. One of 100 sets issued. "The original issue was probably suppressed by the author as the caricatures bordered on treason. The reissued form was doubltless made up of the suppressed sheets or printed form the original plates." Howes V-138. Complete set of 29 plates and the plate list each a mounted India proof. In original board portfolio as issued and housed in a beautiful 1/2 green morocco portfolio case. A few of the plates with minor edge stains and chips but a generally fresh and sound set of a very rare and fragile work.