Text: C. F. Briggs (?), Literary, Broadway Journal (New York), February 8, 1845, vol. 1, no. 6, p. ??

[page 83:]

AMERICAN ILLUSTRATED BOOKS.

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HARPER’S ILLUMINATED AND NEW PICTORIAL BIBLE, NOS. I to 17.

VERY great expectations were excited by the announcement of this edition of the Bible, which the first number, with its pink title-page, and red and yellow cover, rather tended to increase in the minds of the multitude; but any one with the [page 84:] slightest knowledge of art, could have foreseen from the cover alone, that the prodigious sensation which it had begun to cause, would very soon subside into a dead quiet. The first number contained about twice the quantity of illustrations that any of its successors has done; but these were not given with a view to entice the public to take hold of the initial number, of course, because the publishers, being men of unimpeachable honor, and the Bible a work in which professedly religious merchants would not dare to practice deception for the sake of profit, such a thought cannot be entertained; and if the shadow of so foul a suspicion should have crossed the mind of any of our readers, we hope that they will immediately dispel it by illuminating their minds with the torch of charity. We have looked with very great care through the entire work, as far as it has been published, with the expectation of meeting with the “illuminated” parts of it, but have not discovered the smallest trace of any thing that can be called by that name. Here, again, we must caution our readers not to impute any blame to the publishers, since it is very clear that they would never have used the term if they had understood its meaning. The term “new pictorial” is also of doubtful meaning, since it cannot be supposed to apply to the Bible itself, and the oldness of some of the pictures equally forbids its application to the illustrations which it contains. But the whole title, taken together, may, perhaps, elucidate the meaning of its separate members. “Harper's Illuminated and New Pictorial Bible,” sounds something clearer. It may be old to somebody else, but it is new to Harper. We think that this must be the solution. So in regard to the “illuminated,” which may not be illuminated to another person, but is to Harper. We have been thus particular with the title, because we have heard frequent discussions as to its meaning, which, we hope, we have helped to make understood.

It is greatly to be deplored, that in an undertaking like this, where so much was promised, so much money expended, and so fine a chance afforded to promote the cause of art in this country, that more has not been done. The Bible is too vast a work to be illustrated by one hand alone, not only because its subjects are too various to be grasped by one mind, but because the designs of the same hand, often repeated, must at last grow monotonous and wearisome. A publisher has an undoubted right, as well as another man, to do what he likes with his own; and if the Harpers chose to employ one artist to make a thousand designs instead of dividing so great an amount of patronage among other members of the profession of equal talent, they had a right to do so; an inalienable right secured to them by law, which is not the case with all inalienable rights, as a large portion of our people can attest. But still, we repeat, that when any considerable amount of patronage is to be bestowed upon the fine arts in this country, it should, fur the sake of art, be as equally distributed as possible, for it is with patronage, as with manure, a great heap of it will produce nothing better than mushrooms, but when scattered over the earth it will bring forth wheat.

We do not know who designed the ornaments on the cover of this work, and we are glad that we do not; we hope that no American did it, for it is the most utterly destitute of artistic merit, of any ornamental drawing that we have ever seen; infinitely better designs for such a purpose might have been selected from a case of shilling calicoes. It is simply meaningless, and destitute of grace. The same may be said of the borders which surround the large engravings in the Bible, adding that two of them are paltry, and one hideous. The same borders with the same emblems, grapes and grotesques, [column 2:] surround all sorts of subjects, without any regard to harmony of expression. The designs enclosed in these borders are all wretched; thtre is not a tolerable one among than, and the engraving, if possible, is worse than the drawing. We are left entirely in the dark as to the producer of these illuminations, but we cannot believe that they are stolen, or rather borrowed, for two reasons: first, we are not willing to believe that the publishers would sanction such a thing; and second, we do not believe that such bad designs could have been found elsewhere.

The vignette on the first page, to which we find Chapman's name attached, is a very pretty illustration, both in drawing and cutting; it reflects credit on both Mr. Chapman and Mr. Adams. Some of the large vignettes at the heads of chapters are also very good; but we fear that the greater part of them are reproductions, for we see no artist's name attached to them, and they are not of a character which any of our painters would be likely to disown. The little drawings, which are evidently all by Chapman, are most of them exceedingly well done; some of them have a good deal of truth and sweetness. We recognise a good many old acquaintances in one form and another among them, but considering the great number, more than three hundred, they have more originality and character than we had a right to expect. Mr. Chapman shows to better advantage everywhere than on canvass; he makes dreadful work with his colors, but in drawings like these, he possesses, undeniably, a good deal of available talent. It is a kind, too, that many artists of equal and greater pretensions, often lack.

The initial letters, a very important feature in illustrated books, are all as poor as they can possibly be; meagre, feeble, and paltry. They show an utter incapacity for art in the designers, which is mortifying when exhibited in a work of this magnitude, which we must believe is an example of the best that can be done in art amongst us.

The publishers of this Bible had it in their power to do four things.

First: to give an impetus to art in the United States, by employing the best artists in the country to furnish original designs for the work.

Second: to gain the lasting gratitude of their country, by producing an illustrated book which they could point to with a just pride as a monument of the perfection of art among them.

Third: to immortalize themselves.

Fourth: to make a handsome addition to their fortunes.

The last they may do with the present edition, but it could have been done to a greater extent, and the other things accomplished too, by the same outlay which this will cost.

These seventeen numbers contain fuur hundred and thirty seven engravings; too many by half. One quarter of the number at one half the cost would be twice as valuable. But one or two good designs, well executed, in each number, from different artists, would be much more satisfactory. One good drawing would be worth the whole four hundred and thirty-seven which the work now contains, and would be more highly prized by the country, and be more profitable to the publishers in the end.

While every country in Europe is putting forth illustrated works of a national character, in the highest reach of art, we have yet done nothing in the same way of which we have any right to boast. But the genius is among us to do great things if it only had an opportunity to exert itself.

In all that relates to the getting up of this Bible, the work reflects great credit on the publishers. The type is very clear and neat; the ink of an exceedingly brilliant jet black, and [page 85:] the paper of a superior quality. Our remarks about the illustrations are such as we feel ourselves bound to make. It is a work that we could not let pass in silence, and we could not slobber it over with the unmeaning praise of those who feel themselves bound to say something kind in return for a presentation copy.

After writing the foregoing remarks, we accidentally discovered on the back cover of one of the numbers the publishers’ advertisement, by which we learn that Mr. Chapman is the de. signer of the initial letters, the ornamented borders, the shapeless scrawls on the covers, and fourteen hundred out of sixteen hundred designs with which the entire work is to be illustrated, Our strictures were written without any knowledge of these facts, and we shall not, therefore, qualify what we have written. But we feel ourselves bound to repeat, that the ornamental borders betray an entire absence of any knowledge of the first principles of design in that department of art. It is a branch of the fine arts which has received but little attention in this country, but it is one of great importance to our national prosperity; since a very great part of our manufactured goods derive one half or more of their value from the mere art of the ornamentalist. With all our boasting of American genius, we have not yet been able to design a pattern for a cap ribbon. Now, if such things are worth having at all, they are worth producing, but this we can never do, unless a great genius like Raffaelle or Cellini appear among us, or we establish schools for the education of artists, like France and England.

We are not a little surprised to see such designs as these in “Harper's Bible” coming from the hands of a member of our National Academy. It would be unjust to our artists, to compare their drawings in this department of ar t which has been so little cultivated among us, with the pro.’ ductions which emanate from the French and English; schools of design; but we surely have a right to expect an 1 evidence of a right aim, let the execution be what it may, in’ the works of the members of so pretending an institution as that of our National Academy. If our artists do not imbibe correct principles, they can never accomplish anything, let the manipulating skill be ever so great. In all that an artist attempts to do, he must seek to imitate nature. Nothing can be accomplished if this be forgotten. But we are compelled I to believe, that the “Harpers’ Bible” artist holds such a principle in high contempt. Whoever looks at the monstrosities that he has huddled together around the borders of many of the designs in that work, will see that he turned his back upon Nature, and she turned hers upon him.