The Blog of the ABAA

As you may know, Irvin Ungar of Historicana is one of the leading authorities on Arthur Szyk, the 20th century Polish-born Jewish artist and illustrator.  Szyk rose to international fame during World War II with his political cartoons and caricatures, but also was an accomplished illustrator.

Irvin has recently been a part of several exciting Szyk projects, which are detailed below.

• The Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco has just opened an all-new exhibition of nearly 60 original Szyk works at the Palace of the Legion of Honor.  The exhibition is entitled “Arthur Szyk: Miniature Painting and Modern Illuminations”, and will run until March 27, 2011.  Irvin is both a consultant and lender to the exhibition.  You can read more about the exhibition on the here, or on Irvin’s website.

• Historicana has partnered with the fine arts publisher Abrams to produce a trade edition of the newest edition of The Szyk Haggadah.  This beautifully illustrated and easy to use Haggadah is based on the new limited edition of The Szyk Haggadah (Burlingame, CA: Historicana, 2008), which includes an all-new translation and commentary by renowned Jewish theologian Byron L. Sherwin.  It will be available in paperback or hardcover, and is coming to bookstores everywhere this March.

• Voice: AIGA Journal of Design recently published Steven Heller’s interview with Irvin about Arthur Szyk and in his involvement in the Szyk renaissance.  Read the interview in its entirety here.

Congratulations on these interesting projects and accomplishments, Irvin!

Last May, the Brooklyn Historical Society discovered a rare 1770 Ratzer map in their possession.  The map was delivered to the society’s office in May along with a shipment of other maps and prints from their warehouse in Connecticut.  There was no catalog listing the map or any record of how the map was acquired, but the society was thrilled with the discovery nonetheless.  Prior to this finding, it was widely believed that only three copies of this exact map, Bernard Ratzer’s 1770 “Plan of the City of New York”, were in existence.

The map was in dismal condition, as it had been heavily shellacked, mounted onto linen and cut into strips so it could be easily stored.  Jonathan P. Derow, a paper conversationalist, was commissioned with the monumental task of restoring the famous map.  The map was so fragile that Mr. Derow was unable to move it to his Brooklyn office; instead, he had to set up shop in a makeshift tent in the society’s office.

Thus began the labor intensive process of restoration, which culminates with a private viewing party at the society tonight.  In order to repair the map in areas where it had been ripped and white lines appeared, Mr. Derow visited the Argosy Book Store (ABAA member!) and purchased several obscure titles printed on cloth paper, which he subsequently baked and boiled.  He then used the remaining substance to fill in the white lines to match the rest of the map. (Check out the before and after pictures in detail here.)

Being unfamiliar with the process of restoration, I found this technique very interesting, but couldn’t help wince at the thought of books being baked and boiled!  It brought to mind another article I read in the Times a week or two ago about the use of rare books for purely decorative purposes, which I found to be more cringe worthy.  I’m intrigued to hear your opinion as sellers– is a sale a sale, or would you hesitate to sell if you knew what was to become of the item?

Rare 1170 Map of New York City Is Restored [NY Times]