Featured Publisher's History (T)

The Century Company: The Century Company produced some of the greatest lithographic Art Nouveau posters for the Century Magazine during this period. It commissioned original graphic art from such great masters as Eugene Grassett, Louis John Rhead, George Wharton Edwards and American artists.

The Dresden Gallery: The Recueil d'estampes d'apres les plus celebres tableaux de la Galerie Royale de Dresde (The Dresden Gallery) represents a high point of mid to late eighteenth century engraving. Beginning around 1750 Dresden printers began inviting artists to engrave the masterworks at the Dresden Gallery. The size and scope of the endeavor is reflected in the international representation of the commissioned engravers. These included Jean Daulle (France, 1703-1763), Anna Folkema (Holland, 1695-1768), Karl Ludwig Wust (Germany, flourished, 1750-1760), Giuseppe Camerata (Italy, 1718-1803) and Claude Donat Jardinier (France, 1726-1774). Upon completion each of these large engravings was printed with titles in both Italian and French and bore the engraved seal of the Dresden Gallery along the lower margin. In 1753 the first fifty engravings were published as Volume One in a large elephant folio format. The second fifty engravings were completed in 1757 and issued as Volume Two. With their brilliant techniques of tone and texture most of these engravings were eagerly sought after in most major European centres.

Almost four decades after the completion of these sets a further fifty engravings were produced by the Dresden Gallery. Engraved mostly by German artists such as Christian Gottfried Schulze (1749-1819) and Heinrich Friedrich Laurin (1756-1830), these later works mainly dealt with the master works of landscape painting in the gallery. When this set was published (c. 1795), the earlier two sets were also reprinted. This original engraving hails from this edition.

Thomas Nelson: The Scottish publisher, Thomas Nelson was famous for his chromolithographic views. Among these the most notable were his two great series, English Scenery (1891) and Souvenir of Scotland (1895). The complete series of Souvenir of Scotland contained 120 miniature views detailing the cities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, the scenery along the Clyde, the Trosachs, Loch Lomond, the West Highlands and of Southern Scotland. As one can easily understand, these miniature views have long been considered to be among the finest of the nineteenth century. The amazing detailing combined with the myriad of shades and colours places each of Nelson's views in the front rank of fine art colour lithography.

Chromolithography: The exacting art of colour printing from lithographic stones originated in Europe during the middle 1830's. These colour prints revolutionized artistic culture, with images ranging from the fine arts of topographical and botanical images to fashion plates and advertisements. Publishers throughout Britain and the United states created fine chromolithographic city views and landscapes during the second half of the nineteenth century.

True & Company: True & Company was a leading American publishing company in Augsta, Main. One of the hundreds of books published by this publisher was Daughters of America, by Pheobe Hanaford, in 1883. Some of the maine monthly newspapers and magazines published in 1886 for family reading were the Golden Moments, the Illustrated Family Herald and True's Illustrated Magazine and Home Companion.

The American Chromolithograph: The revolutionary art of colour printmaking from lithographic stones began in Europe during the mid 1830's. The Germans, in particular, excelled in the new art form and many accomplished printers and publishers of that nationality moved to the United States at this time. The first American chromolithograph was created in 1840. During the following fifty years many of these original colour prints were made to adorn the walls of American parlours. Large and profitable businesses sprang up in almost every major city and by 1880 it had become the dominant form of artistic printmaking. The cheaper and more practical advances of photomechanical methods, however, sounded the death knell for the chromolithograph by the turn of the century. Yet, not even our most sophisticated means of reproducing images can equal the vibrant, oil-based colours of the chromolithograph.