The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-06-01


cans.
This is the age Of pictorials. What sugges-
tive fact How interesting il would be to trace
it back in its genealogy-away back to the
woodcuts of Albert Durer-to the Examinations
of the monkish manuscripts Of the dark ages
to the works of art of the ancient Romans, Of
the Greeks, Of the Egyptians, Of the Pyramid
Of Nimroud, Of Baalbec. Of Petre, Of Elephanta,
of China, and of Yucatan! How strange, too,
prima .facie, that in these days Of steamboats,,
steamships, steam locomotives, electrical tele-
graphs, and gold mines, and everything utilita-
rian and fast-thirty, forty, fifty miles an hour;
and yet how consistent with the spirit Of the
times that pictorial newspapers, pamphlets and
books should be all the rage. Happy the man.
now. who is an engraver on wood. or stone, or
type metal or copper, or steel. he has for
tune in his hands for now periodical or a
book without engravings is poor thing-people
will not buy it, and it won't pay
Some shrewd and lucky men Of genius have
appropriated this universal rage for pictorials
to practical purpose, and have coined money
by it. We might advert for examples to our
most popular literary magazines; to the
illustrated Uncle Toms Cabin" to that reada-
BILE and interesting work, with q portrait to
each memoir, of 1.-THE Napoleon Dynasty" to
that copious and complete report, with pictures
to match, of the Forrest Divorce Case, by the
Law Reporter Of the New York HERALD; and,
in fact, to every pictorial work Of any preten-
sions at all, that has been published since the
last French Revolution.
But perhaps the best hit in the pictorial book
business Of the last twelve months, is an "ele-
gantly got up" octave, intituled Portraits and
Memoirs Of Eminent Americans" (mark the
qualification, eminent Americans,'D by John
Livingston, of the New York bar. And as this
work "opens up" new epoch in the great
chapter Of American biography, we propose to
give it brief inspection, for the benefit Of the
public, in contrast to another New York bio
graphical work Of recent date, entitled Men
of Our Time" which is not illustrated.
Mr. Livingston's Eminent Americans, I" in the
two volumes which have been issued, land
there is third under way,) comprehend one
hundred and four biographical sketches, each
with pretty well engraved portrait of the man
whose history is appended. This catalogue
includes a few really eminent, men;
but the Overwhelming majority" are country
court lawyers, and the presidents Of country
banks, some of them, very likely of the wild cat
or red dog stripe of shinplasters, if they were
only brought to the pinch. And. as an
Of the relative value which Mr.
Livingston attaches to different classes of indi-
viduals, we find that while some twenty lines
are given to the biography Of John Randolph
Clay. our Minister at Peru, not less than forty
eight mortal octave pages are bestowed upon
the life and public services of Bank President
of Chautauque county. New York. We are
thus particular in designating the locality of
this eminent American" because we know
that not one in ten thousand of the readers of the
HERALD will know where to "spot him" And
this sort OF discrimination in favor Of bank
presidents pervades this extraordinary compila-
ton Of eminent Americans" throughout.
Yet it is an interesting work. A connoisseur
in phrenology and physiognomy, especially,
will find it so. The portraits. as general rule,
ems of the Americans at the London Crystal
Palace-'they are lean hard, dry, leathery set \
of men, in black satin waistcoasts" with here
and there good fat one, jovial and generous.
But altogether, a traveller accustomed to the
society Of " eminent" men, from these one hun
dred and four portraits of eminent Americans
would be very apt to form most disparaging
and I'M just opinion Of our common, every day
people. In this view, we should regret to hear
that the popularity of Mr.. Livingstone work ex-
tended beyond the boundaries of our own coun-
try. And we say this, with the full admission
that we have not the slightest doubt in the
world, that within his own immediate baiiwick
the most obscure OF these eminent Americans
is deservidly considered very great man
The only difference between John Jones and
Henry Clay, as an "eminent American, is, that
the fame of the one does not cover quite so much
territory as the name Of the other. That's ALL
Still these volumes are interesting as liter
nry curiosity and may be useful for further
in many respects. For instance-one
Of these days there will come upon us general
explosion, and bursting up OF all the
wild cat, red dog. and other shaky banks in the
Union. The storm is steadily brewing now.
When the crash comes on, we may expect the
sudden disappearance from their banks of
number of the officers OF our vari-
Gus financial institutions. In that event. to
such as may desire to find them, it is not impos-
sible that Mr.. Livingston's portraits may be use
full in some cases. as a guide. In regard to
such contingency, we would suggest the addi-
tion of the cashiers of all the banks in the Union
to these Memoirs and Portraits Of eminent
Americans
Upon the main chance, however, we suspect
Mr. Livingston has been eminently successful
A book got up on such plan cannot fail.
And what field is here opened for Ameri-
can enterprise With this discovery, in fact,
rightly followed up, the necessity for an in