The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-04-16
Have a Hobby
Have Hobby
Rare old Book Displays
Silhouette of Harrison
BY MRS. c. o. ROBINSON.
Times Hobby Editor

NdS DSCGuoS PclSOI4o WIN PpooCoo
really excellent products Of
pioneer workmanship, almost al
ways know their value and APP
preciate their worth. An in
veterate Junk snooper," however.
can rise to heights of enthu-
siasm over a rare antique even
though there is no hope Of own
ing it.
In this guise, I received a real
antique thrill recently by see
ing in the catalogue Of the Cen
trail Library, Portrait Gallery Of
Distinguished American Citizens
by William Henry Brown" I
scarcely could believe my eyes
until I actually held it in my
hands. Of course, it was not a
true find, as the library staff
knew about it, but to me it was
a discovery since I CHANGED upon
it while searching for something
entirely foreign.
The Portrait Gallery" is a book
compiled by Brown in 1846 and
is illustrated with Autographs Of
his silhouettes which ironically
are rarer than his originals. Many
years ago Edwin R. Gilgour, who
had obtained a copy Of the ''Por-
trait Gallery" gave me the
privilege of examining tan ex-
perience no antique collector
could forget.
I never expected to see an
other copy, as Mr.. Gilgour said
that in his long experience as
an antique dealer he had found
but two of these rare books, al
though he had advertised ex-
tensively. Alice Van Leer Car
rick says that the last one offered
in an auction brought $500 and
that she had seen only three
cOpies-two owned privately and
one in the vaults Of the Boston
library. She adds:
L would rather own the shadows
Of Browns Distinguished Amer
lean Citizens than anything else
in the world" High praise indeed
Miss Dorothy Sipe Of the library
staff states that Miss Eliza Brown
ing probably purchased this rare
volume which was obtained from
Mrs. w. H. H. Terrull, a member
Of an old Indianapolis family, at
cost Of 81 on March "a, 1886.
A notation on the first page, 81,
March 18, 1851, undoubtedly in
dicates the price that Mrs. Ter
rull paid for it originally.
VXTILLIAM HENRY BROWN
w was born in Charleston,
S. c., in 1903, and became a sill
houette artist at the age of Is,
when Lafayette, then in America,
1924, sat to Brown for a shadow"
Brown was amazingly swift and
accurate in his cutting and be-
came very successful, as he states
in the preface to the Portrait
Gallery.
During the authors travels
throughout the United States in
the exercise of his peculiar talent
of taking full length likeneSses
from the observation of few
moments, he had the extensive
patronage of the most prominent
and distinguished men of the day.
Each portrait exhibits the orig
inal with all the peculiarities of
place, person, dress, attitude and
manner.
Brown often mounted his sill
houettes on Autographed back
grounds prepared under his di-
rection, and this association may
have led to the form in which
the Portrait Gallery" was COM
piled. The Autographed illustra-
tons were prepared by the KEEL
loggs while Brown wrote the bio
graphical sketches of the sub
jects and assembled the fac
SMILES of the entire autographed
letters written by them.
According to an editorial COM
ment by Homer Eaton KeyeS in
the magazine, Antiques, the
books are rare because only a few
copies had been distributed when
practically the whole edition,
plates and all, were destroyed by
fire. Normally, the book contains
twenty-siX silhouetteS, but in the
one owned by the library the Rev.
William White is pictured twice,
an error which should enhance
its value.
Each silhouette has its distinc-
tive points of interest. President
Tyler is looking toward the Cap
itol dome from a window of the
Presidents house. DR.. Thomas
Cooper, educator of Charleston,
is dressed in a unique costume
with trousers ending in a frill.
Bishop William White of Phila-
delphia, alone of the Episcopal
clergy to remain in America when
the revolution began, is standing
in front of his church. He ap-
pears cold in his knee breeches
as the wind whips his flowing
white hair.
TALL, slim, fastidious John
Il Randolph of Roanoke, de-
Scendant Of Pocahontas, is in
specting his thoroughbred horses
and ancestral acres. Brown says
of him:
Mr.. Randolph cultivated his