Beschreibung:

Our Summer Excursion, 1913, 21 pencil sketches. Adolph Lewisohn’s son, Samuel (1884-1951), married the daughter of family friend and fellow member of the New York German-Jewish community, Margaret Seligman. Joseph Seligman (1819-1880) immigrated to the United States at the age of 18 from Baiersdorf, Germany. Joseph was the focus of the Seligman-Hilton Affair, in which Seligman was denied entrance into Hilton’s Grand Union Hotel in Saratoga, NY because he was Jewish. This became the first anti-Semitic incident to receive widespread publicity in the United States. Joseph had a brother, Isaac, and named his son Isaac Newton. Margaret was one of two surviving children of Isaac N. and his wife, Guta (Loeb) Seligman. Although the recipient is unclear, this volume is surely a gift from Isaac Newton Seligman (I.N.S); the front has gilt lettering: C.S. from I.N.S. The Seligmans, as well as many others in wealthy New York society, knew the finer things in life, including travel. During the summer of 1913, he and his family took a holiday through the Berkshire Hills into Canada, resulting in this rather spectacular example of an amateur sketch album depicting the journey. Although not explicitly identified, the artist may be Seligman, himself. He was an avid art collector and had Charles Livingston Bull install six murals in the house Seligman would build at Fish Rock near Saranac Lake. These (Bull’s murals) were apparently the inspiration for Seligman’s own sketches which reportedly decorated his guest book at Fish Rock. Rendering the scenery with humor, skill, and an attention to detail, the artist produced one image more or less each day for three weeks, beginning with a stop in Stockbridge, Mass., a sojourn at the famed tourist stop of the Equinox House in Manchester, Vt., (once the home of Abraham Lincoln’s granddaughter), and continuing up to their final destination in Murray Bay, Quebec. Among the highlights are two excellent images of a sporty young woman golfing, two images of bathing-suited women at a pool in Murray Bay, and several images depicting “local color” in Quebec. “The Berkshire Hills, Stockbridge, July 8/13” “Manchester, Vt., July 10/13” (row of elm trees and walkway) “Manchester, Vt., July 11/13” (house with spreading elm in front) “Equinox House, Manchester, Vt., July 13/13” “Manchester, Vt., July 13/13” (vista with walkways, stone gates, and house in background) “What Margaret was talking about, thinking and dreaming 24 hours a day! Equinox House, Manchester July 13/13” (Very attractive image of woman golfing) “This bothered Gusta, getting in & out!! Quebec July 13/13” (buggy with driver and horse) “The Citadel, Quebec, July 14/13” (View from river of the citadel, Quebec City) “Dufferin Terrace, Quebec, July 16/13” (view over monument toward river) “Manor Richelieu, Murray Bay, July 16/13” (view up hill of resort hotel) “Dock, Murray Bay, July 17/13” (view of steamer at dock) “Murray Bay Golf Links, July 19/13. Margaret’s first tournament (18 holes on 108)” (stylized image of Margaret golfing, flanked by her scores and “father’s” “Bread oven of habitants, Murray Bay, July 20/13” (rough mud oven under crude covering) No title (view of swimming pool and slide “Miss Carson in pool at Murray Bay, July 21/22” (Miss Carson in long stockings, cap, and bathing suit) “In bathing pool Murray Bay, July 22/13” (young woman in bathing attire -- Margaret? -- in relaxed pose by pool) “Low tide, Murray Bay, July 22/13” (four sailing ships on mud flats) “Old bread oven, Murray Bay, July 23/13” (front view of old habitant bread oven) “Peasant spinning wool, St Agnes, near Murray Bay, July 24/13” (woman at old fashioned spinning wheel indoors) “Ann Tafts house, Murray Bay, July 25/13” (view of modest house on hillside) “Road from Wharf, Murray Bay, July 26/13” (view of road along shore) All the sketches are reflective of the touristic experiences of elite travelers in the early twentieth century. Handsomely bound in full brown pebbl