2003, ISBN: 42604ce1b56755481661c5fec4a48410

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[Atlas or World Map for the National Schools / Devised and Created by Astvatsatur V. Avakian of the Mekhitarist Monastery].Extremely rare one of the great milestones of Armenian language… Meer...

[Atlas or World Map for the National Schools / Devised and Created by Astvatsatur V. Avakian of the Mekhitarist Monastery].Extremely rare one of the great milestones of Armenian language cartography, being the first Armenian school atlas and the second ever Armenian world atlas, created by Astvatsatur Avakian, a monk at the Mekhitarist Monastery in Vienna, a beautifully produced work of 21 maps, importantly including one of the earliest maps to depict a proposed future independent state of 'Armenia' cleaved out of the Ottoman Empire, a politically incendiary notion and powerful rhetorical device of the 'Armenian National Awakening'; the maps printed by an extraordinary technique clearly inspired by the Vienna cartographer Franz Raffelsperger.4° (27.5 x 20.5 cm): [2 ff. half title and title, bound in plano], 21 maps lithographed in blue with added black letter punch text and original outline hand colour, all bound in plano (thus all double-page sized); original brown marbled boards with maroon cloth spine (Very Good, internally crisp, half title and title with spotting, maps with resplendent original colours and areas of light spotting; binding with shelf-wear and surface abrasions to covers).This is an important milestone in the history of Armenian language cartography, being the first Armenian school atlas and the second ever Armenian world atlas. It was created by Astvatsatur V. Avakian, a monk at the Mekhitarist Monastery in Vienna, one of the world's most important Armenian Catholic missions, and was printed by the monastery's press. It is the most comprehensive Armenian atlas made prior to the 20th Century, featuring 21 beautifully rendered maps, including maps of the continents (Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America and Australia/Oceania); individual European countries and regions; and, reflecting the particular interests of the Armenian people, a map of 'Armenia'; two maps of the Ottoman Empire (in Europe and Asia); Persia; and India and Mainland Southeast Asia (curiously it does not, and never did include a World map). Several of these maps are the earliest, or amongst the earliest, Armenian language maps of the subjects depicted. The maps are rendered of an artistic style and made by an extraordinary printing technique that shows the strong influence, if not the direct involvement, of the brilliantly original Vienna cartographer Franz Raffelsperger.Special attention should be given the 'Armenia' map, which shows a proposed future independent Armenian state carved out of the territories of the Ottoman Empire and Persia. The 'country' is clearly labelled, with well-defined boundaries outlined in pink watercolour, taking in the heartland of the former Armenian states of ancient times. This politically incendiary map is a powerful manifestation of the 'Armenian National Awakening', the movement which arose in the mid-19th century that sought self-determination for the Armenian people. Importantly, the map is one of the earliest cartographic works to depict the revival of an independent Armenian state in modern times.The Mekhitarist Order of Vienna was an organization of the Armenian Catholic Church, that in the 1770s split off from the eponymous order based in Venice. Its mandate was education, and the well-funded order spent vast resources writing, drafting and translating religious, literary and scientific texts for the intellectual betterment of Armenian children and adults, both in Ottoman Empire and throughout the large Armenian global diaspora. The monastery assembled one of the finest Armenian libraries in the world, and since 1812 operated a printing press in Vienna to issue its own works (including the present atlas). The breadth and quality of the press's production was stellar and the books played a major role in the development and preservation of Armenian culture worldwide, as the transfer of Western European knowledge to the Armenian people.The present atlas was one of the most technically sophisticated works ever published by the Mekhitarist Monastery of Vienna and was intended to educate Armenian high school students on world geography. While such knowledge was important to youth of all nationalities, it had partial resonance for Armenians, a people who no longer ruled their homeland (which was then divided under Ottoman, Russian and Persian control), and many of whom lived in diaspora communities all across the world. It was critical for young Armenians to see where they lived in relation to their ancestral homeland and, given the presence of the 'Armenia' map, holding out hope of someday reclaiming their lost country.The maps within the present atlas, all bound in plano (each measuring 27 x 36 cm), are of a highly attractive artistic style and made by an extraordinary printing technique that is unmistakably inspired by the work of Franz Raffelsperger (1793 1861), an eccentric and brilliant boutique Vienna mapmaker. The maps are made through a combination of lithography (in blue) with all text added in black letterpress, creating a work of elegant visual contrast. This technique was perfected by Raffelsperger in the 1840s, and was exceedingly difficult to execute, requiring great care and precision. The technique of combined lithograph-type punch is demanding and unusual, while the style of this technique employed for the maps in the present atlas is so similar to Raffelsperger's, that it seems likely that the printers working at the Mekhitarist press in Vienna (Mess'rs Astvacacni and Tpagrovatian) were trained by, or worked with, Raffelsperger. Moreover, the artistic style of the maps, especially the detailing of the blue lines that emphasize the coastlines, is a signature of Raffelsperger's work. Indeed, Raffelsperger, who died in 1861, was still very much active in Vienna in the mid-1850s, when the present maps were being prepared. He is recorded as being highly interested in working with printing fonts of scripts other than Latin, although no such works are known to have been made by him. The Raffelsperger-Mekhitarist connection is a subject worthy of future academic research.Cartographically, the maps in the atlas are not based on original mapping; however, as best as we can tell, they are not verbatim copies of European maps, but seem to be adapted from them. It seems that Avakian was influenced by the maps within the popular German school atlases by Stieler, Sydow and Perthes.Importantly, the present 1860 edition of the atlas is the second, of two, editions. The first edition was issued in 1857, and the two issues are identical, save for the alteration of the date of publication and minor amendments to the imprint lines on the lower margins of the maps.Avakian's atlas came on the heels of the first Armenian world atlas, which was issued in by the rival Venetian Mekhitarist Order, Hovhannes Amira Dadian's , , , [Atlas of Geographical Maps The World According to the Old and New Geographies of France, England, Germany and Russia] (Venice, 1849). While the Dadian atlas was much more grand, being a large folio work, it only included ten maps. An example of the Dadian atlas sold at auction at Swann Galleries (New York) for $37,500!The Avakian atlas proved to be a pathfinder, in that it inspired the creation of future Armenian school atlases and geography textbooks, although it would be many years before another Armenian work was produced that featured so many maps.The author of the atlas, Astvatsatur V. Avakian ( . ), was a monk at the Mekhitarist Monastery in Vienna, active in the 1850s and '60s, although not much is known about his biography. He was evidently a gifted translator and editor, and in addition to the atlas, he is recorded as the author of [Exploring Natural History] (Vienna, 1854), a textbook for children, and [The Story of the Stuart Kings of Scotland and Queen Mary Stuart] (Vienna, 1861), an entertaining work of popular history.List of Contents (21 Maps):Europe was during the 19th Century a great centre of Armenian culture, fuelled by prosperous diaspora communities and home to many monasteries and printing presses that produced the majority of Armenian books.The great majority of Armenians lived in Asia; their homeland was the Armenian Highlands of Eastern Anatolia, while diaspora communities existed in most countries, including Persia, China, Philippines, Singapore and India.A fascinating and detailed map of Africa depicting the continent prior to the 'Scramble for Africa'; colour coding identifies the various zones of colonial influence of the various European powers. Egypt was home to thriving Armenian diaspora communities.This fine map of North America depicts a continent that was to become one of the most important locations of the Armenian diaspora. The first Armenian to arrive in America was a tobacco trader in 1618, and over the next three hundred years a few small Armenian communities flourished there. However, the Armenian-American population remained small until after the mass immigration that occurred in the wake of the Armenian Genocide (1915-23). Today as many as 1.5 million Americans claim Armenian ancestry. Th map labels the U.S. and Mexican states, as well as the British colonies and the districts of the Hudson's Bay Company.Armenians had immigrated to South America throughout the colonial times, and eventually formed large communities in Brazil.This attractive and interesting map of Australia, New Zealand and Oceania labels all the Australian colonies and employs colour-coding to identify the areas controlled by the various European powers. In the 20th Century, Australia would see significant Armenian immigration.France was an important intellectual centre for the Armenian diaspora, with key communities in Paris and Marseille. In the late 19th Century, the French Armenian diaspora became a hotbed of the 'Armenian National Awakening' and after the Armenian Genocide, Western Europe's leading Armenian centre.Britain had a small, but very influential Armenian communities that were critical in providing support for Armenian activities worldwide.10 . [Italy].Italy was long one of the leading centres of Armenian intellectual life, the Armenian Catholic Church was in communion with the Vatican and the Mekhitarist Monastery in Venice was, during the Enlightenment era, the single most important source of Armenian print culture in the world.While the Armenian communities in the German states were traditionally small, Armenians had strong academic and business ties to German cities and universities.In the late 18th century the Austrian Empire became one of the leading centres of Armenian culture, due to the foundation of a new branch of the Mekhitarist Order, in Trieste, and then in Vienna. The Armenians were enthusiastically welcomed by the Habsburgs and the country proved to be an excellent place to raise funds and work on creating educational tools for Armenians worldwide. It is also notable that Lvov, Galicia (today, Lviv, Ukraine), which during this time a part of the Austrian Empire, was long home to major Armenian community.Amsterdam was one of the great centres of Armenian commercial and intellectual life, many books and the first major Armenian language printed map were issued there.The Russian and the Armenian peoples have very deep cultural connections, and Russia was home to many large, longstanding Armenian diaspora communities. Most Armenians were also members of the Armenian Orthodox Church, which was closely connected to the main Russian faith. The Lazarev Institute of Oriental Languages, founded in Moscow, in 1815, was one of the most important global centres of Armenian intellectual discovery, while from 1828 Russia ruled a part of the traditional Armenian homeland (the region around Yerevan), having conquered it from Persia. During the 19th century and up to World War I, Russia generally supported the Armenian cause within the Ottoman Empire. The Russian-held Armenian lands became the Armenian SSR in 1920, territory which formed the sovereign Republic of Armenia in 1991.Armenians and Greeks had ancient and strong cultural connections, sharing the Christian faith and as well as long histories of struggle for national reawakening against the Ottoman state. Over 80,000 Armenians sought refuge in Greece in the wake of the Armenian Genocide.This map showcases the Ottomans' European territories, in the Southern Balkans, which were home to small but longstanding Armenian communities.This important map depicts the populous part of the Ottoman Empire in Asia (being Anatolia, the Levant and Iraq), and embraces almost all of the territories of the Armenian ancestral homeland. The last independent Armenian state, the Kingdom of Cilia, fell to the Ottomans in 1375, and since then the Armenians lived under foreign rulers. In the mid 19th century, the vast majority of Armenians lived in the Ottoman Empire. Many Armenians in rural Eastern Anatolia lived in poverty and had difficult relations with their Turkish and Kurdish neighbours. Conversely, many of the Armenian communities in the cities, especially in places such as Istanbul, Smyrna (Izmir), Beirut and Aleppo, were prosperous and relatively well integrated into the broader society. Indeed, during the Tanzimat Era (1839-75), Armenians were accorded full legal rights and by the late 19th century, Armenians were serving at the highest levels of the Ottoman government. Ironically, during the same period, the regime of Sultan Abdul Hamid II presided over the 'Hamidian Massacres' of 189496, during which hundreds of thousands of Armenians were murdered in Eastern Anatolia. As we all know, during World War I, the Young Turk regime turned on the empire's Armenian communities, enacting the Armenian Genocide (1915-23), which resulted in the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians. The survivors fled abroad, greatly increasing the size of the of Armenian diaspora, while virtually no Armenians were left in the majority of their traditional homeland. While the First Republic of Armenia (1918-20) briefly saw the revival of first independent Armenian state in almost 550 years, at the end of the chaos that followed the war, only the Yerevan region was left to the Armenians, forming the Armenian SSR in 1920, a part of the Soviet Union.This is the most important map in the atlas, as it is one of the very first maps to depict a proposed future Armenian state, superimposed over a current-day map of Eastern Anatolia and northwestern Persi, Pashtpan S. Astvacacni and B. Tpagrovatian for the Mekhitarist Monastery, 1860, 0, 21st Editions, 2003, 2003. 2 Volumes, Signed Limited Editions, 3 of 6. Features 20 Signed Original Hand Printed Platinum Prints and Two Signed Free-standing Platinum Prints, in Pristine Condition. Details of the Books and Prints: John Wood wrote an exceptional introduction that states in part: "No visual artist since Blake himself is better suited to illustrate the Songs of Experience than Joel-Peter Witkin, for Witkin is the most profoundly religious photographer in the history of the medium and probably the most god-haunted American artist of the twentieth century. His imagery, like Blake's, is a direct outgrowth of his spirituality. Witkin understands that art and religion are made of the same things: sex, death, and God. In Blake's own time few people could perceive the prophetic nature and spirituality of his work. Two centuries later we see him far more clearly, but in his day his visionary claims coupled with an art like no one had ever before seen or read made him an outsider. When artists see beyond what others insist on calling the 'real' world, when they shape new realities, such as Cezanne and Picasso did, or shape new mythologies from the very flesh of the ones we know, and then insist that the deity they reveal is historical, orthodox, and authentic, those artists begin to disturb us deeply. They undermine our security. They demand we look again at what we thought we had seen, that we look through their eyes, and that we look more deeply than we ever before had looked. "From the artist (Songs of Innocence): "If our first book was glorious, this one will be mystical. There is a Buddhist saying -- To everyman is given the key to the Gates of Heaven -- but the same key also opens the Gates of Hell. That is the difference between innocence and experience. It is what compels our desire to live. It is why, for those who can see it, Blake is God's jester. Blake was so wise that he could see 'nature as the work of the Devil.' He stated that 'The Devil is in us as far as we are in nature.' It is only when we are disengaged from mortality -- at death -- that evil leaves us. Then, after Judgment, either our chains are broken or we are 'his' Evermore. Logic, the rational - these are options, the Soap Operas of Divine Belief. Philosophy is a soiled diaper... Darwin playing in guano some where in a Bosch landscape. The subjects of my work are not freaks, degenerates, or the grotesque. They are ourselves. In this violent and visually wallpapered age, I have chosen to evoke the darkness rather than the light: as Goya, Blake and Redon have. Because we argue for Divine Madness as an honorable choice in a society devoid of human honor. The themes of my work are the things which constitute human existence, history, beauty. The work has at its very core the evidence of conscience presented as photographic metaphor. I strive to create experiences no one has seen or felt before." The books are hand-bound and printed in letterpress on handmade cotton rag paper and housed in a custom clamshell box. Each book measures 18" x 14". The free-standing platinum prints are housed in a folded, letterpress printed presentation folder. The books are signed and numbered by Joel-Peter Witkin, John Wood, and the publisher, Steven Albahari, on the limitation page. A Letter of Provenance from Lance Speer is included. The following are the titles of the platinum prints: Songs of Innocence 1. Von Gloeden in Asien 2. Satiro 3. The Kiss 4. Blackman 5. Counting Lessons in Purgatory 6. Portrait of Nan 7. Man with Dog 8. Nude with Mask 9. Bird of Queveda 10. Woman Once a Bird 11. Still Life, Mexico - signed, free-standing platinum print Songs of Experience 1. Cupid and Centaur in the Museum of Love 2. La Bete 3. Man without a Head 4. Amour 5. Androgyny Breast Feeding a Fetus 6. Testicle Stretch with the Possibility of a Crushed Face 7. Portrait as a Vanite 8. The Invention of Milk 9. Prudence 10. A Day in the Country 11. Harvest - signed, platinum print, 21st Editions, 2003, 2003, 0<

2015, ISBN: 42604ce1b56755481661c5fec4a48410

London: Folio Society. 2015. Duodecimo, original maroon pictorial cloth boards decorated in gilt, colour plates. Near fine condition in like slipcase. Blake's visionary poems, with f… Meer...

London: Folio Society. 2015. Duodecimo, original maroon pictorial cloth boards decorated in gilt, colour plates. Near fine condition in like slipcase. Blake's visionary poems, with facsimiles of his 'illumination' illustrations. Reprint. Boards in slip-case., Folio Society, 2015, 0<