Fwd: Re: Irony and decoration

Chris J. Durden drdn at mail.utexas.edu
Sun Jun 2 22:53:19 EDT 2002


>Date: Sun, 02 Jun 2002 21:52:07 -0500
>To: Michael Gochfeld <gochfeld at eohsi.rutgers.edu>
>From: "Chris J. Durden" <drdn at mail.utexas.edu>
>Subject: Re: Irony and decoration
>
>Mike,
>    Those prints were often razored out of scientific journals in 
> university libraries with open stacks by seedy individuals who needed 
> quick cash for a fix of some kind. I have had this happen between one 
> checkout of a reference to read the description and another checkout to 
> photograph the illustration that had been there - very frustrating.
>    I have ransomed a couple of prints from these dealers in cutout prints 
> (Stephens, 1828 illustration of *Pamphila bucephalus* = *Hylephila 
> phyleus; Edwards illustration of *Papilio calverleyi*) but I am loath to 
> support these pirates. The decorator market seems to be insatiable and it 
> is depleting our library resources.
>...................Chris Durden
>
>At 07:11 AM 6/2/2002 -0400, you wrote:
>
>
>>Mark Walker wrote:
>>
>> > Ironically, I believe there is more commercial value in selling 
>> butterflies
>> > as wall ornaments to art lovers and trendy new-age nature lovers than 
>> there
>> > is to slithering, conniving, one-step-away-from-a-felony butterfly
>> > collectors.
>>
>>I think you're right, and it is an irony.  I am very fond of mid-19th century
>>lithographs of natural history subjects.
>>I used to be able to find them easily (i.e. at low cost), but the interior
>>decorators have created a market that has driven the price up by an order of
>>magnitude.
>>
>>
>>
>>Mike Gochfeld



 
 ------------------------------------------------------------ 

   For subscription and related information about LEPS-L visit:

   http://www.peabody.yale.edu/other/lepsl 
 


More information about the Leps-l mailing list