Jim Wald

@citizenwald

Historian, ex-Hampshire College, Amherst MA Europe C18-20, book history, historic preservation Past service: SHARP sharpweb.org, Massachusetts Center for Book Co-editor, Routledge History of Antisemitism

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Jim Wald@citizenwald· 19d

After #WWII, only the UK & US at first had occupation zones in western Germany. In July, they ceded territory to create a French zone, including the left bank of the Rhine & Mainz. The French Military Government reprinted Goethe's account as part of its re-education efforts

book cover:

textured tan cover

title in that tan inside dark green rectangle surrounded by thin triple border:

GOETHE
BELAGERUNG VON MAINZ

series title in that same dark green at the bottom:

KLASSIKER DER WELTLITERATUR

opening of frontispiece and title page:

left (landscape orientation)

color panorama of 18th-century Mainz right: title page

KLASSIKER DER WELTLITERATUR Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Belagerung von Mainz

1793

Herausgeber:

Direction de I'Information Publique G.M.Z.F.O.

LEHRMITTEL - VERLAG OFFENBURG /MAINZ

Jim Wald@citizenwald· 19d

During the siege of Mainz by counterrevolutionary forces, 14 April-23 July 1793, the Revolutionaries issued emergency coins and currency. Many of the #coins, based on French domestic ones, were of necessity crudely produced. These are more refined examples. #numismatics

copper coin with patina

obverse:

fasces topped by liberty cap in wreath of oak leaves' Text:

REPUBLIQUE FRANCAISE

1793 L'AN 2E

copper coin with patina

reverse

in center:

*5*
SOLS
*

around edge:

MONNOYE DU SIEGE DE MAYENCE

Jim Wald@citizenwald· 19d

We nowadays do not realize what a revelation the liberation of Majdanek was: fully half a year before Auschwitz, almost 9 months before Bergen-Belsen. @Nytimes called it "the most terrible place on the face of the earth" www.nytimes.com/1944...

Jim Wald@citizenwald· 19d

In September 1944, the The Polish-Soviet Nazi Crimes Investigation Commission published its findings on Majdanek. Here, the Polish edition of Extermination Camp, by Red Star correspondent Konstanty Simonov. (Death to the German Occupiers! on the title page is a nice touch)

book cover

at left, a brick chimney belches smoke, which covers the top of the frame

below it the author's name, Konstanty Simonow

below that, against a background of yellow streaks rising diagonally from the left, the title:

Obóz Zagłady

at bottom: barbed wire fence in front of a row of crematoria

an opening from the 22-page book, which includes 13 photographs

right: text
left: two photos of crematoria.
top: visitors inspect the equipment
bottom: open oven with bone fragments

title page

Death to the German Occupiers!
underlined by a thin black line (I have added a red highlight)

author's name

title

at bottom, indicates that the booklet is published by Military Publishing House of the People's Commissariat of Defense, 1944

Jim Wald@citizenwald· 19d

Don't have a source on America handy, but it was not a skill taught in Europe, either, since Antiquity. There was a slow revival in early modern era, takeoff C18-19 Paywalled overview, but I earlier captured the text How Europe Learnt to Swim | History Today www.historytoday.com/miscellanies...

Jim Wald@citizenwald· 21d

Oops, just noticed I uploaded wrong photo: map of Troy rather than Ithaka and surrounds No big deal, I hope. Plus gives me the opportunity to add the floor plan of Odysseus's house, from the 1833 5th edition of the great Voss translation: alas, a typographically inferior book

DES ODYSSEUS WOHNUNG

floor plan with walls, columns, internal divisions
foldout to right of book binding: mottled blue-black paper-covered boards with red leather spine

Jim Wald@citizenwald· 21d

Given all the talk about Christopher Nolan's new "Odyssey" film, I have resolved to re-read the book in the original German 😉

title page of vol. 1 in antiqua:

HOMERS ODYSSEE
VON
lOHANN HEINRICH Voss,
DRITTE VERBESSERTE AUFLAGE
TÜBINGEN
In der J. G. Cotta'schen Buchhandlung
1806

all text, first page

ODYSSEE
ERSTER GESANG
Sage mir, Muse, vom manne, dem vielgewandten, der vielfach
Umgeirrt, nachdem er die heilige Troja zerstöret;
Vieler menschen städte gesehn, und sitte gelernt hat,
Auch im meere so viel herzkränkende leiden erduldet,
Strebend für seine seele zugleich und der freunde zurükkunft,
Aber nicht die freund’ errettet’ er, eifrig bemüht zwar;
Denn sie bereiteten selbst durch missethat ihr verderben:
Thorichte, welche die rinder dem leuchtenden sohn Hyperions
Schlachteten; jener drauf nahm ihnen den tag der zurükkunft,

map

DAS KEFALLENISCHE REICH
[script:] zu, Theil nach D'Anville und Chandler.

map:
upper left corner:
HOMERISCHE WELTTAFEL
VON
J. H. VOSS 1806

(the world known to the ancients depicted in a circle, with commentary in small script in the lower left and upper and lower right corners

Jim Wald@citizenwald· 21d

These dementia symptoms can show up years before a diagnosis - The Washington Post https://wapo.st/3Tczgkf "Mad and grumpy all the time": doesn't this just describe every academic--or anyone who reads a newspaper? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Jim Wald@citizenwald· 22d

Great Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra concert tonight: TMC conducting fellows led orchestra in Beethoven Leonore No. 3 and Hindemith Konzertmusik for strings and brass. Andris Nelsons conducted Richard Strauss Don Juan & Eulenspiegel www.bso.org/events/j...

view of Ozawa Hall from balcony: orchestra in white at lower left, looking toward parterre and the exterior lawn seating. The evening light lend a bluish cast to much of the scene in this photo

Jim Wald@citizenwald· 22d

Trump continues overhaul of White House grounds with new Rose Garden statues. Jefferson is 5th. 3 were provided by a conservative collector www.washingtonpost.c... installing second-rate representations of commanding historical figures whose legacy he is dismantling day by day

color photo: "This statue depicts Thomas Jefferson seated with a draft of the Declaration of Independence. It was sculpted by George Lundeen and was added to the Rose Garden last week. (Fabrice Dolegowski)"

general lack of artistic accomplishment aside, the coloring is bizarre: vest is bronze-brown, pants appear black, and gold-colored sleeves and stockings are presumably intended to represent white cloth

all text from article:

Some art critics argue that Trump’s emphasis on memorializing
specific people, rather than commissioning abstract works that evoke
broader themes and feelings, is a lost opportunity.

“All told, the statues dating to his second term are of negligible artistic
value,” Maxwell Anderson, the former president of the Association of
Art Museum Directors, wrote in an email. Anderson also drew
comparisons between Trump’s preferences and what he said were
similar practices by dictators who led North Korea and the Soviet
Union.

“President Trump’s embrace of an official classicizing style in art and
architecture finds its closest equivalent in authoritarian regimes,”
Anderson wrote.

Jim Wald@citizenwald· Jun 29

Gotta say: although I pride myself on being a pretty perceptive guy, I was--b/c totally focused on my conference paper--totally caught unawares by today's get-together, which turned out to be a surprise party celebrating my (involuntary) retirement. My friends are the best!!! 🙏

view toward window:
banner Happy Retirement Jim
tv screen: it's actually a recbroadcast of an earlier World Cup Game. The event today was Canada's victory (hence the flag beneath the TV)

a stack of books next to a computer keyboard, on top: Magda Teter. Christian Supremacy: Reckoning With the Roots of Antisemitism and Racism

Jim Wald@citizenwald· Jun 26

I can't even afford this 1917 fine press edition by Polish artist and bookbinder Stanisław Ignacy Fabijański (1865-1947) for Ferroud (1062 copies) BUT: I do own his sketch of the cover design

Fabijański's rough design

Charles Baudelaire
Les
Fleurs du Mal

floral design

Paris
F. Ferroud
1917

double frame: lightly sketched decorative floral border in frame

floral ornaments in each corner

spine: 6 bands

book as published: colored flower/foral ornament in center, colored floral border
1062 copies

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=1337634092&utm_campaign=vialibri&utm_medium=search&utm_source=vialibri&clickid=Rl3RndXnnxyPWIqVy0003Wk2UkHXyTUdyXOZQg0&cm_mmc=aff-_-ir-_-29332-_-77416&ref=imprad29332&afn_sr=impact&ref_=aff_ir_29332_77416#&gid=1&pid=1

Jim Wald@citizenwald· Jun 25

Speaking of #Holocaust rescuer and #Polish diplomat Jan Karski--born 24 June 1914--I chanced upon this plaque while recently walking in Washington, DC (link: alt text)

bronze plaque (brown background, raised letters in gold) mounted vertically on rock, evergreen above, ivy below on the ground

GARDEN OF THE RIGHTEOUS
In honor of those who risked their lives
to save Jews during the Holocaust

2 columns of 13 names each, listing those designated Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, along with their countries of origin and date the name was added to the plaque

Karski's name is the first, 1992

Jan Karski | Righteous Among the Nations
https://www.yadvashem.org/righteous/stories/karski.html

Jim Wald@citizenwald· Jun 23

huh?

spellcheck wants to replace Kushner with lushness

Jim Wald@citizenwald· Jun 23

some might say so

spellcheck wants to replace deconfliction with dereliction

Jim Wald@citizenwald· Jun 21

Versailles in June How it started, how it's going 1789: Defiance. The Third Estate declares itself to be the nation and vows "not to separate, & to reassemble wherever circumstances require, until the constitution...is established" 2026: Unconditional surrender

The Tennis Court Oath (David) - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tennis_Court_Oath_%28David%29

"Trump signs MOU with Iran ending war while at Versailles with Emmanuel Macron

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5929356-trump-signs-iran-agreement/

Jim Wald@citizenwald· Jun 21

steel-engraved portrait of Bailly by Furne, from the mid-nineteenth century, after earlier/near-contemporaneous images Bailly Thomas Cornell (1937-2012) as part of his The Defense of Gracchus Babeuf Before the High Court of Vendôme (Leonard Baskin's Gehenna Press 38/50)

frontal view of face, head tilted slightly to right of frame

The Defense of Gracchus Babeuf (Gehenna Press, 1964) – The Ubiquitous Book blog

https://ubiquitousbooks.wordpress.com/2024/01/06/the-defense-of-gracchus-babeuf/

Jim Wald@citizenwald· Jun 21

Jean Sylvain Bailly, who led the oath, was a noted mathematician & astronomer. He became mayor of Paris in July 1789 but fell afoul of the increasingly radical drift of the Revolution & was guillotined in 1793 en.wikipedia.org/wik... His residency permit from Nantes, 1792 3/4

standard Revolutionary residence permit form with individual information filled in by hand

arrow points to manuscript insertion of Bailly's name, where he is described as ex-mayor of Paris

at top right: black ink stamp
at bottom: signatures of the witnesses, with red wax seal at left

bottom of document:

at top right: black ink stamp
at bottom: signatures of the witnesses, with red wax seal at left

Jim Wald@citizenwald· Jun 21

The late 17th-century Jeu de Paume in Versailles, where representatives of the Third Estate swore the Tennis Court oath, was used for various purposes through the middle of the 19th century and restored under the Third Republic, beginning in 1879

the exterior of the building: light stuccoed wall with slightly projecting double row of windows in brown wood along top

on the building wall today are large representations of the historical event that took place there

Jim Wald@citizenwald· Jun 21

20 June 1789, Tennis Court Oath: Members of the Third Estate, meeting in Versailles, declare themselves the National Assembly, vowing "not to separate, & to reassemble wherever circumstances require, until the constitution...is established"

mural depicting the moment of the oath, after the work of Jacques Louis David: President of the Assembly Jean Sylvain Bailly, in center, with arm raised, leads in the oath. Other deputies on both sides raise their arms in salute and agreement

marble sculptor of Bailly with arm raised, swearing oath; at rear, pedimented doorway with the inscription: ils l'avaient juré, ils ont accompli leur serment (they swore it, they fulfilled their oath)

Jim Wald@citizenwald· Jun 20

19 June 1942: #Nazis execute #Czechoslovak General Alois Eliáš as part of the reprisals for the Heydrich assassination by Czechoslovak paratroopers: the only Prime Minister to suffer this fate during #WWII. 2010 plaque on the Kolowrat Palace, Prague, Czech Senate #WWII #Czech

large bronze plaque with gold letters and national emblem of linden leaves, in Czech

beneath it, small simple metal plaque (white letters, on tan-gray background):

General
Alois Eliáš

29.9.1890 - 19.6.1942

executed
as the only Prime Minister in Nazi
occupied Europe.

had used this palace
to liaise with the resistance group
of Czechoslovak Army officers
"Nation's Defence"

Jim Wald@citizenwald· Jun 20

They died in order that we might live! Jan Kubiš and Josef Gabčík, the assassins of Reinhard Heydrich. They & 5 comrades died or committed suicide 18 June 1942 at the Cathedral of Sts. Cyril & Methodius after another member of their team betrayed their hiding place to the Nazis

black t-shirt:
grayscale photos of the assassins, Jan Kubiš and Josef Gabcík against the background of Heydrich's destroyed car

Motto in gold: Zemřeli, Abychom Žili! They Died That We May Live!

Bohemian lion in red shield

Jim Wald@citizenwald· Jun 20

Postage stamp honoring Jan Kubiš and Josef Gabčík, the assassins of Reinhard Heydrich. They and five comrades died or committed suicide 18 June 1942 at the Cathedral of Sts. Cyril and Methodius after another member of the paratroop team betrayed their hiding place to the Nazis

Czechoslovak postage stamp with portraits of the two heroes

ČESKOSLOVENSKO
1 Kčs

ČS.
ZÁPADNÝ
ODBOJ

ATENTÁT NA R.HEYDRICHA 27.5.1942

the two men in uniform
Kubiș at left, with visored cap
Gabčík, at right, with forage cap

in the background, paratroopers descend from the sky

Jim Wald@citizenwald· Jun 20

Formerly, the crypt of the Prague church of Saints Cyril & Methodius served both museological & commemorative functions. Now the exhibits are upstairs & the crypt holds memorial plaques & busts of the 7 paratroopers who were killed or committed suicide there & in the church above

the former appearance

crypt seen from the rear, light appears pinkish-orange
glass-topped wooden display cases beneath the vaults in front of the burial niches

view of one side of the crypt in its more recent incarnation:

on plinths in front of the burial niches beneath the vaults: bronze bust with black plaques with gold lettering

Jim Wald@citizenwald· Jun 20

The Prague church of Saints Cyril & Methodius, where the Heydrich assassins were killed on 18 June 1942, is today a site of national remembrance. Bullet holes around a ventilation grate from the crypt where several paratroopers took refuge #WWII #Czech #Czechia #Czechoslovakia

narrow rectangular open in gray stone façade pockmarked by bullet hits
above: a black memorial plaque (see next slide)
beneath, a small ledge with flowers and other tributes

detail: the memorial plaque above the ventilation grate:

two relief figures with heads bowed: paratrooper in helmet at left (small paratroop emblem below), clergyman at right (small religious symbol--sacred heart--below)

inscription honors those who died there and later for their involvement in hiding the resisters:

“In this Orthodox church of Sts Cyril and Methodius there died for our freedom on 18 June 1942 the Avengers of our Nation from the Czechoslovak Foreign Legion:

Staff Cpt. Adolf Opálka
Cpt. Jozef Gabčík
Cpt. Jan Kubiš
Cpt. Josef Valčík
Lt. Josef Bublík
Lt. Jan Hrubý
Lt. Jaroslav Švarc

Bishop Gorazd, Spiritual Fr. [Vaclav] Čikl, [curate] Dr [Vladimir] Petřek, community leader [Jan] Sonnevend, and other patriotic Czechs who hid them, were executed. In Everlasting Memory.’

Jim Wald@citizenwald· Jun 20

18 June 1942: 7 Czechoslovak parachutists involved in the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich who have taken refuge in the orthodox Cathedral of Saints Cyril & Methodius in Prague are betrayed by a comrade. Besieged by Nazi forces, all are killed or commit suicide. #WWII #Czech

street-level view of the entrance to the church

rectangular wing at left
at center: steps lead through an iron fence to the entrance façade
lower center: entrance to the crypt with sign (and paratrooper emblem) indicating its function as national memorial

Jim Wald@citizenwald· Jun 17

16 June 1874: Edward Dickinson, father of the poet & member of the Massachusetts legislature, dies of apoplexy, giving a speech advocating for railroads Here, a portrait engraving by Samuel Sartain of Philadelphia, and a description, from my Gazetteer of Hampshire County,

oval steel-engraved portrait

stern-looking man: receding hairline, wings of hair above ears, sideburns; wearing a white shirt and bow tie and dark jacket, in the style of the era

all text, from the digitized Gazeteer

https://archive.org/details/gazetteerofhamps00gayw

Jim Wald@citizenwald· Jun 16

So, it's official now. We got our formal termination notices, and normal operations of Hampshire College cease, and the "teachout" of the remaining students begins. (The great circle of life, or, . . .something) I'll still have a couple of things to share

all text

screen shot of beginning of termination e-mail from early this evening

Jim Wald@citizenwald· Jun 15

Details of the assassination vary, but all agree that it took place in Kléber's garden, where the #Syrian #Kurdish theology student Suleiman al-Halabi stabbed him several times: was sent from #Gaza after Allah directed him to kill an "enemy of the Prophet."

a simpler scene, unidentified woodcut from the (?) mid-nineteenth century:

ASSASSINATION OF GENERAL KLEBER

in a garden setting (trellis on top of wall at left, urn with plants on top of wall at righ):

turbaned assassin pushing back Kleber's right arm with his left hand, plunges dagger into Kleber's heart with this right. The General leans backward, mouth open in pain.

Three French soldiers (two with raise swords) rush up the stairs to the general's aid

Jim Wald@citizenwald· Jun 15

Here, from my eclectic collections, is a letter (16 Pluviôse 8 / 5 February 1800) responding to a request for horses for the French forces in Egypt: "three hundred twenty-one horses, not counting four destined for the General in Chief and whose descriptions follow"