<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16414" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: Arial" bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7><FONT id=role_document face=Arial color=#000000 size=2> <DIV> <DIV>For 2 or 3 years, I have been trying to learn the identity of an artist/engraver whose name appears on an 1874 engraving of Crested Pool and Castle Geyser. The original is titled "The Great Geyser." It is clearly based on a photograph by William Henry Jackson. The geyserite formations are accuarately rendered but the scale is highly exaggerated, in that a tiny little man is shown next to Crested Pool at a scale that implies that Crested is at least 100 feet in diameter. (In one copy of the picture, Crested is 3.6 inches across, the man is 0.2 inch tall.)</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Note that I also have copies of three other engravings that have similar exaggerations of scale. Two of these are by "E. Riou" from 1874, and one is by "W. J. Linton SC" dated 1872. We'll get back to those gentlemen.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>As best as I can make it out, the name of the engraver, capital lettering at the bottom right, reads "T HILDEBRAND". I have contacted numerous experts and nobody could identify such a person.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>A few days ago, when I was yet again Googling for "Hildebrand", I came across some engravings by "Hildibrand". A couple of these show trappers and their camps in Alaska and are dated 1867. Ah, ha. I quickly found that this Hildibrand guy was Henri Theophile Hildibrand -- and about as quickly, I found that obviously this same guy also spelled his name Hildebrand. And I learned that Hildibrand/Hildebrand produced engravings for the first editions of several Jules Verne works, most notably 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Around the World in 80 Days, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and etc.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>But Oh! The original art was not done by Hildibrand, but by Edouard Riou. Hildibrand was only the engraver of the art for publication.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>As noted above, I already have had two illustrations listed as by E. Riou. Although Hildebrand's name does not appear on either of them, I'll just bet he engraved them for Riou.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Bearing on this are two additional items. One is an illustration of an elephant from Around the World in 80 Days. It bears both Riou's name in script at lower left and "HILDBRAND" (with no "i" or "e") in capital lettering identical to that on "The Great Geyser" at lower right. Yay.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>According to A. B. Evans (1998, "The Illustrators of Jules Verne's _Voyages Extraordinaires_", Science-Fiction Studies, vol. XXV, no. 2, p. 241-270), engraver Hildibrand/Hildebrand (it is spelled both ways in the article ! ) sometimes embellished the original artwork of Riou.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I still have the question as to just where all this art originally appeared. I _think_ it was probably in a French work titled _Le Monde Illustre_, either written by or edited by Paul Marcoy and published in either 1874 or 1875.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Henri Theophile Hildibrand was born in either 1824 or 1829 -- that's another thing that seems uncertain -- and so far I've found no date of death.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Edouard Riou was born in 1833, died in 1900. The other engravings I have by him are "The Cave" (actually, Grotto with tiny little people near and on the formation) and "Old Faithful Geyser" (again, a ridiculously huge set of formations per the scale of the people climbing it). The illustration of "The Cave" later appeared in other, American works, re-done and slightly modified by other artists, and identified as Grotto; examples are John Gibson, 1887, _Great Waterfalls, Cataracts, and Geysers_, and F. K. Warren, 1892, _California Illustrated, including a Trip through Yellowstone Park_.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Finally, that other person. Identified as "The Giant Geyser", this engraving was done by William James Linton. It appeared in _Picturesque America, or the Land We Live In_, edited by William Cullen Bryant and published in 1872. Like the others, this is clearly based on a Jackson photo but includes the addition of a tiny little man running pell-mell away from Giant Geyser in eruption.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Interesting stuff. At least, I had fun getting this stuff figured out (apparently, I think).</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Scott Bryan</DIV></DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at <A title="http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/1615326657x4311227241x4298082137/aol?redir=http://www.aol.com" href="http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/1615326657x4311227241x4298082137/aol?redir=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eaol%2Ecom" target="_blank"><B>AOL.com</B></A>. </FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>