by D. Sproul | December 28th, 2009
I just read about an artist who could hold and even check out reference photos from the New York Public Library’s Picture Collection. It sounds like an amazing resource. I got that sinking feeling (jealousy? envy?), since I don’t live in New York, and even moved away from Los Angeles last year. But then I read on, and this amazing resource is also offered online to the “hoi polli” world-wide, with no New York apartment rental required. Over 30,000 digital images from all kinds of publishing to original photographs are available at this web address: digital.nypl.org/mmpco/
Most of these images were created before 1923. This is an amazing resource for getting a feel for an era, for illustration reference, and more. Many of the photographs are of period newspaper and book illustrations: line drawings and etchings. There doesn’t seem to be a folder marked “original photographs,” but it probably depends on what you are looking up. Washington would pre-date all photos, for instance.
I took a peek, and my favorite so far is the “Pirates” folder, specifically this pirate image, by Howard Pyle. I thought the clouds were N.C. Wyeth’s, but I think I remember that Wyeth studied under Pyle, so that would explain some similarity. (See more of N.C. Wyeth’s amazing work online.)
Here is a wonderful illustration of President Washington taking the inaugural oath. That is probably the V.P., John Adams, on his right.
Thank you to the source of this info for inspiration: the article “About the Cover” by Sherrill Kushner, which appeared in SCBWI’s Sept./Oct. 2009 bulletin.