ME & You Magazine Issue 3

MARY EVANS PICTURE LIBRARY

Issue 3, September 2010

Published by the Mary Evans Picture Library 59 Tranquil Vale, London SE3 0BS T: 020 8318 0034 www.maryevans.com E: pictures@maryevans.com

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Fancy That!

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Tortured Times

6

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An Historic Legacy

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Tragedy on the Lake

10

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Pick of the Crop

11

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Ski Style

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Historyland

Nameplate image ClassicStock/Mary Evans

'BUT,

WHAT ARE WE TO

WEAR?' These, explains the romantically named Ardern Holt in "Fancy Dresses Described," are the typical first words exclaimed on receipt of an invitation to a Fancy Dress Ball. Our library copy of this essential guide from 1884 is a fourth edition, the third 'being exhausted' such was its popularity.

Peg Woffington from Fancy Dresses Described by Ardern Holt, 1884 (image 10470360)

Ms Holt's prescriptive advice was typical of the period. Fancy Dress parties abounded in the 19th century but the emphasis was on authenticity rather than absurdity. Historical characters were much favoured, as were those from popular novels or poems, and many young ladies enjoyed dressing in the quaint traditional costumes of native peasantry, the shorter skirts often allowing a thrilling glimpse of ankle.

All images Mary Evans Picture Library

Fortunately for unimaginative 19th century revellers, Ms Holt is positively brimming with ideas. She suggests going as a hailstorm (short dress, long veil of spangled white tulle) or as Kitty, Duchess of Queensbury (Who? Never mind; just throw on a petticoat of rich brocade, a black velvet sacque lined with satin and pearls and a stomacher of amethysts and rubies). Or perhaps a hornet - easily created with black satin boots, a tunic of black and gold stripes topped with a cap of velvet. Other improbable ideas include an Incroyable, fresh lavender ("suitable for a fair, slight girl"), Anne of Austria, mushrooms (note

plural), a powder puff, or a pigeon. All are described without an ounce of irony and appear to be perfectly reasonable suggestions for the time. We imagine that most would require repeated and laborious explanations at a 21st century fancy dress party, though on the upside, you are virtually guaranteed originality.

An Incroyable and The Hornet from Fancy Dresses Described

by Ardern Holt, 1884 (images 10470315 and 10438620)

Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

Queen Victoria herself hosted a Plantaganet ball at Buckingham Palace in the spring of 1842, with Prince Albert as King Edward III and Victoria as his consort, Queen Philippa. The costumes used brocade made by Spitalfields weavers and were trimmed with minever fur 'distinctive of the highest social station in the middle ages' according to The Illustrated London News which covered the event in their very first issue. Fashioned by Vouillon and Laure, a brother and sister team who had also created costumes for the Marquess of Londonderry's 'bal masque', all the costumes sweeping up the grand staircase were 'very correct', the accolade most prized by a Victorian fancy dress wearer.

From court masques and Venetian balls to historic pageants and the annual Lord Mayor’s children’s Christmas party, it seems that a party - or any event - was often a chance to dress up.

16th century Commedia dell'Arte spawned a rash of Pierrots and Columbines at balls. In the same period, the Bright Young Things partied from dawn 'til dusk dressed as goddesses, smugglers, matadors or babies in prams.

But of course the true experts at dressingup are children, and some of our loveliest illustrations show children in all manner of charming costumes. Ladies' magazines gave regular advice on fancy dress ideas for the young while sweet if sentimental postcards of little girls as Bo-peep or young chaps in dashing Napoleonic attire were printed in their thousands. The well-heeled might splurge on shop-bought costumes for their little darlings, but two photographs from our collection show a refreshingly simple approach to fancy dress. Seven youngsters from a Boys' Club in 1931 improvise costumes to transform themselves into an arab, a housewife and the man from the Marmite adverts, while Shirley Baker captures a child in a Salford backstreet in 1966 who is living proof that sometimes all you need is a little imagination. And a cardboard box.

Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

Two carnival characters, by Armand Rapeno in Le Petit Journal 5th March 1922 (image 10005427)

Top: Prince Albert dressed as King Edward III and Queen Victoria dressed as Philippa of Hainault, from the Illustrated London News 14th May 1842 (images 10221233 and 10221228)

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Mary Evans Picture Library

Above: Queen Victoria and Prince Albert surrounded by admirers at their Plantagenet Ball, Illustrated London News 14th May 1842 (image 10221236)

From court masques and Venetian balls to historic pageants and the annual Lord Mayor's children's Christmas party in London, it seems that a party - or any event - was often a chance to dress up.As fanciful as some of the ideas may sound, the reality was that costumes tended to echo the lines and cut of current fashions, with fabric and embellishments signifying the wearer's new persona. As today, topical events provided inspiration too: witness the lady in 1909 sporting an amusing aeroplane hat as a nod towards the contemporary fascination with aviation. Stravinsky's 'Pulcinella' ballet of 1920, based on the

Mary Evans Picture Library

Shirley Baker/Mary Evans

Peter & Dawn Cope/Mary Evans

Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

Clockwise from centre: Children at a fancy dress party c.1925 by Susan Beatrice Pearse (image 10421746); woman with biplane hat c.1909 (image 10134759); Bright Young Things arriving for a ‘second childhood’ party hosted

by Rosemary Sanders, 1929 (image 10224528); child in cardboard box robot costume, Manchester 1966 (image 10239426); fancy dress at a Boys’ Club, 1931 (image 10239570) Mary Evans Picture Library

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Tortured Times M

an's inhumanity to man has few uglier expressions than torture, the infliction of pain by one or several human beings on others. Whether it be for the purposes of obtaining information; to coerce others into behaving in a certain manner; or simply to humiliate and inflict physical or psychological hurt for its own sake, incidents of torture emerge on a regular basis. Yet at the same time, the subject holds a macabre fascination for many, and scenes of torture have featured in many literary and cinematic works over the last few centuries.

Our picture files reflect this mixture of horror and captivation. Here we find depictions of appalling torturous acts, alongside scenes of the torture chamber as a museum for the public's entertainment.

Perhaps the most infamous incidences of torture in the last decade were the acts revealed to have occurred at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, committed

by US soldiers on some of the prisoners under their supervision. In the same year that details of those incidents emerged to universal outrage, a film entitled 'Saw' was released which featured psychological and physical torture, and proved popular enough at the box office to have spawned several sequels. It seems that the subject of torture continues to both draw and repel in equal measure.

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n medieval times, women suspected of being witches were routinely tortured to encourage a confession to their evil doing. The ducking stool was used for this purpose; later the chair was disposed of and the suspect bound and thrown into the water. If she floated, it was considered proof of guilt, and a suitable punishment, usually execution, followed. If she drowned then she was deemed innocent, obviously a no-win situation for the hapless victim.

Top left: Papal bull of Innocent VIII in which Fray Tomas de Torquemada is appointed Inquisitor General in 1482 (image 10208890). Above: woodcut of a ducking stool, 17th century (image 10003077). Opposite page top: Fourth Degree of Torture of the Inquisition, aquatint by L C Stadler, 1813 (image 10182265). Opposite page centre: Cuthbert Simpson on the rack at the Tower of London (image 10107609). Opposite page right:Tomas de Torquemada, H G Ibels in Assiette au Beurre, 1906 (image 10050952)

Manuscript top left AISA Media/Mary Evans; all other images Mary Evans Picture Library

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ne of the most common instruments of torture, both in Spain and elsewhere, was the rack, usually a wooden or iron frame with a roller at one or both ends to which the victim would be attached and gradually stretched. Needless to say, this would result in much pain, potential long term physical damage, and possibly even a confession. The torture instrument of choice at the Tower of London, probable victims of the rack included Guy Fawkes and William Wallace. A replica of this fiendish instrument is on display at the Tower to this day.

ifference of religious belief was the justification for a good deal of torture through the ages, as witnessed by the number of Catholic saints who are depicted with the instruments of their own torture, such as Catherine of Alexandria and her wheel. Perhaps the most infamous incidence of torture with a religious motivation was the Spanish Inquisition, a tribunal established in 1478 by monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella with the aim of maintaining the Catholic orthodoxy throughout their lands.

The work of the Inquisition intensified following decrees of 1492 and 1501 ordering Muslims and Jews to convert to Catholicism or face exile.

As Inquisitor General, Tomas de Torquemada laid down detailed procedures which included torture as a means of encouraging confession.

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An Historic Legacy H

Mark Furness/Mary Evans

ere at the library we are still struggling to come to terms with life without Mary. As you may have heard, Mary Evans, who founded the library with her husband Hilary back in 1964, died on 29th June this year after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease.

The magnitude of Mary's contribution to our industry can be measured by the fact that The Guardian,The Daily Telegraph and The Times all published obituaries in the days following her death, each accompanied by one of Mary's favourite pictures of she and Hilary at work in the library.

Mary Evans Picture Library

Mary brought to the library a passion for collecting, an exceptional eye for an image and a shrewd business mind. That the library survives in such rude health, when so many small picture libraries have fallen by the wayside or been taken over by corporations, is a testament to Mary and the values she instilled in those she employed. She was determined that the library should remain an independent, family-owned business and an employer of local people. That it also became recognised worldwide as one of the leading sources of historical imagery was the icing on the cake.

All Saints Parish Hall, which houses the Mary Evans Picture Library. The arts and crafts-style building, by architect Charles Winmill, was built in 1928.

Watercolour by Alan Keeler (image 10045577)

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She was born Mary Lander in London, the youngest of four sisters.The family lived in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire. When she was seven, her two eldest sisters having decided on an African adventure, her parents concluded that the whole family may as well start a new life in Southern

Hilary and Mary in Mary’s office at the library in 2005, looking at some of the thousands of original prints in the collection

Mary brought to the library a passion for collecting, an exceptional eye for an image and a shrewd business mind.

Rhodesia. It was there that Mary first developed lifelong interests in music and art - she was an accomplished pianist and painter of watercolours - and horse-riding and dogs. When she was 14, her parents announced they were returning home, so Mary took a job in a bank to pay the cost of repatriating her canine companion, a German shepherd called Jass.

The education begun at Salisbury High School for Girls was continued back in Berkhamsted, but Mary didn't enjoy school, choosing the university of life over higher education. In her late teens, she met Hilary, an advertising copywriter who shared her love of art. They married in 1956 and became avid collectors of old books and pictures, visiting book and ephemera fairs across Europe. A friend admired their growing collection and suggested that they turn their hobby into a business.

Quickly outgrowing their first house, Mary and Hilary moved into a Victorian property on the edge of Blackheath, south London, where they converted the basement into what would become the library's first formal home. Further moves followed with the library eventually settling into its current home, in All Saints Parish Hall, on the edge of Blackheath. A more perfect location for a historical picture library is difficult to imagine.

Mary was involved in all manner of community initiatives. In recent years she lamented the demise of family-owned businesses, replaced by coffee shops and estate agents. "I used to be on first name terms with every shop owner in the village," she would say. "I still haven't met Mr Starbuck."

In 2003 she achieved a lifelong ambition by acquiring the famous Thomas Fall collection of historical dog pictures, an addition that has proved immensely popular with publishers, especially in the United States. Images from her unmatched collection of children's books now form a staple of the library's stock, which also includes the most diverse collection of historical portraits in the world, and unique non-pictorial artefacts, the earliest of which dates from the 12th century.

Mary was instrumental in the foundation, in 1975, of BAPLA, the British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies, from which she received a lifetime achievement award in 2007; and in setting up the Picture Research Association.

A group of Saluki puppies owned by Mrs Barrs, 1934. Photograph

by Thomas Fall, (image 10106632)

Thomas Fall/Mary Evans

She continued to visit the library with her dogs on a daily basis until illness prevented it. Even when her short-term memory failed she remained full of anecdotes about the early years of the library and the colourful cast of characters that passed through its doors.

Mary walking her dogs – King Charles Spaniels and a German Shepherd – in Greenwich Park in 1991

Mary in the library’s first home at her house in Blackheath in the 1960s

1860

THE LADY

ELGIN PADDLE STEAMER SANK ON LAKE MICHIGAN WITH THE LOSS OF ALMOST 300 LIVES. It is one of the more obscure maritime disasters of history but significant among the victims was Herbert Ingram, MP for Boston in Lincolnshire, and more importantly (for anyone with an interest in historical pictures), founder of the world's first illustrated newspaper,The Illustrated London News.

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Ingram had the drive and tenacity to make his dream a reality. He recruited Frederick William Naylor Bayley as the paper's first editor and secured the services of John Gilbert, an artist of considerable status who was known to be able to work at speed. Ingram had to borrow money to keep the project afloat but his self-belief eventually paid dividends.The first issue of The Illustrated London News was launched on 14th May 1842. It caused a sensation, selling 26,000 copies.

Centre image Herbert Ingram (image 10470763) Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

A London newsboy, c.1870, by H W Petherick in Aunt Louisa's Welcome Gift (image 10019593)

Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

Born in Boston, Ingram was educated locally before taking up a printing apprenticeship at the age of fourteen. He then worked as a printer in London where he met and sealed friendships with a number of men prominent in journalism.

By the 1830s he had set up a shop in Nottingham with his brother-inlaw, Nathaniel Cooke, selling prints, newspapers and most successfully, the recipe for a Victorian aperient known as Old Parr's Life Pills. This novel moneymaking scheme made Ingram enough money to embark on what he himself described as 'my hazardous, speculative venture'. As a newsagent, he had noticed how the inclusion of a woodcut, however crude, always increased sales of papers and pamphlets. His idea was a simple but ambitious one: a weekly, illustrated newspaper showing the Victorian public the news in illustrative form. Many of Ingram's contemporaries were sceptical, thinking the scheme hare-brained, but

discussing and crystallising plans in the coffee houses and taverns of Fleet Street, Ingram could count the artist Henry Vizetelly and Mark Lemon (founder of Punch) among his associates, not to mention his childhood friend William Little who would become printer and publisher of the paper. Ingram initially wanted his new venture to concentrate on the sensational crimes and murders that were a popular draw with his provincial customers. Eventually a wider and more worthwhile range of subjects was embraced including overseas events, notable personages and popular amusements.

Each paper would carry a number of engravings to illustrate the news stories reported, a notion which in 1842 was entirely novel and unprecedented.

Mary Evans Picture Library

O

N 8TH SEPTEMBER

Cover of the Illustrated London News Christmas Supplement, 22nd December 1855, the ILN’s debut in coloured journalism and the first coloured printed pictures to appear in any journal. They proved enormously successful and a second batch of colour prints was swiftly commissioned

by Herbert Ingram, appearing on 10th May 1856 (image 10179532)

Philip Talmage/Mary Evans

By the 1850s, the ILN was selling around 200,000 copies a week and Ingram was elected Liberal MP for his hometown in 1856. He was instrumental in bringing not only the railways but clean drinking water to Boston. Although Ingram expanded his publishing empire, he was troubled by soured business partnerships, financial complications and a hushed-up accusation of indecent assault from William Little's sister-in-law. Despite his good qualities, it was clear Ingram could also be difficult and scheming. Weighed down with worries, he resolved to take a holiday before the reopening of Parliament, taking with him his eldest son, also called Herbert.

After departing from Liverpool on 9th August 1860, father and son arrived at Quebec and journeyed through the Lower St. Lawrence river to Montreal and Niagara Falls. He wrote, "amidst these wonders of Creation I forget the realities and annoyances of life". He was due to travel to New Orleans and New York but with a wish to extend his holiday and to visit Lake Superior he changed plans. It was a fateful decision.

They boarded the Lady Elgin paddle steamer at Chicago but only a few hours after the boat had set sail during stormy weather, it was hit without warning by a 350-tonne schooner, the Augusta. After Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

The Lady Elgin paddle steamer, Illustrated London News 1860 (image 10217179)

briefly sending out a call to ask if she was required to stand by, the Augusta sailed on relatively unscathed, unaware of the pandemonium caused.The Lady Elgin sank in less than half an hour. Only 114 people clinging desperately to pieces of wreckage

were saved. Herbert Ingram was not one of them, his body found washed ashore about sixteen miles from Chicago. His son's body was never recovered.

With a poignant irony, Ingram had become the subject of one of his own news stories.

Dead at the age of just 49, Ingram nevertheless left a hugely important legacy and the lynchpin of his success had clearly been close to his heart. In its 6th October 1860 issue, the ILN reported the tragedy with heartfelt dignity: 'Only yesterday we found preserved amongst his most valued documents a relic inscribed by his own hand, apparently but a short while before he left England: First number of the Illustrated London News, Herbert Ingram'

Memorial statue to Herbert Ingram by Alexander Munro in the market place in Boston, unveiled in 1862 (image 10470819)

An exhibition of Herbert Ingram's life and work will be on show at Fydell House, Boston Lincolnshire, from 5th to 7th October 2010, marking the 150th anniversary of his death this year and the bicentenary of his birth in 2011.

Ingram was patently aware of his newspaper's importance as a visual record of the age in which he lived. We would do him a disservice not to remember his place in history too.

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A

Pick of the CROP

utumn is traditionally a time of celebration and thanksgiving for the harvest, and the pictorial harvest this year at Mary Evans has been abundant. In the last year alone, over 145000 new images have been added to the website, bringing the total online to half a million (to say nothing of the unnumbered goodies squirreled away in our offline archive!) Here we present a handpicked selection of fresh images from this year's bumper crop for you to enjoy.

Raymond Sheppard/Mary Evans

ARTIST RAYMOND SHEPPARD'S

SENSITIVELY OBSERVED ANIMAL AND BIRD

STUDIES WERE FIRST INTRODUCED TO THE WEBSITE LAST SEPTEMBER,

and the collection has been growing ever since. By working closely with Raymond's archive through his daughter Christine, we've been able to bring lesser-known parts of his collection to a wider audience. Now over 400 of Raymond's elegantly executed images are available online.

John Massey Stewart/Mary Evans

LAST OCTOBER, 800 JOHN S T E

FEBRUARY, and details BP's involvement in the oil industry in Iran and Britain in the 1920s. The remarkable clarity of the images and their topical subject matter, following the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, makes them of especial interest as we look back over the year.

JOINED US BACK IN

Clockwise from top: Indian elephant (image 10295477); portrait of Wassilisa Mikoulichna, fairytale princess, by Sergei Solomko (image 10284260); allium cepa (image 10437969); transporting kerosene in Iraq, 1924 (image 10416249)

MASSEY R T ’ S

E X T E N S I V E COLLECTION OF ALL THINGS WERE

RUSSIAN ADDED

From ONLINE. portraits to places, social scenes to satire, the vast sweep of this collection gives a taster of the fascinating variety of this country.

NO

HARVEST FESTIVAL

IS COMPLETE WITHOUT A

CAPSULE COLLECTION OF LANTERN SLIDES

W A

FROM

GIANT

PRIZE-

WINNING VEGETABLE,

and this is no exception.

This handsome onion is a fine example of early colour photography from the collection of botanical photographer Reginald A. Malby, whose splendid horticultural images now total over 300 on our website.

Reginald A Malby & Co/Mary Evans

Grayhams Collection/Mary Evans

GRAYHAM’S

POSTCARDS

Many other collections have been added or expanded this year including English Heritage, National Magazines, Metropolitan Police Archive, Süddeutsche Zeitung and Roger Mayne. See our Collections page on maryevans.com for a more expansive list.

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Anthony Lipmann/Mary Evans Anthony Lipmann/ Mary Evans

(image 10281620) Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

Edward VIII, when Prince of Wales, with Wallis Simpson, heading for the ski slopes in Kitzb端hel, Austria in 1934. Photograph in The Sphere 12th December 1936 (image 10224090)

Waiter on ice-skates in St Moritz, 1937 (image 10244284)

Imagno/Mary Evans

Skiers in a line, Ernst Dryden in Die Dame, 1930 (image 10055053)

Interfoto/TV-yesterday/Mary Evans

Ski wear advertisement by Ernst Dryden in Die Dame, 1927 (image 10055253)

Tourism poster for the Swiss resort of Zermatt, c.1959 (image 10466534)

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Onslow Auctions Ltd/Mary Evans

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rchaeological evidence shows that skiing, as an efficient method of moving over planes of snow and ice, dates back to around 6000 BC and evolved in Scandinavia, Russia and parts of Asia. However, it wasn't until the late 19th century, when increased industrialisation in Europe coupled with the proper provision of leisure time encouraging people to venture out into the open spaces of the mountains, that skiing as a fashionable activity really took off.

Austrians Matthias Zdarsky and Hannes Schneider were instrumental in the development of downhill ski equipment and teaching techniques respectively.

But it was a Briton, Sir Arnold Lunn, who took Alpine ski racing forward with the organisation in Wengen, Switzerland in 1921, of the first ski championships to include both slalom and downhill races, the slalom judged on style and the downhill on speed.

With races came glamour and prestige, and the Swiss villages of Murren, Zermatt, Wengen and St Moritz became fashionable winter resorts attracting an international clientele. By 1936 Lunn had persuaded the International Olympic Committee to include downhill and slalom. As skiing's status grew so did its credentials as a modish and exciting sport, whose most exclusive resorts continue to provide winter recreation for the rich and famous.

Historyland Congratulations to the winner, Diana Morris of Hachette Children's Books who successfully identified all eight.

OUR COMPETITION THIS ISSUE COULDN'T BE MORE APPROPRIATE TO MARY EVANS PICTURE LIBRARY. Pauline Baynes (1898 2008), the artist perhaps best known for her work illustrating the first editions of the Narnia books by C.S. Lewis was regularly commissioned by The Illustrated London News and The Sphere to provide pictures for their lavish Christmas numbers.This picture, entitled 'Historyland' depicts no less than twenty-seven key events from British history.We'd like to challenge the history buffs among you to name as many as you can. Email me&you@maryevans.com with your list of answers by 28th October 2010. The entrant with the highest number of correct answers will win ÂŁ100 of Amazon vouchers. In the event of a tie, the winner's name will be drawn at random from a pool of correct entries, and will be notified by 5th November. Happy history hunting!

We would be happy to receive your comments about ME & You. Please email us at me&you@maryevans.com.

Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

Issue 2 Spot the Difference competition answers 1. Extra horse’s head, 2nd painting from left; 2. Blank painting, 4th from right; 3. Man wearing hat, 2nd painting from right; 4. Lady with green dress instead of pink, 7th figure from right; 5.

Lady missing handbag, centre background; 6. Man with blue boot tops instead of brown, centre left foreground; 7. Man with mauve trousers instead of grey, 4th figure from right; 8.

Missing buttons on boot, 1st man from left.