Barth in Brooklyn and to Washington Street & bed.
21. Monday. Drawing all day, till sunset. A letter from Alf Waud with
lots of Bostonian news. Charley Brown at a fearful discount, owing to his backing out
of a strike mong the engravers, (which resulted in their getting some $12 or 15, while
he cheweth the cud of envy and regret on $10.) He hath been reviled, wigged and in-
sulted in a manner scarcely to be outdone, and has not pluck to resent it. Unhappy dog!
And more unhappy, that he has not one friend in the world, nor deserveth one. / Alf
still inamoured, happy man be his dole. After supper, entered one of the ferry
boats with intent to call on Butler, but a sky promising rain, and my accidental
meeting with Davis changed my intention. Called at Roberts, and learnt they, the
cruising party have not yet returned. This I was told by a fresh-faced damosel, in the
door-stoop. Rest of the evening at Washington Street, talk with Miss Letitia, with
Keating &c. Keating hath less brains than I gave him credit for!
22. Tuesday. To New York, called on Butler, then to Strongs. Got $6 for
monkey picture. To the book and print store adjacent where I spent a pleasant
hour, turning over a portfolio of olden prints. There were many Dutch copper-plate
engravings illustrative of biblical history, of such rare, quaint merit that Charles Lamb
would have loved to have looked at them, and afterwards to have written an essay on
em.
They exceeded Hogarth s drawings for minuteness of detail, you read them instead of
merely
gazing. The plagues of Egypt were marvellously delineated. In that of the rivers and
pools turned into blood, a winding sedgy-brinked river was shewn, huge crocodiles
floating
belly upwards on its surface or being holed out by throngs of people; fish of all shapes &
sizes, curling eels & fishes of the flood lying melting on the banks, men rejecting them
with
loathing; women with water vessels aghast & repugnant, some vomiting; great crowds
in the distant city, seen far, and farther in detail, all that men could be supposed to
feel from such an event was as faithfully drawn as might be. The Artist had gone
to walk with a fervent belief in the subject. The frog plague, represented the reptiles
swarming everywhere, invading bakers ovens, in dishes and a viands carried by cooks,
swept
| Page |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Two: page one hundred and forty |
| Description: | Comments on viewing prints of the plagues of Egypt. |
| Date: | 1851-07-20 |
| Subject: | Barth, William; Butler, Warren; Damoreau, Charles (Brown); Davis; Drawing; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Keating; Paterson, Letitia; Roberts; Strikes and lockouts; Strong, Thomas; Waud, Alfred |
| Coverage (City/State): | Brooklyn, [New York]; New York, [New York]; Boston, [Massachusetts] |
| Coverage (Street): | Washington Street |
| Scan Date: | 2011-02-07 |
| Volume |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Two |
| Description: | Includes descriptions of Gunn's attempts to find drawing work among New York publishers, brief employment in an architectural office, visits to his soldier friend William Barth on Governors Island, boarding house living, drawing at actor Edwin Forrest's home at Fonthill Castle, and sailing and walking trips taken with friends. |
| Subject: | Boardinghouses; Books and reading; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Military; Publishers and publishing; Religion; Travel; Women |
| Coverage (City/State): | New York, New York |
| Note: | Thomas Butler Gunn was born February 15, 1826, in Banbury, England, and came to New York in 1849. During the Civil War he worked as a correspondent for the New York Tribune and the New York Evening Post. He returned to England in 1863, and died in Birmingham in April 1903. The collection includes twenty-one volumes of his diaries, including newspaper clippings, letters, photographs, sketches, and various other items inserted by Gunn. Diary entries date from July 7, 1849, to April 7, 1863, and include his experiences with the New York publishing and literary world, his descriptions of boarding houses, his travels throughout the United States, and his experiences traveling with the Federal army as a Civil War correspondent. |
| Publisher: | Missouri History Museum |
| Rights: | Copyright 2011 Missouri History Museum. |
| Source: | Page images, transcriptions, and metadata of the Thomas Butler Gunn diaries have been provided by the Missouri History Museum. |
