Fine Prints and the Fairchild Fund

"Lenin," wood engraving by Isac Friedlander

Since 1985 the library has enjoyed the use of funds deriving from the substantial Fairchild endowment for the purchase of additions to its fine print collections. Most recently, Fairchild funds have made possible the acquisition of June Wayne's 1958 portfolio of lithographs based on poems by John Donne, a series of 15 prints important not only in their own right but also as the "evidence" on which Ms. Wayne convinced the Ford Foundation to give her the money to start the Tamarind lithographic workshop in New Mexico. The Georgetown copy, one of ten reserved for people intimately connected with the execution of the suite, contains three "planches refusèes," images created on the lithographic stone which were ultimately excluded from the published edition. Other recent acquisitions made possible by Fairchild funds include numerous single prints, a single lot of more than 100 wood engravings by Allen Lewis, and significant portfolios of works by Raphael Soyer, William Gropper, and Jacob Landau.

Individual Library Associates have also continued their donations of fine prints to the Georgetown collections. The library's exhibit of gifts in honor of the university's bicentennial displayed what is possibly Grace Albee's finest print, "Entangled Tractor," the gift of Rev. Paul F. Liston; a typical and highly-finished lithograph by Bolton Brown, the gift of David Allen; and an important addition to our extensive holdings of the work of Isac Friedlander, an artist's proof (probably pulled in advance of the published edition of 20) of his 1933 image of Lenin, the gift of John and Jean Michael. Early in December, Herbert and Kay Sanborn made a donation of four of the most important prints by Dutch engraver William van Swanenburg, part of a striking series he did in 1605-1606, consisting of 14 engravings based on paintings by Joachim Uytenwael and entitled "The Throne of Justice."