Published by the Mary Evans Picture Library59 Tranquil Vale, London SE3 0BST: 020 8318 0034 www.maryevans.comE: pictures@maryevans.com

MARY EVANSPICTURE LIBRARY

Issue 3, September 2010

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Fancy That!

Tortured Times

An Historic Legacy

Tragedy on the Lake

Pick of the Crop

Ski Style

Historyland

'BUT, WHAT ARE WE TO

WEAR?' These, explains theromantically named ArdernHolt in "Fancy DressesDescribed," are the typicalfirst words exclaimed on

receipt of an invitation to aFancy Dress Ball. Our library copy

of this essential guide from 1884 is afourth edition, the third 'being

exhausted' such was its popularity.

Fortunately for unimaginative 19th centuryrevellers, Ms Holt is positively brimming withideas. She suggests going as a hailstorm (shortdress, long veil of spangled white tulle) or asKitty, Duchess of Queensbury (Who? Nevermind; just throw on a petticoat of rich brocade,a black velvet sacque lined with satin and pearlsand a stomacher of amethysts and rubies). Or

perhaps a hornet - easily created with blacksatin boots, a tunic of black and gold stripes toppedwith 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 apigeon. All are described withoutan ounce of irony and appear tobe perfectly reasonablesuggestions for the time. Weimagine that most would requirerepeated and laboriousexplanations at a 21st centuryfancy dress party, though on theupside, you are virtuallyguaranteed originality.

Ms Holt's prescriptive advice wastypical of the period. Fancy Dressparties abounded in the 19thcentury but the emphasis was onauthenticity rather thanabsurdity. Historical characterswere much favoured, as werethose from popular novels orpoems, and many young ladiesenjoyed dressing in the quainttraditional costumes of nativepeasantry, the shorter skirts oftenallowing a thrilling glimpse ofankle.

An Incroyable and The Hornetfrom Fancy Dresses Describedby Ardern Holt, 1884 (images10470315 and 10438620)

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

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Queen Victoria herself hosted aPlantaganet ball at Buckingham Palace inthe spring of 1842, with Prince Albert asKing Edward III and Victoria as his consort,Queen Philippa. The costumes usedbrocade made by Spitalfields weavers andwere trimmed with minever fur 'distinctiveof the highest social station in the middleages' according to The Illustrated LondonNews which covered the event in their veryfirst issue. Fashioned by Vouillon andLaure, a brother and sister team who hadalso created costumes for the Marquess ofLondonderry's 'bal masque', all thecostumes sweeping up the grand staircasewere 'very correct', the accolade mostprized by a Victorian fancy dress wearer.

From court masques and Venetian balls tohistoric pageants and the annual LordMayor's children's Christmas party inLondon, it seems that a party - or any event- was often a chance to dress up.As fancifulas some of the ideas may sound, the realitywas that costumes tended to echo the linesand cut of current fashions, with fabric andembellishments signifying the wearer'snew persona. As today, topical eventsprovided inspiration too: witness the ladyin 1909 sporting an amusing aeroplane hatas a nod towards the contemporaryfascination with aviation. Stravinsky's'Pulcinella' ballet of 1920, based on the

16th century Commedia dell'Artespawned a rash of Pierrots and Columbinesat balls. In the same period, the BrightYoung Things partied from dawn 'til duskdressed as goddesses, smugglers, matadorsor babies in prams.

But of course the true experts at dressing-up are children, and some of our loveliestillustrations show children in all manner ofcharming costumes. Ladies' magazines gaveregular advice on fancy dress ideas for theyoung while sweet if sentimental postcardsof little girls as Bo-peep or young chaps indashing Napoleonic attire were printed intheir thousands. The well-heeled mightsplurge on shop-bought costumes for theirlittle darlings, but two photographs fromour collection show a refreshingly simpleapproach to fancy dress. Seven youngstersfrom a Boys' Club in 1931 improvisecostumes to transform themselves into anarab, a housewife and the man from theMarmite adverts, while Shirley Bakercaptures a child in a Salford backstreet in1966 who is living proof that sometimes allyou need is a little imagination. And acardboard box.

Top: Prince Albert dressed asKing Edward III and QueenVictoria dressed as Philippa ofHainault, from the IllustratedLondon News 14th May 1842(images 10221233 and10221228)

Above: Queen Victoria andPrince Albert surrounded byadmirers at their PlantagenetBall, Illustrated London News14th May 1842 (image10221236)

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

From court masques and Venetian balls to historicpageants and the annual Lord Mayor’s children’sChristmas party, it seems that a party - or anyevent - was often a chance to dress up.

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Clockwise from centre: Children ata fancy dress party c.1925 bySusan Beatrice Pearse (image10421746); woman with biplanehat c.1909 (image 10134759);Bright Young Things arriving for a‘second childhood’ party hostedby Rosemary Sanders, 1929 (image10224528); child in cardboard boxrobot costume, Manchester 1966(image 10239426); fancy dress at aBoys’ Club, 1931 (image 10239570)

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TorturedTimes

Man's inhumanity to man hasfew uglier expressions thantorture, the infliction of pain

by one or several human beings onothers. Whether it be for the purposesof obtaining information; to coerceothers into behaving in a certainmanner; or simply to humiliate andinflict physical or psychological hurt forits own sake, incidents of tortureemerge on a regular basis. Yet at thesame time, the subject holds amacabre fascination for many, andscenes of torture have featured inmany literary and cinematic worksover the last few centuries.

Our picture files reflect this mixture ofhorror and captivation. Here we finddepictions of appalling torturous acts,alongside scenes of the torturechamber as a museum for the public'sentertainment.

Perhaps the most infamous incidencesof torture in the last decade were theacts revealed to have occurred at theAbu Ghraib prison in Iraq, committedby US soldiers on some of the prisonersunder their supervision. In the sameyear that details of those incidentsemerged to universal outrage, a filmentitled 'Saw' was released whichfeatured psychological and physicaltorture, and proved popular enoughat the box office to have spawnedseveral sequels. It seems that thesubject of torture continues to bothdraw and repel in equal measure.

In medieval times, women suspected of beingwitches were routinely tortured to encourage aconfession to their evil doing. The ducking stool

was used for this purpose; later the chair wasdisposed of and the suspect bound and throwninto the water. If she floated, it was consideredproof of guilt, and a suitable punishment, usuallyexecution, followed. If she drowned then she wasdeemed innocent, obviously a no-win situation forthe hapless victim.

Top left: Papal bull of Innocent VIII in which Fray Tomas de Torquemada isappointed Inquisitor General in 1482 (image 10208890). Above: woodcut of aducking stool, 17th century (image 10003077). Opposite page top: FourthDegree of Torture of the Inquisition, aquatint by L C Stadler, 1813 (image10182265). Opposite page centre: Cuthbert Simpson on the rack at the Towerof London (image 10107609). Opposite page right:Tomas de Torquemada, HG Ibels in Assiette au Beurre, 1906 (image 10050952)

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One of the most common instrumentsof torture, both in Spain andelsewhere, was the rack, usually a

wooden or iron frame with a roller at one orboth ends to which the victim would beattached and gradually stretched. Needlessto say, this would result in much pain,potential long term physical damage, andpossibly even a confession. The tortureinstrument of choice at the Tower of London,probable victims of the rack included GuyFawkes and William Wallace. A replica of thisfiendish instrument is on display at the Towerto this day.

Difference ofreligious beliefwas the

justification for a gooddeal of torture throughthe ages, as witnessedby the number ofCatholic saints who aredepicted with theinstruments of their owntorture, such asCatherine of Alexandriaand her wheel. Perhapsthe most infamousincidence of torturewith a religiousmotivation was theSpanish Inquisition, atribunal established in1478 by monarchs,Ferdinand and Isabellawith the aim ofmaintaining theCatholic orthodoxythroughout their lands.The work of theInquisition intensifiedfollowing decrees of1492 and 1501 orderingMuslims and Jews toconvert to Catholicismor face exile. AsInquisitor General,Tomas de Torquemadalaid down detailedprocedures whichincluded torture asa means ofe n c o u r a g i n gconfession.

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Here at the library we are stillstruggling to come to termswith life without Mary. As

you may have heard, Mary Evans,who founded the library with herhusband Hilary back in 1964, diedon 29th June this year after a longbattle with Alzheimer's disease.

The magnitude of Mary's contribution toour industry can be measured by the factthat The Guardian,The Daily Telegraph andThe Times all published obituaries in thedays following her death, eachaccompanied by one of Mary's favouritepictures of she and Hilary at work in thelibrary.

Mary brought to the library a passion forcollecting, an exceptional eye for an imageand a shrewd business mind. That thelibrary survives in such rude health, whenso many small picture libraries have fallenby the wayside or been taken over bycorporations, is a testament to Mary andthe values she instilled in those sheemployed. She was determined that thelibrary should remain an independent,family-owned business and an employer oflocal people. That it also becamerecognised worldwide as one of the leadingsources of historical imagery was the icingon the cake.

She was born Mary Lander in London, theyoungest of four sisters.The family lived inBerkhamsted, Hertfordshire. When shewas seven, her two eldest sisters havingdecided on an African adventure, herparents concluded that the whole familymay as well start a new life in Southern

Rhodesia. It was there that Mary firstdeveloped lifelong interests in music andart - she was an accomplished pianist andpainter of watercolours - and horse-ridingand dogs. When she was 14, her parentsannounced they were returning home, soMary took a job in a bank to pay the cost ofrepatriating her canine companion, aGerman shepherd called Jass.

An Historic Legacy

Hilary and Mary inMary’s office at thelibrary in 2005, lookingat some of thethousands of originalprints in the collection

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Mary brought to the library a passion forcollecting, an exceptional eye for an imageand a shrewd business mind.

All Saints Parish Hall, which houses the Mary EvansPicture Library. The arts and crafts-style building, byarchitect Charles Winmill, was built in 1928.Watercolour by Alan Keeler (image 10045577)

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The education begun at Salisbury HighSchool for Girls was continued back inBerkhamsted, but Mary didn't enjoyschool, choosing the university of life overhigher education. In her late teens, she metHilary, an advertising copywriter whoshared her love of art. They married in1956 and became avid collectors of oldbooks and pictures, visiting book andephemera fairs across Europe. A friendadmired their growing collection andsuggested that they turn their hobby into abusiness.

Quickly outgrowing their first house, Maryand Hilary moved into a Victorian propertyon the edge of Blackheath, south London,where they converted the basement intowhat would become the library's firstformal home. Further moves followed withthe library eventually settling into itscurrent home, in All Saints Parish Hall, onthe edge of Blackheath. A more perfectlocation for a historical picture library isdifficult to imagine.

Mary was involved in all manner ofcommunity initiatives. In recent years shelamented the demise of family-ownedbusinesses, replaced by coffee shops andestate agents. "I used to be on first nameterms with every shop owner in thevillage," she would say. "I still haven't metMr Starbuck."

In 2003 she achieved a lifelong ambition byacquiring the famous Thomas Fallcollection of historical dog pictures, anaddition that has proved immenselypopular with publishers, especially in theUnited States. Images from her unmatchedcollection of children's books now form astaple of the library's stock, which alsoincludes the most diverse collection ofhistorical portraits in the world, andunique non-pictorial artefacts, the earliestof which dates from the 12th century.

Mary was instrumental in the foundation,in 1975, of BAPLA, the British Associationof Picture Libraries and Agencies, fromwhich she received a lifetime achievementaward in 2007; and in setting up thePicture Research Association.

She continued to visit the librarywith her dogs on a daily basisuntil illness prevented it. Evenwhen her short-term memoryfailed she remained full ofanecdotes about the early yearsof the library and the colourfulcast of characters that passedthrough its doors.

Mary walking her dogs –King Charles Spanielsand a GermanShepherd – inGreenwich Park in 1991

Mary in the library’s firsthome at her house inBlackheath in the 1960s

A group of Salukipuppies owned by MrsBarrs, 1934. Photographby Thomas Fall,(image 10106632)

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ON 8TH SEPTEMBER 1860 THE LADY

ELGIN PADDLE STEAMER SANK ON

LAKE MICHIGAN WITH THE LOSS OF

ALMOST 300 LIVES. It is one of the moreobscure maritime disasters of history butsignificant among the victims was HerbertIngram, MP for Boston in Lincolnshire,and more importantly (for anyone with aninterest in historical pictures), founder ofthe world's first illustrated newspaper,TheIllustrated London News.

Born in Boston, Ingram waseducated locally before takingup a printing apprenticeship atthe age of fourteen. He thenworked as a printer in Londonwhere he met and sealedfriendships with a number ofmen prominent in journalism.By the 1830s he had set up a shopin Nottingham with his brother-in-law, Nathaniel Cooke, selling prints,newspapers and most successfully, therecipe for a Victorian aperient known asOld Parr's Life Pills. This novel money-making scheme made Ingram enoughmoney to embark on what he himselfdescribed as 'my hazardous, speculativeventure'. As a newsagent, he had noticedhow the inclusion of a woodcut, howevercrude, always increased sales of papers andpamphlets. His idea was a simple butambitious one: a weekly, illustratednewspaper showing the Victorian publicthe news in illustrative form. Many ofIngram's contemporaries were sceptical,thinking the scheme hare-brained, but

discussing and crystallising plans in thecoffee houses and taverns of Fleet Street,Ingram could count the artist HenryVizetelly and Mark Lemon (founder ofPunch) among his associates, not tomention his childhood friend WilliamLittle who would become printer andpublisher of the paper. Ingram initiallywanted his new venture to concentrate onthe sensational crimes and murders that

were a popular draw with hisprovincial customers. Eventually a

wider and more worthwhilerange of subjects wasembraced including overseasevents, notable personagesand popular amusements.Each paper would carry a

number of engravings toillustrate the news stories

reported, a notion which in 1842was entirely novel and unprecedented.

Ingram had the drive and tenacity to makehis dream a reality. He recruited FrederickWilliam Naylor Bayley as the paper's firsteditor and secured the services of JohnGilbert, an artist of considerable statuswho was known to be able to work atspeed. Ingram had to borrow money tokeep the project afloat but his self-beliefeventually paid dividends.The first issue ofThe Illustrated London News was launchedon 14th May 1842. It caused a sensation,selling 26,000 copies.

A London newsboy, c.1870, byH W Petherick in Aunt Louisa'sWelcome Gift (image10019593)

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

Cover of the Illustrated LondonNews Christmas Supplement,22nd December 1855, theILN’s debut in colouredjournalism and the firstcoloured printed pictures toappear in any journal. Theyproved enormously successfuland a second batch of colourprints was swiftly commissionedby Herbert Ingram, appearingon 10th May 1856 (image10179532)

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By the 1850s, the ILN was selling around200,000 copies a week and Ingram waselected Liberal MP for his hometown in1856. He was instrumental in bringing notonly the railways but clean drinking waterto Boston. Although Ingram expanded hispublishing empire, he was troubled bysoured business partnerships, financialcomplications and a hushed-up accusationof indecent assault from William Little'ssister-in-law. Despite his good qualities, itwas clear Ingram could also be difficult andscheming.Weighed down with worries, heresolved to take a holiday before thereopening of Parliament, taking with himhis eldest son, also called Herbert.

After departing from Liverpool on 9thAugust 1860, father and son arrived atQuebec and journeyed through the LowerSt. Lawrence river to Montreal andNiagara Falls. He wrote, "amidst thesewonders of Creation I forget the realitiesand annoyances of life". He was due totravel to New Orleans and New York butwith a wish to extend his holiday and tovisit Lake Superior he changed plans. It wasa fateful decision.

They boarded the Lady Elgin paddlesteamer at Chicago but only a few hoursafter the boat had set sail during stormyweather, it was hit without warning by a350-tonne schooner, the Augusta. After

briefly sending out a call to ask if she wasrequired to stand by, the Augusta sailed onrelatively unscathed, unaware of thepandemonium caused.The Lady Elgin sankin less than half an hour. Only 114 peopleclinging desperately to pieces of wreckage

were saved. Herbert Ingram was not oneof them, his body found washed ashoreabout sixteen miles from Chicago. Hisson's body was never recovered.

With a poignant irony, Ingram had becomethe subject of one of his own news stories.Dead at the age of just 49, Ingramnevertheless left a hugely important legacyand the lynchpin of his success had clearlybeen close to his heart. In its 6th October1860 issue, the ILN reported the tragedywith heartfelt dignity:

'Only yesterday we found preserved amongst hismost valued documents a relic inscribed by hisown hand,apparently but a short while before heleft England: First number of the IllustratedLondon News, Herbert Ingram'

Ingram was patently aware of hisnewspaper's importance as a visual recordof the age in which he lived.We would dohim a disservice not to remember his placein history too.

Memorial statue to HerbertIngram by Alexander Munro inthe market place in Boston,unveiled in 1862 (image10470819)

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

An exhibition ofHerbert Ingram's lifeand work will be onshow at FydellHouse, BostonLincolnshire, from5th to 7th October2010, marking the150th anniversaryof his death thisyear and thebicentenary of hisbirth in 2011.

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Pick of the CROP

Autumn is traditionally a time of celebration and thanksgiving for theharvest, and the pictorial harvest this year at Mary Evans has beenabundant. 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 unnumberedgoodies squirreled away in our offline archive!) Here we present a handpicked selection offresh images from this year's bumper crop for you to enjoy.

ARTIST RAYMOND SHEPPARD'S SENSITIVELY OBSERVED ANIMAL AND BIRD

STUDIES WERE FIRST INTRODUCED TO THE WEBSITE LAST SEPTEMBER, and thecollection has been growing ever since. By working closely withRaymond's archive through his daughter Christine, we've been able tobring lesser-known parts of his collection to a wider audience. Now over400 of Raymond's elegantly executed images are available online.

GRAYHAM’S CAPSULE COLLECTION OF LANTERN SLIDES

JOINED US BACK IN FEBRUARY, and details BP'sinvolvement in the oil industry in Iran and Britain inthe 1920s. The remarkable clarity of the images andtheir topical subject matter, following the BP oildisaster in the Gulf of Mexico, makes them ofespecial interest as we look back over the year.

NO HARVEST FESTIVAL

IS COMPLETE WITHOUT

A GIANT PRIZE-WINNING VEGETABLE,and this is noexception. Thishandsome onion is afine example of earlycolour photographyfrom the collection of botanicalphotographer Reginald A. Malby, whosesplendid horticultural images now totalover 300 on our website.

LAST OCTOBER, 800POSTCARDS FROM

JOHN MASSEY

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ONLINE. Fromportraits to places,social scenes tosatire, the vastsweep of thiscollection gives ataster of thefascinating varietyof this country.

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

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Edward VIII, when Prince of Wales, with WallisSimpson, heading for the ski slopes in Kitzbühel,Austria in 1934. Photograph in The Sphere 12thDecember 1936 (image 10224090)

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

Waiter onice-skates inSt Moritz,1937 (image10244284)

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

Skiers in a line, Ernst Dryden inDie Dame, 1930 (image10055053)

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Archaeological evidenceshows that skiing, as anefficient method of

moving over planes of snow andice, dates back to around 6000 BCand evolved in Scandinavia,Russia and parts of Asia. However,it wasn't until the late 19th century,when increased industrialisation inEurope coupled with the properprovision of leisure time encouragingpeople to venture out into the openspaces of the mountains, that skiing as afashionable activity really took off.Austrians Matthias Zdarsky and HannesSchneider were instrumental in thedevelopment of downhill ski equipmentand teaching techniques respectively.But it was a Briton, Sir Arnold Lunn,who took Alpine ski racing forwardwith the organisation in Wengen,Switzerland in 1921, of the first skichampionships to include both slalomand downhill races, the slalom judgedon style and the downhill on speed.With races came glamour and prestige,and the Swiss villages of Murren,

Zermatt, Wengen and StMoritz became fashionablewinter resorts attracting aninternational clientele. By1936 Lunn had persuadedthe International OlympicCommittee to includedownhill and slalom. As

skiing's status grew sodid its credentials as a

modish and excitingsport, whose mostexclusive resorts

continue to providewinter recreation for the rich andfamous.

(image 10281620)

We would be happy to receive your comments about ME & You. P lease emai l us at me&you@maryevans.com.

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 wasregularly commissioned by The Illustrated London News and The Sphere to provide pictures for their lavish Christmasnumbers.This picture, entitled 'Historyland' depicts no less than twenty-seven key events from British history.We'd liketo challenge the history buffs among you to name as many as you can. Email me&you@maryevans.com with your list ofanswers by 28th October 2010. The entrant with the highest number of correct answers will win£100 of Amazon vouchers. In the event of a tie, the winner's name will be drawn at randomfrom a pool of correct entries, and will be notified by 5th November. Happy history hunting!

Historyland

Issue 2 Spot the Differencecompetition answers 1. Extrahorse’s head, 2nd paintingfrom left; 2. Blank painting,4th from right; 3. Manwearing hat, 2nd paintingfrom right; 4. Lady withgreen dress instead of pink,7th figure from right; 5.Lady missing handbag,centre background; 6. Manwith blue boot tops insteadof brown, centre leftforeground; 7. Man withmauve trousers instead ofgrey, 4th figure from right; 8.Missing buttons on boot, 1stman from left.

Congratulations to thewinner, Diana Morris ofHachette Children's Bookswho successfully identifiedall eight.

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