John Karst: Album of Wood Engravings

RLIN ID No.

NYGG01-A3

Creator

Karst, John, 1836-1922.

Title

Album of wood engravings.

Physical Description

1 album (90 leaves) ; 36 cm.

Historical/Biographical Note

Born in Germany, Karst came to the United States as a youth. He was apprenticed to a wood engraver and eventually directed production for Leslie’s Magazine. After the Civil War Karst set up as an independent engraver and established a shop on Canal Street in New York City. Karst engraved the work of such artists as Edwin Abbey and Frederick Edwin Church for Harper’s, Scribner’s, and Leslie’s magazines. He was best known for his illustrations to the six volumes of the Eclectic Primers of William Holmes McGuffey “McGuffey’s Readers”), published in a collected edition 1879-1880. When the popularity of wood engraving declined in the wake of photoengraving and new photographic techniques, Karst retired to an 1100-acre homestead in DeBruce, Sullivan County, New York. The 1803 house and the wild land, known as the “Karst Preserve,” were maintained as an historic site in New York State.

Scope and Contents

Examples of Karst’s wood engravings for a variety of book and magazine publications.

General Note

Title devised by cataloger

General Note

Some newspaper clippings about John Karst are pasted on unnumbered leaves and others are unmounted.

Reproduction Note

Available as photostatic copy. Source: the Prints and Drawings Division of the New York Public Library

Names

Karst, John, 1836-1922.

McGuffey, William Holmes, 1800-1873.

Subjects

Wood engravers, American. Correspondence.

Wood-engraving. United States. 19^th century.

Genre

Albums.

Occupation (as reflected in collection)

Wood engravers. United States. 19^th century.

Location

Grolier Club, 47 East 60^th Street, New York, N.Y. 10022-1098.