The Definitive Dwiggins no. 703E—How the Old World Found the New: Champlain and La Salle

This is the fifth (and last) installment of a detailed account of each of the illustrations in How the Old World Found the New that I believe Dwiggins reworked in varying degrees. [1] They are presented in the order in which they appear in the book, preceded by notes on their probable source and, wherever possible, primary and secondary images. This installment covers pages 208 to 231 involving the explorations of Samuel de Champlain and René Robert Cavelier, sieur de La Salle.

List of reworked illustrations and their sources for pp. 203-231
p. 208 “Champlain’s Drawing of a Ship”

This tiny drawing and several others that follow have been extracted from the “Carte Geographique de la Novvelle Franse Faicte par le Sieur de Champlain Saint Tongois Capittaine Ordinaire pour le Roy en la Marine” (1612). The ship is at the far right. Dwiggins’ reworking of the drawing is respectful, with only the waves being altered. 

Champlain’s ship from Carte Geographique de la Novvelle Franse (1612). Drawing possibly by Samuel de Champlain.

“Champlain’s Drawing of a Ship” from How the Old World Found the New by Eunice Fuller Barnard and Lida Lee Tall (Boston: Ginn and Company, 1929), p. 208.

p. 211 “Champlain’s Drawing of the Settlement on the Bay of Fundy”

Champlain’s drawing of the settlement on the Bay of Fundy at St. Croix Island was made in 1604. [2] The substantial buildings and formal gardens are considered to be aspirational. Oddly, the illustration of the settlement in How the Old World Found the New is missing most, but not all, of the letters that went with Champlain’s key: A, B, D, E, F, G, N, O, Q, R, T and V. L, M, X, and Y are explained but C, H, and I are not. This inconsistency suggests that Dwiggins did not work on this illustration. [3]

“Habitation Ile Ste. Croix” from Voyages of Samuel de Champlain translated by Charles Pomeroy Otis (Boston: Prince Society, 1878), vol. 1, after p. 34. Drawing by Samuel de Champlain (1604/1605).

“Champlain’s Drawing of the Settlement on the Bay of Fundy” from How the Old World Found the New by Eunice Fuller Barnard and Lida Lee Tall (Boston: Ginn and Company, 1929), p. 211.

p. 212 “Champlain’s Drawings of a Sturgeon, a Seal, and a Horseshoe Crab”

Champlain’s drawings of a sturgeon, a seal, and horsehoe crab all appear in the Carte Geographique de la Novvelle Franse (1612). The sturgeon (eturgon) is at the upper far right; the seal (lou marin) is in the center, to the right of the compass; and the horseshoe crab (sigue-noc) is to the left of the compass. The illustration in How the Old World Found the New assembles the three creatures in one place.

“Eturgon” from Carte Geographique de la Novvelle Franse (1612).

“lou marin” and “sigue-noc” from Carte Geographique de la Novvelle Franse (1612). Drawings by Samuel de Champlain.

“Champlain’s Drawings of a Sturgeon, a Seal, and a Horseshoe Crab” from How the Old World Found the New by Eunice Fuller Barnard and Lida Lee Tall (Boston: Ginn and Company, 1929), p. 212.

p. 213 “Champlain’s Drawings of American Fruits and Vegetables”

Champlain’s drawings of fruits and vegetables appear in the lower right and lower left corners respectively of the Carte Geographique de la Novvelle Franse (1612). Despite its title the illustration of American fruits and vegetables in How the Old World Found the New reproduces only a portion of the left panel.

Fruits from Carte Geographique de la Novvelle Franse (1612). Drawings by Samuel de Champlain.

Vegetables from Carte Geographique de la Novvelle Franse (1612). Drawings by Samuel de Champlain.

“Champlain’s Drawings of American Fruits and Vegetables” from How the Old World Found the New by Eunice Fuller Barnard and Lida Lee Tall (Boston: Ginn and Company, 1929), p. 213.

p. 215 “Champlain’s Drawing of Quebec”

Champlain’s drawing of Québec, like his drawing of the settlement at the Bay of Fundy, was reproduced in Voyages of Samuel de Champlain translated by Charles Pomeroy Otis (Boston: Prince Society, 1878), vol. 1. That was most likely the source for the version in How the Old World Found the New rather than the original 1632 book by Champlain. The latter has greatly improved shading, but like the Bay of Fundy settlement drawing, there are some inconsistencies in the keyed letters. C, F, and two of the three Q’s are missing, along with the 4 in front. [4]

“Abitation de Qvebecq” from Les voyages de la Nouvelle-France occidentale, dicte Canada… by Samuel de Champlain (Paris: Claude Colley, 1632). Drawing by Samuel de Champlain (1608).

“Champlain’s Drawing of Quebec” from How the Old World Found the New by Eunice Fuller Barnard and Lida Lee Tall (Boston: Ginn and Company, 1929), p. 215.

p. 216 “An Algonquin Indian”

A quartet of Indians, drawn by David Pelletier, are arrayed at the far left of the Carte Geographique del Novvelle Franse (1612). The rightmost of the two “figures des montaignais” is the model for the “Algonquin” Indian in How the Old World Found the New. Dwiggins has changed the style of hatching but otherwise has not altered the figure.

Indians from Carte Geographique de la Novvelle Franse (1612). Drawing by David Pelletier.

“An Algonquin Indian” from How the Old World Found the New by Eunice Fuller Barnard and Lida Lee Tall (Boston: Ginn and Company, 1929), p. 216. Illustration by W.A. Dwiggins after David Pelletier.

p. 219 “‘I Rested My Arquebus against My Cheek'”

Champlain’s drawing of this battle, originally included in Voyage de la Nouvelle-France (1613), has been reproduced numerous times, making it difficult to know the precise source Dwiggins used for his version, which deviates from its predecessors in several ways. [5]

Drawing by Samuel de Champlain of the defeat of the Iroquois by the French from Voyages of Samuel de Champlain translated by Charles Pomeroy Otis (Boston: Prince Society, 1880), vol. 2, after p. 220.

“Champlain and the Indians” from Pioneers on Land and Sea: Stories of the Eastern States and of Ocean Explorers by Charles A. McMurry (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1904), p. 17.

“The Defeat of the Iroquois by Champlain and His Party on Lake Champlain” from A Book of Discovery by M.B. Synge (London: T. C. & E. C. Jack, Ltd., 1912), p. 293.

“‘I rested my arquebus against my cheek’” from How the Old World Found the New by Eunice Fuller Barnard and Lida Lee Tall (Boston: Ginn and Company, 1929), p. 219. Illustration by W.A. Dwiggins after Samuel de Champlain.

Dwiggins’ version of the battle of the Montagnais and French against the Iroquois differs from previous ones in several respects. He has added feathered headdresses and loincloths to the Indian at the far left and those on the outside of the two warring groups; created larger puffs of smoke from two of the three arquebuses; changed the postures of two of the three Indians lying on the ground; redrawn all of the trees; deleted the shading indicating the lake; excised the letters identifying the canoes; and cropped the right side. None of these changes affected the narrative of the illustration, though the addition of headdresses and loincloths turns the Montagnais and Iroquois into Indian stereotypes. Was that something that Dwiggins did on his own or at the request of Gambrill?

There is also a new figure on the right, in front of the crowd of Iroquois warriors, who appears to be walking away from the battle with his arms outstretched as if to indicate he wants no part of it. Was Dwiggins, a pacifist, making a subtle moral statement?

p. 222 “The Attack on the Iroquois Fort”

The attack on the Iroquois fort occurred on October 11, 1615. Champlain’s drawing of the event first appeared in a 1620 supplement to his Voyages of 1613. [6] Early 20th century reproductions of it are weak, either pale halftone photoengravings or feeble line interpretations. [7] Dwiggins’ handiwork was clearly needed for the version included in How the Old World Found the New. He probably worked from the halftone copy in Pioneers on Land and Sea by Charles A. McMurry (New York, The Macmillan Company, 1904), p. 31.

“Champlain’s attack on the Iroquois Fort, October 11, 1615” from Les Voyages du Sr. de Champlain (Paris: Claude Collet, 1620). Drawing by Samuel de Champlain.

“Champlain’s Attack on an Iroquois Fort” from Pioneers on Land and Sea: Stories of the Eastern States and of Ocean Explorers by Charles A. McMurry (New York, The Macmillan Company, 1904), p. 31. Halftone photoengraving after the drawing by Samuel de Champlain.

“Fort of the Iroquois” from French Pathfinders in North America by William Henry Johnson(Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1905), after p. 128. Line drawing after the drawing of Samuel de Champlain.

“The Attack on the Iroquois Fort” from How the Old World Found the New by Eunice Fuller Barnard and Lida Lee Tall (Boston: Ginn and Company, 1929), p. 222. Illustration by W.A. Dwiggins after Samuel de Champlain.

Dwiggins recropped Champlain’s drawing and, in converting it to line art, removed all of the shading except for the puffs of gun smoke and a few small shadows. And, as in other redrawings in How the Old World Found the New, he added loin cloths (and feathered headdresses) to the Indians.

p. 226 “The Building of the Griffin”

The construction of Le Griffon (The Griffin), a large sailing ship, was directed by the French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. It was built in 1679 at or near Cayuga Island on the Niagara River and from there it sailed the Great Lakes. The original engraving of the scene appeared in Voyage ou Nouvelle Découverte by Father Louis Hennepin (Amsterdam: Adriaan Braakman, 1704) who was present during the ship’s construction. The engraving was reproducd as a halftone photoengraving in Heroes of the Middle West by Mary Hartwell Catherwood (Boston: Ginn and Company, 1898), after p. 44 and other books and magazines. [8] Dwiggins’ version most likely derives from one of the editions of Catherwood’s book.

“Construction of a vessel on Lake Erie” from Voyage ou Nouvelle Découverte by Father Louis Hennepin (Amsterdam: Adriaan Braakman, 1704). Engraver unknown. Image from JCB Archive of Early American Images.

“The Building of the Griffin” from Heroes of the Middle West by Mary Hartwell Catherwood (Boston: Ginn and Company, 1898), after p. 44.

“The Building of the Griffin” from How the Old World Found the New by Eunice Fuller Barnard and Lida Lee Tall (Boston: Ginn and Company, 1929), p. 222. Illustration by W.A. Dwiggins after a 1704 engraving.

In addition to erasing all of the shading in the original Dutch engraving, Dwiggins has made small tweaks to the scene such as reducing the amount of smoke from the fire at the left, removing trees in the distance, and shrinking the size of the cliffs at the right. All in all, he has clarified a murky image.

p. 231 “The Murder of LaSalle”

The Sieur de la Salle unhappily assasinated” is the title of the engraving in A New Discovery of a Vast Country in America by Father Louis Hennepin (London: M. Bentley et al, 1698). It is apparently the earliest depiction of La Salle’s murder by the mutineer Pierre Duhault in 1687 near present-day Navasota, Texas. In the engraving, Duhault is firing his musket from some bushes at the left. An accomplice is visible beneath the palm tree at right. Father Anastasius is La Salle’s companion.

Dwiggins’ version of La Salle’s murder is flopped. He must have followed a copy of the engraving made by Michael Vander Gucht of “The Murther of Mons.r de la Salle” in A New Discovery of a Vast Country in America by Father Louis Hennepin (London: M. Bentley et al, 1698), probably the 1903 reprint by A.C. McClurg & Co. [9]

“The Sieur de la Salle unhappily assassinated” from A New Discovery of a Vast Country in America by Father Louis Hennepin (London: M. Bentley et al, 1698). Engraver unknown.

“The Murther of Mons.r de la Salle” from A New Discovery of a Vast Country in America by Father Louis Hennepin (Chicago: A.C. McClurg & Co., 1903), vol. 2, p. 424. Engraving by Michael Vander Gucht (1698).

“The Murder of La Salle” from How the Old World Found the New by Eunice Fuller Barnard and Lida Lee Tall (Boston: Ginn and Company, 1929), p. 222. Illustration by W.A. Dwiggins after Michael Vander Gucht.

Dwiggins has cleaned up Vander Gucht’s engraving by eliminating nearly all of its shading. [10] Everything has been redrawn in a loose manner rather than with close fidelity to the original. More importantly, he has severely cropped the scene so that the focus is entirely on La Salle, Father Anastasius, their dead companions, and the two assassins in hiding. Duhault is now more visible.

Note on copying images
There are a number of reasons why Dwiggins was hired to rework many of the images intended to illustrate How the Old World Found the New and why he would not have found the request an odd one, even if less than exciting.

For centuries the only way to include an image in a letterpress-printed book was as a woodcut or a wood engraving. Copperplate engravings and lithographs could be bound into a book as separate signatures or plates but they could not be printed with metal type. [11] If a publisher wanted to reprint an existing image in another book, he had to either acquire the original artwork—whether a woodcut or an engraving—or have a copy made. The latter route was the most common one since original artwork was often unavailable, having been made years ago or in a distant place. Thus copying was an established practice by the time Dwiggins was asked by Daniel Berkeley Updike to redraw old illustrations for the books and ephemera he printed.

However, Updike did have a recourse that older printers and publishers lacked. In the 1870s photoengraving was invented, a process that converted line art to a zinc plate which, when mounted on a wood block, could be printed letterpress. This made it possible to copy existing imagery, as long as it was line art or, if tonal like a lithograph or photograph, could be converted to a halftone. The problem with making a zinco (slang for a photoengraving) was that it was not as sharp as the original unless the lines were routed out and burrs cut away by hand. This was an extra expense that most publishers and printers were not interested in incurring. (Dwiggins often insisted that his publishing clients give him the zincos of his artwork so that he could perform these duties since he did not trust the printers to do it.)

The alternative to ordering a photoengraving and then paying extra for it to be hand finished was to hire someone like Dwiggins to redraw the source image so that it was guaranteed to print evenly and sharply, without any filling in or broken lines. It’s unfortunate that Dwiggins did not rework all of the illustrations in How the Old World Found the New since that would have given the book more visual unity. But that was probably financially unfeasible. The fact that Ginn and Company, an ordinary textbook publisher not known, like Updike, for fastidiousness, was willing to engage Dwiggins at all is remarkable. In the end, the substantial amount of work he did for How the Old World Found the New sets it apart from contemporary history textbooks.

Although the illustrations in How the Old World Found the New are not original, they are among the most fascinating ones that Dwiggins did, given the subtle decisions confronting him. They show not only his technical ability to make older images legible and printable, but also his canny aesthetic sense of how to improve the composition of an image without compromising its integrity. Of the fifty or so drawings he revamped, only a handful could be considered mere carpentering. The rest display a subtle form of genius.

Notes
1. See The Definitive Dwiggins no. 702 for an analysis of the different categories of redrawing that Dwiggins undertook for the various illustrations.
2. The drawing originally appeared in Les voyages de la Nouvelle-France occidentale, dicte Canada… by Samuel de Champlain (Paris: Claude Colley, 1632) where it is missing the letters J, K, S, W, and Z.
3. But the version of Champlain’s drawing included in Voyages of Samuel de Champlain translated by Charles Pomeroy Otis (Boston: Prince Society, 1878), vol. 1, after p. 34 looks as if it needed redrawing.
4. I have looked at nine other books available at Hathitrust published between 1885 and 1922 that include Champlain’s drawing of “Abitation de Qvebecq” and all of them match the original. The removal of some of the key letters in the Dwiggins version is unexplainable.
5. See Voyages of Samuel de Champlain translated by Charles Pomeroy Otis (Boston: Prince Society, 1880), vol. 2, after p. 220; Pioneers on Land and Sea: Stories of the Eastern States and of Ocean Explorers by Charles A. McMurry (New York, The Macmillan Company, 1904), p. 17; and A Book of Discovery: The History of the World’s Exploration, from the Earliest Times to the Finding of the South Pole by M.B. Synge (London: T. C. & E. C. Jack, Ltd., 1912), p. 193.
6. Les Voyages du Sr. de Champlain (Paris: Claude Collet, 1620).
7. See Pioneers on Land and Sea: Stories of the Eastern States and of Ocean Explorers by Charles A. McMurry (New York, The Macmillan Company, 1904), p. 31 and French Pathfinders in North America by William Henry Johnson (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1905), after p. 128, respectively for examples of my claim.
8. For example the scene also appears in Modern Culture magazine vol. XIII, no. 5 (July 1901), p. 363.
9. Two editions of Father Hennepin’s narrative were published in London in 1698 by Bentley et al. The first, referred to as the Bon- edition, has the engraving of La Salle’s murder with La Salle and Father Anastasius on the left. The second, called the Tonson edition, has Vander Gucht’s engraving with the two men on the right. See A New Discovery of a Vast Country in America by Father Louis Hennepin (Chicago: A.C. McClurg & Co., 1903), pp. lix–lxiii. The Vander Gucht engraving is in vol. 2, p. 424.
10. An unfortunate by-product of Dwiggins’ scrubbing of the engraving is the removal of the shading that indicated the dead man in the foreground was an African-American.
11. This was also true of images printed offset. Offset, although invented in 1904, did not become widely used by book publishers until the 1950s. It is unlikely that Ginn and Company would have considered it for How the Old World Found the New due to cost. But Gambrill, Barnard, and Tall would also have rejected it as an option since having illustrations ganged together in or two signatures would have defeated their rationale for including pictures in the book as a means of maintaining the attention of its child readers.

Bibliography
Catherwood, Mary Hartwell. Heroes of the Middle West (Boston: Ginn and Company, 1898)
Champlain, Samuel de. Les voyages de la Nouvelle-France occidentale, dicte Canada… (Paris: Claude Colley, 1632)
Grant, W.L., ed. Voyages of Samuel de Champlain, 1604–1618 (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1907)
Hall, Jennie. Our Ancestors: An Introduction to American History (Boston: Silver, Burdett and Company, 1916)
Hennepin, Father Louis. Voyage ou Nouvelle Découverte (Amsterdam: Braakman, 1704).
Johnson, William Henry. French Pathfinders in North America (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1905)
Kelsey, D.M. The New World Heroes of Discovery and Conquest… (Philadelphia: National Publishing Company, 1904)
Markham, Edwin, ed. The Real America in Romance: An Authentic History of America from the Discovery to the Present Day Profusely Illustrated with Portraits of Historical Characters and Views of the Sacred and Memorable Places of Our Native Land (New York: W.H. Wise, 1911), vol. III Swords of Flame: The Age of Animosity 1547–1570
McMurry, Charles A. Pioneers on Land and Sea: Stories of the Eastern States and of Ocean Explorers (New York, The Macmillan Company, 1904)
Otis, Charles Pomeroy, trans. Voyages of Samuel de Champlain (Boston: Prince Society, 1878–1882), 3 vols.
Remington, Cyrus Kingsbury. The Ship-Yard of the Griffon, a Brigantine Built by René Robert Cavelier, sieur de La Salle… (Buffalo: [Press of J.W. Clement], 1891)
Synge, M.B. A Book of Discovery: The History of the World’s Exploration, from the Earliest Times to the Finding of the South Pole (London: T. C. & E. C. Jack, Ltd., 1912)