New England Gallery

Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1966. First Edition [stated], presumed first printing. Hardcover. Very good/Fair. Philip Kappel. The format is approximately 8.875 inches by 11.5 inches. xvi, [2], 349, [1] pages. Illustrations. Signed by the author/illustrator on the half-title page. DJ is worn, torn, soiled and chipped. This is an evocative portrait of the region in work and picture. This work depicts our New England heritage in a collection of one hundred and fifty full-page drawings. This work begins with a sketch of the Mayflower II moored at Plymouth. Introduction by Walter Muir Whitehill. The contents are provided by state: Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, and Connecticut. Etcher and book illustrator Philip Kappel (1901-1981) was born in Hartford, Connecticut and graduated from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. He also studied with marine artist Philip Little in Salem, Massachusetts and was employed as an artist by several American steamship lines. He made six trips around the world on sailing vessels to gather themes, mainly maritime, for his etchings, which held by major American museums and the Biblotheque National in Paris His artwork constitutes s a record of the shipping industry in the United States at its peak. Kappel received many awards for his work. He was the author of several books, including Boothbay Harbor-A Portfolio of Sketches, Louisiana Gallery, Jamaica Gallery, and New England Gallery. He was the youngest person to be listed in Who's Who in 1928 and in 1930 was the subject of one of the books in a series on American etchers. Interest in his works experienced a revival after the nation's bicentennial "Tall Ships" fleet was formed in 1976. Derived from a Kirkus review: Reviewing this volume without its pictorial content is like eating New England clam chowder without the clams. Mr. Kappel's text is a brightly anecdotal history of New England, it is evident that the sketches are the heart of the matter. Mr. Kappel has drawn and digressed upon a number of sites, mainly historical, some pictorial in interest. Here are Plymouth Rock and Louisburg Square, the Lexington Green and Corn Hill on Cape Cod; Harriet Beecher Stowe's house and the Elizabeth Park rose gardens in Hartford; the old covered bridge in West Cornwall; the Castine waterfront and Boothbay Harbor. Mixed in with the old sights are the new: the Connecticut General Life Insurance Building, T-Bar Slopes in Vermont. A personal ramble, of distinct interest. Walter Muir Whitehill (September 28, 1905 - March 5, 1978) was an American writer, historian, medievalist, preservationist, and the Director and Librarian of the Boston Athenaeum from 1946 to 1973. He was also editor for publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts from 1946 to 1978. From 1951 to 1972, Whitehill was a professor at Harvard University. He took up a position as associate director of the Peabody Essex Museum from 1936 to 1942, while redirecting his research interest to American maritime history. In 1942, he went on active duty as a lieutenant in the United States Naval Reserve, where he worked on operation records of World War II. Whitehill died on March 5, 1978. In his obituary, The New York Times wrote that Whitehill was "regarded as [Boston's] leading cultural figure."