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Sunday, March 12, 2017

Henry Ellis on Eskimos, copied by Henry Livingston

Both the prose sketch and engraving "Of the Esquimaux Indians" published in the New-York Magazine for May 1792 over the signature of "R." were copied from original prose and pictures in A Voyage to Hudson's Bay by Henry Ellis. Figures in the 1792 engraving are redrawn from original illustrations that were first published in 1748, then re-engraved in later translations, editions, and anthologies. Below, an image of the original engraving from the 1748 London edition via Library and Archives Canada.


Below is the picture attributed to Henry Livingston, Jr. via the page for Henry Livingston's Prose on Mary S. Van Deusen's great Henry Livingston website. What happened to the igloo and icebergs?

Esquimaux Indians via Henry Livingston's Prose
Correspondence from "R." with Henry Livingston's illustration of Eskimos is acknowledged by the editor of The New-York Magazine in the March 1792 issue:
"Thanks are due to our esteemed friend R. for his communications.-- The view of the Esquimaux Indians merits attention."  --The New-York Magazine - March 1792
The prose sketch and picture titled "Esquimaux Indians of Hudson's Bay" appeared in the the May 1792 issue. As indicated by credits in the lower margin, the picture was drawn by "H. Livingston" and engraved by "Tiebout," presumably Cornelius Tiebout who worked for New York publishers in the early 1790's.
Except for the anti-romantic vent in the last paragraph, Livingston's prose description of "Esquimaux" people in the New-York Magazine is copied nearly verbatim from Henry Ellis.

"R." in the May 1792 New-York Magazine:
They are robust and inclinable to be fat; their heads are large, and their faces are almost perfectly round and very flat; their eyes are small and black, but very expressive; their hair black and lank: although their limbs are generally well proportioned, their feet are extraordinary small. Their behavior is cheerful and sprightly, but they seem to be very subtle, cunning, and deceitful; great flatterers, much addicted to pilfer from strangers, easily encouraged to a degree of boldness, but as easily frighted.
Henry Ellis in A Voyage to Hudson's Bay (Dublin, 1749):
These People are of a middle Size, robust, and inclinable to be fat, their Heads are large. Faces round and flat, their Complexions swarthy, Eyes black, small and sparkling, Noses flat, Lips big. Hair black and lank, Shoulders broad. Limbs proportionable, but Feet extraordinary small. Their Behaviour is chearful and sprightly; but they seem to be very subtle, designing, cunning and deceitful, great Flatterers, much addicted to pilfer from Strangers, easily encouraged to a degree of Boldness, but as easily frighted.  --Henry Ellis, Voyage to Hudson's Bay
 "R." in the May 1792 New-York Magazine:
Two small canoes passing Hayes's River, got to the middle of it, when one of them sunk, in which was an Indian man, his wife and child: the other canoe being small, and incapable of receiving more than one of the parents and the child, produced a very extraordinary contest between the man and his wife; not but that both of them were willing to devote themselves to save the other, but the difficulty lay in determining which would be the greatest loss to the child. The man used many arguments to prove it more reasonable that he should be drowned than the woman; but she alleged on the contrary, it was for the advantage of the child that she should perish, because, he, as a man, was better able to hunt, and, consequently, to provide for it. The little time there was still remaining, was spent in mutual expressions of tenderness; the woman strongly recommending, as for the last time, to her husband, the care of her child. This being done, they took leave in the water; the woman quitting the side of the canoe, was drowned, and the man, with the child, got safe on shore.
Henry Ellis - A Voyage to Hudson's Bay
... Two small Canoes, passing Hayeses River, when they had got to the middle of it, one
of them, which was made of the Bark of a Birch Tree, sunk, in which was an Indian, his Wife and Child: The other Canoe being small, and incapable of receiving more than one of the Parents, and the Child, produced a very extraordinary Contest between the Man and his Wife, not but that both of them were willing to devote themselves to save the other, but the Difficulty lay in determining which would be the greatest Loss to the Child. The Man used many Arguments to prove it more reasonable, that he should be drowned than the Woman. But she alledged on the contrary, it was more for the advantage of the Child, that she should perish, because he, as a Man, was better able to hunt; and, consequently, to provide for it. The little Time there was still remaining, was spent in mutual Expressions of Tenderness, the Woman strongly recommending, as for the last Time, to her Husband, the Care of her Child. This being done, they took leave in the Water; the Women quitting the Canoe was drowned, and the Man with the Child got safe a-shore and is now taken much Notice of by the People thereabouts.
-- Henry Ellis, A Voyage to Hudson's Bay
Unfortunately, the groundless "controversy" over Livingston's alleged authorship of "The Night Before Christmas" has distracted attention from the kind of scholarship that might lead to a better understanding of real contributions by Henry Livingston, Jr. to American literature and culture in the late 18th century.

7 comments:

  1. Absolutely wonderful research, Scott. Deeply impressed and pleased that you found such a source. Up to now, I've only found poems that Henry published that could be traced to other poets.
    http://www.henrylivingston.com/writing/poetry/index.htm#others

    I've added a link to this page on the Esquimaux page. Again, just great work.

    Mary

    Mary Van Deusen
    http://www.henrylivingston.com

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  2. Welcome Mary, and thank you! I'm a huge fan of your investigative work and the magnificent Henry Livingston website. What a great collection of history, art, literature and genealogy. Entertaining and educational at the same time, which I know ain't easy. I'm grateful for your many pioneering firsts including the manuscript poems of Moore from the Museum of the City of New York archives. Bravo!

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    1. Edited: Mac was after me to go to New York for those poems from the beginning of our research. But I'm timid by nature and have a great deal of trouble traveling. When I was chair of Computer Programming Languages, I was forced to travel the country to executive meetings and conferences and it was pure trauma. Took 3 years to force myself to NYC and the museum staff were magnificent. Helped us set up to photograph every page and I transcribed all the poems that night in our hotel room. I make it a point to always be able to give Mac the original source with my transcription so that he can catch my errors. Glad it was of use to you. Makes the memory more worthwhile!

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  3. Also on the subject of sources, the 1788 piece on "Female Happiness" signed "R." is copied from Samuel Johnson's essay in The Rambler No. 128 (June 8, 1751).

    http://melvilliana.blogspot.com/2018/04/samuel-johnson-on-female-happiness.html

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    1. Thanks for the pointers. I only knew of your original article and just came across this by searching accident. When I find a correction of yours, I'll try to integrate it back into the pages. And I thank you for every correction.

      Mary

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  4. By the way, the timing of finding this was perfect. I have Byron Nilsson, who played Henry in "The Trial Before Christmas," narrating some of Henry's work and this prose piece was on his list to do. I've made videos of "Astronomical Intelligence" and "Journal of Alexander the Great" and am just finishing up "Memoirs of a Pine Tree."

    http://www.henrylivingston.com/writing/poetry/youtube-videos.htm

    Mary

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