Who Are These Beautiful Women?

The Library Company has an extensive collection of such gift books, which would have been available for the end-of-year-holiday market beginning in the late 1820s. But why would a publisher issue a gift book with many subtle differences in binding? (And then issue the book again the following year, with slight textual changes, too? But that’s another story.) The book is a conundrum in a multitude of ways, but it especially raises questions for us, since we’ve long sought to identify Portraits of American Women.

The title page states that the volume was “edited by a lady.” Often we know the identity of “A lady,” but this time we don’t. The book has seven engraved plates depicting women who are identified by name: Mrs. Henry Baldwin, Miss Adelia Hoyt, Miss Tyndal, Mary Escars, Miss Ketchum, Mrs. Coster and Child, and the Countess of Calabrella. One of these is easy to identify as the “Countess of Calabrella” is almost certainly the Baroness of Calabrella (1788-1856), who was an English writer. The image even resembles other known portraits of the Baroness (after a fashion …). But who are the other six women? Especially curious is the fact that the portraits do not seem related to the text of the book.

“Mrs. Verschoyle” in Heath’s Book of Beauty: 1839 (London, 1839) — Further identified as Catherine Curtis Verschoyle by Jessica Linker on March 29, 2013.

The editor of Heath’s was the Countess of Blessington (1789-1849), a famous beauty herself.  During the sixteen years in the 1830s and 1840s that she edited Heath’s, 116 women’s portraits appeared in its pages. Having one’s portrait in Heath’s was an honor. Even Queen Victoria allowed her portrait to be published as the frontispiece … four times! It may be that the engraved plate for printing Mrs. Verschoyle’s portrait was produced for Heath’s, and then made a trip across the Atlantic to become “Mary Escars” in American gift books. The plate captioned “Mary Escars” appears in both The American Book of Beauty (Hartford, 1847) and Family Circle, and Parlor Annual, 1849 (New York, 1848), and perhaps other books as well.

See the images below for “our” women in The American Book of Beauty (Hartford, 1847):

“Mrs. Henry Baldwin and Child” — Original sitter identified as Mrs. Henry Bathurst by Jessica Linker on March 29, 2013.

“Miss Adelia Hoyt” — Original sitter identified as the Hon. Mrs. George Anson by Alison McMenamin on March 28, 2013.

“Miss Tyndal” — Original sitter identified as Mrs. Jane Spalding by Jessica Linker on March 29, 2013.

“Miss Ketchum” – Original sitter identified as the English singer and actress Elizabeth Inverarity Martyn (1813-1846) by Jessica Linker on March 28, 2013.

“Mrs. Coster & Child”–Original sitter identified as the Hon. Lalagé Letitia Caroline Vivian Bankes (1834-1875) by Jessica Linker on March 28, 2013.