The E-Sylum:  Volume 4, Number 19, May 6, 2001, Article 9

WHEN ONE THING LEADS TO ANOTHER 

   While surfing the net, your editor came across references to 
   Imprint, the journal of the American Historical Print 
   Collectors Society (see http://www.ahpcs.org/).  Their web 
   site features chronological and subject indices to the journal, 
   and there are a few articles of interest to paper money 
   collectors.  One such article is "The Angel in the Factory: 
   Images of Women Worked Engraved on Ante-bellum 
   Bank Notes" by Francine Tyler (Spring 1994, Vol 19, No. 1, 
   p2-10).   Back issues of the journal are available from the 
   society. 

   One of your Editor's favorite pastimes is bibliography- 
   diving; one of the first things I look for in a newly discovered 
   book or article are references to other books or articles that 
   may be of use.  Footnote 7 of Tyler's article references 
   an article by Charles Toppan Carpenter, "History and 
   Progress of Bank Note Engraving" from The Crayon, 
   February 21, 1855.   The Crayon was "considered by many 
   to be the best American art journal of its time", according 
   to one bookseller who has a partial set in stock. 

   Another favorite area is ephemera, and another of the 
   article's footnotes describes a banknote printer's 
   advertising piece:  "An advertising circular of the Jocelyn 
   engravers stated that the cost of engraving four notes on 
   copperplate was $250.00 and produced 6,000 good 
   impressions;  the cost of engraving four notes on steel 
   was $500.00, producing 35,000 good impressions. 
   Printing cost $2.00 per hundred impressions.  Advertising 
   circular of N. and S. Jocelyn, New York and New Haven, 
   2 May 1831, in The Jocelyn Family Papers, 1810-1835, 
   collected by Foster Wild Rice, Connecticut Historical 
   Society, Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford." 

   A web search for information on "Jocelyn" turned up 
   this reference on a page about the Amistad case: 
   "On November 17, 1840, John Quincy Adams, sixth 
   President of the United States, and then serving in Congress, 
   visited thirty-six African men being held outside of New 
   Haven, Connecticut. The Africans who had mutinied on a 
   Spanish slave ship were being tried for piracy and murder 
   on the high seas...." 

   "...three prominent abolitionists intervened: Lewis Tappan, 
   a merchant and industrialist who had raised funds to defend 
   and care for the Mendians; the Reverend Joshua Leavitt, 
   editor of the antislavery journal, Emancipator; and Simeon S. 
   Jocelyn, an engraver active in the antislavery movement." 
   Could Simeon S. Jocelyn be the "S" of "N. and S. Jocelyn? 
   (see http://www.npg.si.edu/col/amistad/) 

   The question was answered on another web page, this one 
   containing bibliographies of "Jackson-Era Characters." 

   "Jocelyn, Nathaniel 1796 - 1881:  b.1/31,d.1/13 
   Painter and engraver, who was born in, and mostly lived in, 
   New Haven. Brother of Simeon Jocylyn, who tried, in 
   association with the New York Tappans, to establish 
   something between a college and what today would be 
   called a trade school for African Americans. 

   Son of a watchmaker; helped found the National Bank Note 
   Engraving Company; began painting portraits at 25; was 
   exhibited, and praised, at the National Academy. He was 
   somewhat of a protégé of Samuel F. B. Morse, who encouraged 
   him in the early 1820s when they both lived in New Haven. He 
   traveled and studied in Europe in the late 1820s through 1830, 
   and at least crossed paths with Morse over there. Back in 
   New Haven, he set up a studio, and got into trouble for 
   promoting the idea of the negro school. Made a famous 
   portrait of Cinque, the leader of the Amistad revolt, which 
   hangs in the building of the New Haven Colony Historical 
   Society, along with a portrait of himself. 
   (Source: DAB; Wyatt-Brown, Lewis Tappan, p87ff)" 
   (See http://216.202.17.223/BIOG-J.htm) 

   So "N. and S. Jocelyn" were Nathaniel and Simeon, 
   who were certainly men of their times who led very 
   interesting lives.  Who knew where the footnote would 
   lead?  That's the fun of it! 

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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