SKETCHES FROM THE CIVIL WAR IN NORTH AMERICA, 1861, 62, 63, BY V. BLAD A. No. FIRST ISSUE CONTAINING PLATES 1. WORSHIP OF THE NORTH. 2. 5. 6. 7. 44 12. 15. " 16. 44 21. PASSAGE THROUGH BALTIMORE. SEARCHING FOR ARMS. ENLISTMENT OF SICKLES' BRIGADE. THE FIGHT AT SANTA ROSA ISLAND. SLAVES CONCEALING THEIR MASTER FROM A SEARCH PARTY. FORMATION OF GUERILLA BANDS. GEN. STEWART'S RAID TO THE WHITE HOUSE. 24. SCENE IN STONEWALL JACKSON'S CAMP. LONDON, 1863. TARRYTOWN, NEW YORK REPRINTED WILLIAM ABBATT, 1917. IT EDITOR'S PREFACE T was hoped that this scarce and very interesting collection of etchings would have been published nearly a year ago: but delays encountered in searching for (supposed) additional plates have delayed the matter until now. Mr. Sabin, in his "Dictionary of Books relating to America" (New York, 1869, Vol. 2, No. 5709) notes: "BLADA, V. (pseudonym for A. J. Volck) Sketches from the Civil War in North America, 1861-'62-'63. By V. Blada. London, 1863. Quarto. (A series of forty-five sketches, chiefly of scenes in the Confederate Army, really published in Baltimore. Only twelve copies were struck off for friends, when the plates were destroyed for fear of exposing the artist, who is a German dentist in Baltimore)." The catalogue of the Library of Congress says: "The original sketches, thirty in number were drawn, etched and printed in an edition of two hundred sets for subscribers by Dr. Adalbert Johan Volck of Baltimore. One plate, "Meeting of the Southern emissaries and Lincoln" (at Hampton Roads, February 3, 1865) was afterwards lost. An edition of forty-five plates, (the original thirty and fifteen additional, by the same artist, was also published (London 1863)." But my very long and careful search, here and abroad, has failed to find more than the thirty plates I here reproduce (I am told two others are in Richmond, but that the owner will not allow their reproduction-and most of the few sets which have been sold at auction had but twenty-nine). The numbering, too, varies with the sets—a small edition was A circular issued in London July 30, 1864 reads: 2d and 3d issues of V. Blada's War Sketches. ******** The First Issue contains Plates Nos. 1-2-5-6-7-12-15-16-21-24 (10).” Seventeen more are announced by another circular of same date, as "finished-in drawing-and some as etched" but so far as known no more were issued than the thirty I mention. The series as given is: No. 1. Worship of the North. 2. Lincoln's Passage through Baltimore, February, '61. 4. Attack on the Sixth Massachusetts in Baltimore, April, 19, 1861. 5. Searching a Southern Home for Arms. 6. Recruiting Sickles' Brigade in New York, May, 1861. 7. The Battle of Santa Rosa Island, Fla., Oct. 9, 1861. 8. Marylanders crossing the Potomac to join the South ern army, 1861. 9. Election in Baltimore, November, 1862. 10. The "Stone Fleet" blocking Charleston harbor, Dec. 20, 1861. 11. Spinning, Weaving and Sewing for Southern Soldiers. 12. Slaves hiding their master. 13. ? 14. Valiant Men dat fight mit Sigel, August, 1861. 15. In the Wake of War. 16. Formation of a Guerilla band. 17. Jemison's Jayhawkers, 1862. 18. Smuggling Medicines into the South. 19. Offering church bells to be cast into cannon. 21. "Jeb" Stuart's Raid to "White House," Va., June, 22. ? 1862. |