Digital Collection of the Etchings of Wenceslas Hollar

June 17, 2007 9:44 AM

Born in Bohemia, Wenceslas (Vaclav) Hollar (wikipedia; illustrated chronology of his life; essay on Hollar) was one of the leading etchers and illustrators of the middle 17th Century, working primarily in England and Belgium. The University of Toronto has placed almost his entire works online, including more than 4,000 images and some complete illustrated books. Some favorites: the man himself; simple, powerful Illustrations of Genesis; The Pack of Knaves; Elephants and Flowers; Shells; Fitting out a Hull; and Muffs (sfw). Most images are zoomable, and you can create marked lists and compare images side by side.
posted by Rumple (8 comments total)

Better link to a Pack of Knaves
posted by Rumple at 9:59 AM on June 17, 2007

Legend holds that it was he that first uttered the phrase, "Would you like to come up to my apartment? I'll show you my etchings."
posted by Doohickie at 9:59 AM on June 17, 2007

(Oh, and he did some amazing work.... good post!)
posted by Doohickie at 10:00 AM on June 17, 2007

Legend also had it that he then added "If you'll let me, I'll etch your muff"
posted by growabrain at 10:57 AM on June 17, 2007

Pay no attention to growabrain's eponysterical post... this is awesome. Thank you!
posted by jokeefe at 1:14 PM on June 17, 2007

Great post. Interesting work and context of article sets it nicely!
posted by Gratishades at 2:28 PM on June 17, 2007

Beautiful and well presented. Thank you very much for sharing.
posted by christopherious at 2:40 PM on June 17, 2007

Good post thanks Rumple. I had seen the site before - but mostly in passing - and it's first rate on a number of levels, not least reason being Hollar's fantastic etchings. I love that they have multiple sizes PLUS a zoomify interface. The only quibbles with the site could be subjective asides really, because seriously, this is a model web exhibition and I can only hope that other online repository architects and editors take note how well put together this is. Well done Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at U Toronto.
posted by peacay at 4:18 PM on June 17, 2007