Vintage Print Blocks
I am researching two vintage print blocks and am having trouble finding any worthwhile information. I have searched both the Library of Congress and the Carnegie Library (Pittsburgh) but have come up empty handed. The larger etched copper plate (glass decanters) measures 4 1/8” x 5” x 15/16” high and its accompanying note reads “Carnegie Magazine vol. XX, June 1946 vol. 20” with a “Liberty Engraving co., Pittsburgh, PA” stamped into the wood base. The smaller carved linoleum (a magnet does not stick to the engraving) botanical measures 3 7/8” x 2 3/16” x 15/16” with an accompanying note: ” Carnegie Magazine Vol. 17 #3, June 1943”. This is also from Liberty Engraving.
I have attached images of the blocks in question.
Any information or help you care to offer will be greatly appreciated!
These are photoengravings. It is hard to tell from the photos but I would guess the upper one, of the two decanters, is a halftone (is the image made up of very small dots?) and may have been an advertising image. The lower one appears to possibly have been an illustration from a botanical treatise and is a line engraving. I would not expect a magnet to stick to either one — the upper one appears to be copper, and the lower one is pretty certain to be zinc. I would expect that the images originated locally and would not be found in the Library of Congress unless you located the referenced issues of the Carnegie Magazine; I’m surprised the Carnegie Library doesn’t have the latter. I bet if you Google the Carnegie Magazine you can locate a holding that includes the referenced issues and find the cuts printed there with their associated articles.
(EDIT: The Carnegie Magazine is published by the Carnegie Museums, possibly quarterly. I would expect their central library to have copies going back. Since you know the dates of the issues it should be easy to find the cuts — assuming of course that the Carnegie Museums organization has kept a complete file.)
Bob