Arms

1944 · ref. 818 — 1944. Superb. Etching on fine antique laid paper 1 5/16 x 2 3/8 inches 34 x 61 mm full margins. Signed and dated in pencil lower margin. A Christmas card from Dorothy and John Taylor Arms from the year 1944; presented in the original handmade paper folder inscribed with the title God's Mirror" and an excerpt from Psalm CXXI as issued by the couple. Printed by David Strang from an edition of 90. In superb condition. Fletcher 384. Christmas Card Series No. 22 Miniature Series No. 33 Note: "Vermont" and "Normandy" were etched on the same plate 6 x 5; 153 x 127. The "Vermont" section of the plate was damaged during the process of etching which made it necessary to reduce the size. The plate was cut in half after the second state. Paper: Arms was typical of the artists of this period - he was obsessed with paper a mania for collecting paper that could/would improve an edition. The quantity he left after his death distributed by his wife to fellow artists witnesses his love for finely made paper -paper interesting because of texture color distinctive weave. The earliest paper known to have been used by Arms came from a Baptismal Register Kirchen Ordnung The Reformed Church Middletown Dauphin County Pennsylvania 1708 bought in a bookshop in Philadelphia. His early prints 1915-1919 evidence paper taken from old books with gilded edges. Some prints appear on stationary from the Cisalpine Napoleonic Italy still bearing the estampe of the office or department; others carry penned ink page numbers taken from old ledgers of the Eighteenth Century-all beautiful shades of grey blue and green handmade ribbed and otherwise. Some of his color aquatints were printed on full sheets of heavy chine or Japanese vellum giving a sense of luxury in the richness of the stock and the width of the margins. There was a myriad of modern papers gleaned in England France Italy and the United States. -William Dolan Fletcher A Man For All Times p. 15. unknown