1834: the RHINOCEROS – fine engraving; Venice GONDOLA; Exeter Cathedral

1834: the RHINOCEROS - fine engraving; Venice GONDOLA; Exeter Cathedral

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THE PENNY MAGAZINE April 26, 1834 The Rhinoceros Gondoliers in Venice Exeter Cathedral This is a paper which is 190 years old. It is printed in a small format, measuring 7 x 11 inches in size, and is 8 pages long. The issue came from a bound volume and has typical minor disbinding marks at the spine, plus a small smudge on the front page (see photo), but otherwise is in excellent and very attractive condition. The highlight of the paper is its front page article, on: THE RHINOCEROS. This article takes up more than two full pages, beginning with a lovely wood engraving on the cover of “The one-horned Rhinoceros.” The following story is about 285 lines of text. It begins: “The recent arrival in this country of a young rhinoceros of the Asiatic variety, which was obtained at Siam, will probably give a peculiar interest to an account of this formidable and somewhat rare animal, the common statements regarding which are, to this day, often contradictory and exaggerated. “. . . The one-horned, or Asiatic rhinoceros, is a bulky and clumsy looking animal, the specific character of which is marked by a single black horn, placed near the end of the snout. Its stature seems to vary from five to seven feet, and its length from nine to eleven. Its general appearance is of the most massy character, exceeding in this respect the elephant, from the comparative shortness of its legs. The neck is very short; the shoulders are thick and heavy; the body is thick, juts out at the sides, and has a hollow in the back; the belly hangs low; the legs are short, thick, and strong; the feet, which do not in any part project much beyond the thick legs, are divided into three hoofs, placed nearly vertically, and the middlemost of which is the largest and most rounded. The body is clothed with an exceedingly thick and rough skin, not penetrable by ordinary weapons, destitute of hair, but covered more or less with a sort of irregular incrustation which has been improperly denominated ‘scales.’ This skin is, about the neck, gathered into large folds; a fold also extends between the shoulders and fore legs, and another from the hinder part of the back to the thighs, so that the animal has the appearance o being clad in armour. Between the folds of this thick skin, the cuticle, which is left bare, is soft and easily penetrable. The general colour of the skin may be called dark grey, with a tinge of violet. . . .” The article goes on to describe the exotic beast in much more detail, and concludes with these two paragraphs: “This rhinoceros was still young, and habitually indicated an xceedingly mild disposition, being very obedient to his keeper, whose caresses he seemed to receive with much satisfaction. Nevertheless he was subject to violent fits of passion, and at such times it was dangerous to approach him. He then made prodigious efforts to break his chains and escape from his bondage; but the offer of bread and fruits seldom failed to succeed in soothing his most terrible-passions. Those persons found the most favour with him who ministered the most to his gormandizing appetites; and when they appeared, he exhibited his satisfaction and expectation by opening his mouth and extending to them his long upper lip. The narrow limits of the cage in which he was shut up, did not allow him to manifest much of intelligence. The great object of the keeper was to make him forget his strength or forego its exercise. Hence, nothing calculated to awaken his consciousness of power was required from him. To open his mouth, to move his head to the right or left, to lift his leg, etc., were the only acts by which he was requested to testify his obedience. His great strength, and the fear that in one of his passions he might break his cage, ensured to him the most mild and soothing treatment, and he was scrupulously rewarded for the least thing he was required to do. In spite of such an unfavourable situation, the distinction he made of persons, and the great attention he paid to everything that passed around, demonstrated that, in more favourable circumstances, his intelligence might have been more strikingly manifested. “The young rhinoceros in the Surrey Zoological Gardens indicates much mildness of disposition, and he appears attached to two goats which came to England in the same ship with him. His favourite food is and sugar, of which he consumes a great quantity.” * * * * * * * * * * * * * In the center of the issue is an article on CATHEDRAL OF EXETER, with more than a full page of text on the building, plus a nice woodcut (5.7 x 7.5 inches in size) of “West Front of Exeter Cathedral.” The text begins, “The Cathedral of Exeter, although, as will be seen, a considerable period elapsed between the commencement and completion of the building, is remarkable, above most of our other cathedrals, for the uniformity of the architectural character which it presents throughout. The plan of its founder, although he was himself only able to execute it in part, appears to have been taken as a guide by all those who continued the structure after him. Its pervading style is what may be called the middle Gothic;without any thing either of the rudeness of the Saxon and the heaviness of the earliest Norman style on the one hand, or of the extreme lightness and florid ornament which distinguish the latest stage of Gothic architecture.” Etc. * * * * * * * * * * * * * On the paper’s last two pages is a story on THE GONDOLA. It is illustrated with an attractive woodcut on the back page, of “Gondola, with a Single Rower.” The accompanying text is over 150 lines long, and says of these vessels, and the gondoliers, in part: “The black colour gives them a very sombre, funereal appearance, and their first effect on strangers is at variance with our notions of Venetian gaiety and elegance. Our sailors call them ‘floating coffins,’ ‘queer craft,’ . . . The gondola is the sole equipage of the noble Venetian. In this he is carried on his visits, for his amusement, or to his business, and in this a considerable part of his time is passed. His head gondolier is to him what the head coachman and the groom are to an English gentleman, and something more. When he wishes to go out, he does not order ” the horses to be put to,” but the gondola to be got ready. As the fares are low, even the poorest people make frequent use of these boats, and on a saint’s day, or other holiday, they are seen gliding in all directions,their occupants sometimes conversing or listening to stories, more frequently playing at tarocco, a game at cards. “In rowing, the gondoliers stand on the extreme edge of the vessel : the master, or principal gondolier, on the right side, with his face towards the head of the boat, and his companion on the left side, behind the company. On the after part, where the back rower is placed, there is a flat piece added over the gunwale of the boat, on which he stands. Thus placed, the gondoliers seem, to strangers, in imminent danger of falling overboard. But this is an event which rarely happens. They balance themselves with apparent ease, and even elegance, pushing their oars forward, and giving them, by the action of the wrist, a turn in the water, resembling what is called with us ‘feathering’ . . . “The gondoliers were formerly a very interesting portion of the Venetian population, and enjoyed a degree of consideration beyond that to which persons in a similar station of life receive among ourselves. They still are a civil and well-behaved body of men, and act as ciceroni to travellers in showing them the curiosities of Venice, and even go with them to the opera-house, and conduct them to their boxes. . . .” Etc. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Background on this publication: The Penny Magazine was a weekly 8-page paper put out by Londons Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. Throughout the 1830s, an American edition was very popular in the United States, only to dwindle into extinction during the following decade. The paper did not cover the current news of the day, and carried no advertising. Instead, the Penny Magazine provided excellent essays on a wide array of subjects, such as architecture, science, geography and natural history. The paper was compact in size, and every issue was illustrated with several fine woodcut engravings. 132 [gsp10206] _gsrx_vers_1680 (GS 9.8.3 (1680))

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