Illustrated Journal of an American's Travels in Europe.
Mostly Germany; alsoItaly, Egypt, Greece and other locations: : 1965-1966, 1982. Journal entries and sketches on 11” x 8.5” tracing paper or white stock with some photocopies (details below), 169 pages total (about 2000 words) + publisher rejection letter and 17 smaller drawings. Generally very good plus: well-preserved; a few small tears not affecting any content; a bit of edge wear and light scattered spotting.
This is a stunning collection of sketches and observations showing a skilled American artist's sojourn in Germany, extending to a number of other locales on the European continent.
The work was created by Anthony G. “Tony” Edtmiller, who we know served as a Lieutenant Commander in the United States Navy during the Korean War. While it's possible he was stationed in Europe in 1965- 1966, we think it's more likely he was accompanying his wife Elisabeth (“Betty”) as she studied that year at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. Betty had earned degrees in German from the University of Wisconsin and studied at the Institute for German Teachers in Ulm in 1963; she went on to study in Munich in 1967 and taught German for decades in Seattle schools. She retired in 1997 and died in 2006; Tony had died in 1988.
With Betty and their daughter Laurel, Edtmiller thoroughly explored the German country, particularly the HeidelbergFrankfurt corridor along the Rhine and Neckar rivers, as well as multiple other locations in Europe. Tony was a gifted artist, and this journal not only holds his lively written observations on European life, but is also overflowing with illustrations, ranging from quick doodles and line drawings to detailed sketches and pictorial maps. The entries record tourist destinations and depictions of local residents, with an American's eye for cultural differences and other curiosities. Edtmiller comments on German civilities (and lack thereof), driving on the autobahn, the quality of wine and cost comparisons for clothing, food and other goods. There are fantastic sketched scenes from the zoo, theaters, restaurants and “at the bar,” along with skilled architectural drawings, vignettes depicting Checkpoint Charlie, “people watching the fishermen of the Arno @ Florence (Firenze)” and elaborate costumes from Fasching in Mainz, an event similar to Mardi Gras. Tony also lent his observations visiting museums in Florence, Pompeii and Cairo, such as: “de Medici family supported all the great artists of the period including Michelangelo” and , “Mohamand Ghazaly [sic] 'The Billy Graham of Egypt' . . . we are wearing canvas covers over our street shoes.”
The collection is neatly divided into three series. The bulk of the drawings reveal a (roughly) ordered itinerary of Heidelberg, Munich, Frankfurt, Rottenburg, Lichtenstein, Mannheim, Strasbourg, Mainz and Berlin. The 113 pages in this series include 81 original sketches (paginated from 1 to 85 but missing numbers 64, 72, 81 and 83) as well as 32 photocopied or duplicated images, some of which were amended by the artist to vary slightly from their originals. Dates were captioned on most pages, and it is unclear whether the pagination was intended to be chronological (if so, it missed the mark) or perhaps just ordered by personal preference.
A second, shorter series, ordered roughly by the dates captioned on the sketches, reveals an itinerary of Florence, Rome, Pompeii, Irsina, Bari, Brindisi, Corfu, Athens, Cairo, Vienna, Worms, Mannheim and Naples. It holds 50 pages total: 39 original sketches, two printed images on glossy paper and nine photocopied images, some of which do not duplicate any extant sketch. There is also a third grouping of seemingly unrelated drawings and documents, including an envelope with doodles from the “Halloween Party at Ulm's U.S. Army Officers Club” in 1965 and some half-size sheets of notes and sketches. These held ideas such as distances between cities and travel costs, views from hotel rooms, a great sketch of Laurel reading and illustrated commentary on German farmers traveling “to & from fields in autos, bicycles, trucks, motor scooters, walk, and plow harrow pullers.” It appears that Edtmiller tried to get his work published; there is an original rejection letter, and its photocopy, dated June 1966 from the editor of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer: “I took the drawings up with Ray Collins and he agrees that they are excellent. But we are dubious that they would reproduce well or that we could adequately handle them in the limited Travel section of the Sunday magazine.”
A skillful, thoroughly entertaining record of an American's travels and observations abroad. Very good +. Item #3957
Price: $1,850.00