PAUL FRENZENY'S CHINATOWN SKETCHES. An Artist's Fascination with San Francisco's Chinese Quarter, 1874 - 1882

San Francisco: Book Club of California;, 2012. Hardcover. Fine. PAUL FRENZENY. . One of only 425 printed Fine. Artist Paul Frenzeny, a Frenchman of noble descent, strict military training, and encyclopedic knowledge, became one of the leading "special correspondents" in the United States and Europe in the days when woodcuts, rather than photographs, were used to illustrate newspapers. In 1873, Frenzeny undertook a year-long sketching tour of the frontier for Harper's Weekly, with fellow artist Jules Tavernier. This 100-sketch assignment proved to be an irresistible subject for author Claudine Chalmers, who then followed the Frenchmen's careers after their journey's end on the Pacific Coast. As she patiently gathered Frenzeny's subsequent illustrations in the Weekly, Dr. Chalmers discovered that he had depicted San Francisco's Chinese culture in all its pageantry and intensity, at a time when most of the white population, within California and across the country, reviled the pioneering Chinese laborers and repressed them in every way possible. Paul Frenzeny's Chinatown Sketches explores in detail the seventeen illustrations of San Francisco's Chinese quarter which the artist drew between 1874 and 1882, at four different points of his career and four stages in the fortunes of that secretive community. The images have been carefully reproduced with exquisite fidelity, at or near original size. One of only 425 printed. Large format hardcover (10 by 14 1⁄4 inches), only leafed through once. Without the sales prospectus. With 19 wood engravings by Paul Frenzeny, including three double-page foldouts. Bound in decorative boards with a silk brocade spine and letterpress- printed endpapers featuring the artist's drawing of Chinese acrobats. Ships from Hawaii.