“These prints were veritable treasures of learning. One could gaze at them for hours without experiencing any sense of weariness. Profoundly suggestive in reflections, they assisted Des Esseintes in passing many a day when his books failed to charm him.” – J.-K. Huysmans[i]
Under all manner of constraints and inspiration in the early days of the hobby, TSR, Judges Guild, et. al. commonly made use of old prints and other artwork in their published material. The illustration of Odin pictured above closes out Dungeons & Dragons Supplement IV: Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes (1976).
As with much of the old art which appears in the hobby’s early pages, it is included without formal attribution. We are fortunate enough that the artist’s signature is just legible in the bottom left of the frame as J. Reich après Joh. Gehrts, that is “Jacques Reich after Johannes Gehrts.”
The printed engraving shown above is that of Johannes Gehrts’ 1883 original, used as the frontispiece of Felix Dahn’s Wahall (1888).
Jacques Reich, following the original composition, reworked Gehrts’ print as an illustration for Hélène Adeline Guerber’s Myths of Northern Lands (1895). It too is here used as a frontispiece, this time with the familiar centered caption reading “ODIN,” and in the bottom right corner, under the framing, “Frontispiece” between parentheses. This is the version which eventually worked its way onto the final page of Supplement IV.
Many of the encyclopedias, compendiums, and collections which inspired or provided reference material in the early days lack formal attribution of their sources as well. Little more than a decade after Guerber published Myths of Northern Lands, Sarah Bradish included Reich’s illustration in Old Norse Stories (1900) with a new caption reading “Odin on his Lofty Throne.”
Perhaps the temporal fame of the original artist was taken for granted; or perhaps the artist’s signature in the illustration was deemed sufficient for a curious reader.[vi] However, the names of artists, their other work, and the sources are often lost along the way. The title page illustration of Supplement IV, for example, is one such piece deserving a post of its own as we recover inspiration from the wellspring of art and literature.
[i] Huysmans, J.-K. Against the Grain. Trans. John Howard. New York: Lieber & Lewis, 1922.
[ii] Ward, James, and Robert Kuntz. Dungeons & Dragons Supplement IV: Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes. TSR Rules, 1976.
[iii] Dahn, Felix and Therese. Walhall: Germanische Götter-und Heldensagen für Alt und Jung am deutsche Herd erzählt. Kreuznach: R. Voigtländer, 1888.
[iv] Guerber, H.A. Myths of Northern Lands. New York: American Book Company, 1895.
[v] Bradish, Sarah Powers. Old Norse Stories. New York: American Book Company, 1900.
[vi] Note that Guerber’s Myths and Bradish’s Stories share the same publisher.
Appendix N Plus 