1933 · Washington DC
by Vail, Rev. Solomon N.
Washington DC: The Concord, 1933. Good. Together 2 vols. Ad 1 (8.5" x 5.25"): 266 pp. typed on rectos only. Numerous corrections in the text. Handmade binding of blue cloth, hand-painted (see below), striped cloth pastedowns edged with black ribbon, all edges gilt. Ad 2 (8.5" x 5.25"): 332, [8] pp. typed on both sides. Handmade binding of blue cloth, hand-painted (see below), polka-dot patterned cloth endpapers. ASTONISHING AMERICAN OUTSIDER ART IN THE FORM OF TWO HANDMADE BOOKS, BOUND AND ILLUMINATED BY AN UNKNOWN AUTHOR / ARTIST IN GOLD AND COLOR. BOTH VOLUMES CONTAIN UNPUBLISHED TYPESCRIPTS REMINISCENT OF THE RELIGIOSITY OF WILLIAM BLAKE AT HIS MOST FRENZIED STATE OF EXALTATION. OUR ARTIST, REV. SOLOMON VAIL, PRECEDED THE FIRST KNOWN PAINTING BY HOWARD FINSTER BY AT LEAST 46 YEARS.
The paintings, illuminations and texts contained within these two books are simultaneously naive, mystical, religious, eccentric, pseudo-scientific, anthropological, historical, highly complex, perhaps wise, perhaps unbalanced; in other words, characteristic of the best-known American outsider art. Altogether there are 15 full-page paintings, one nearly full-page painting, one half-page painting, plus 27 illuminated head- and tailpiece vignettes, all illustrating more than 600 typescript pages.
Rev. Solomon Nelson Vail has received exactly zero notice as an author / artist, save one: it is an entry in the "Minutes of the 79th Annual Session of the Synod of Baltimore" (1934) p. 50, in which his obituary appears. As stated: "He was the author of several unique books of a religious nature, which he also published, printing them in typewritten form, and binding them himself. THEY ARE WORKS OF ART" (emphasis ours). However, not a single book by Rev. Vail has been located in Worldcat or elsewhere, despite considerable efforts. On the title-page of "The Divine Temple on Mount Moriah" (1930), the titles of six of Vail's books are listed, none of which can be located and are presumably lost.
Vail was born in Bucyrus (Crawford County), Ohio in 1848, attended the McCormick Theological Seminary (class of 1877; ordained 1878), and for 28 years served as a Presbyterian minister in Iowa, Illinois, and Kentucky, until retiring to Washington, D.C. in 1905. He lived there for 29 years and died in 1934; he is buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery, Suitland, MD beside his wife Mary Alice Wilson Vail (1852-1938; they had no children). Vail's death is also recorded in a tiny obituary notice in The Indianapolis News (3 February 1934, p. 3), solely because "a number of his relatives live in this [i.e. Indianapolis] community" according to the obituary editor.
CONTENTS - DIVINE TEMPLE ON MOUNT MORIAH (1930). By the Author of "Ottar of Roses," "Limiting and Enlargin (sic) God," "The Route to Heaven," "A Journey Through History," Sermons in Washington City Presbytery," and "Sermons with Simple Illustrations." With 4 full-page paintings and 6 head- and tailpiece vignettes:
1. Title-page in gold and color framed by two "Celtic" side borders topped with candelabra, a headpiece featuring a pheasant and flowers, a title vignette of a possum on a branch, and tree at the bottom of the page.
2. Table of contents page with four different birds, gilt ruled borders.
3. Full-page painting of a strange perspective view of Solomon’s Temple (tissue guard torn).
4. Explanation page decorated with pillar side borders and two birds at the top (tissue guard torn).
5. (between pp. 38-39), full-page painting entitled Plan of the Temple In the Time of Christ. The left side shows the temple in the wooded garden in proximity to a monument and two smaller buildings. The slightly larger right painting shows the interior of the temple; borders painted light blue.
6. "Index of Temple Objects" decorated with copper borders and plants at each top corner.
7. (between pp. 94-95), full-page town view of Bethlehem, with orchards and fields along the bottom half; on the top are two shepherds with their flocks, travelers on a road, and town buildings.
8. Description of Bethlehem, with copper and silver side borders, at the top are two elaborate birds in trees.
9. (between pp. 185-186), full-page painting of the Palace of Hiram, King of Tyre: walled structure in gray (in contrast to the Temple) surrounded by woodlands, gardens and streams. Various animals inhabit the landscape, and travelers on camels pass by outside the palace walls.
10. Description of the Palace, the title painted in seven colors, headpiece portrait of Hiram and the golden dog in the garden, gilt side borders and birds at each lower corner.
Binding: blue cloth (rubbed), gold and white rules around sides, the front board depicts a woodland scene: oxen pull a felled tree on a wagon attended by a dog, above which appears a woman, a turkey and a cow. On the rare board a portrait of Solomon (?) standing (pigment heavily worn away. Three exotic trees decorate the spine.
CONTENTS - SERMONS OF S.N. VAIL. DEDICATED TO THE CAUSE OF THE REVEALED TRUTH (1933). With 11 full-page paintings, one nearly full-page painting, one half-page painting, plus 21 head- and tailpiece vignettes:
1. Illustrated title page with blue and gilt borders; two robed men bearing swords, one of whom is anointing (or baptizing?) the other.
2. Table of contents (2 pp.), the first with flowers and sun headpiece, the second The continued contents page features a 13 tiered candelabrum alight, a vase of flowers at the left, an open Bible enflamed at the right.
3. First page of text with headpiece showing a decorated altar with a glowing Bible, colorful trees are on each side of the altar, gilt borders.
4. (page 18) tailpiece vignette entitled "Thor, Eldest Son of Odin" (1.75" x 3.5"): two gnomes (?), apparently on skis, pull a sled, while Thor rides a goat (ordinarily there are two).
5. (page 19) headpiece of a sunrise in gold and white line.
6. (opposite page 26), full-page painting entitled "Origin of Man": Adam and Eve stand in a manicured lawn garden dressed in "modern" attire, with Adam in a suit with a top hat and cane, and Eve in a white wedding dress holding a bouquet.
7. (opposite page 47), full-page painting entitled "The Human Species": against a green and floral background are portraits labeled American, Arctic, Australian, Caucasian, Mongolian, African, and European. On p. 47 is a small vignette painting of a floral arrangement in a vase.
8. (opposite page 57), full-page painting entitled "The Fall of Man" with Adam and Eve in a manicured garden wearing the same attire; Eve reaches for the apple which dangles from a dazzling tree in the garden, Adam has a bewildered look on his face, and an owl sits high in the tree. No serpent is in sight.
9. (page 74), a tailpiece vignette depicting a vase of ferns.
10. (page 75), a headpiece vignette of a crucifix inside a wreath.
11. (opposite page 81), full-page painting entitled "Cain's Offering Rejected; Abel's Offering Accepted": the two brothers sit in a verdant landscape with a lamb and a cow in the background. Cain (covered with hair) ominously leans toward his brother who is sitting in front of his burning altar.
12. (page 94), small vignette painting (2.25" x 3.75") entitled "Scape-Goat. Leviticus. XVI. 10."
13. (page 95), small vignette painting (1.75" x 3.75") entitled "Prayer": a robed man stands at worship before a temple flanked by trees.
14. (page 122), half-page portrait entitled "John Calvin"; the balding reformer at a lecture places his left hand on the Bible, the whole surrounded by circular frame with floral decorations, at the bottom are trees, the tops of which emerge through the circle itself.
15. (opposite page 133), full-page painting entitled "Hades. Revelation. VI.8. Servant": within a foreboding grove, a dark-skinned Death rides a white horse, attended at left by Hades ("the world's oldest undertaker") with pick and shovel, at his right Death's servant holds the horse's reins.
16. (page 146), small vignette (2" x 4") painting of a cemetery surrounding a large tree.
17. (page 147), gold, gray and blue borders surround chapter title "Christ, A Divine Teacher."
18. (opposite page 161), full-page painting entitled "Officers. High Priest. Procurator. Pharisees": Pharisees discusses with soldiers, at upper left a bird sits in a tree.
19. (page 176.), a marvelous rectangular tailpiece vignette (2" x 3.75") painting of a person sitting in a circular field of yellow tulips flanked by fields of red tulips on the left and white flowers on the right.
20. (page. 177), headpiece vignette (1.5" x 3.75") painting of three stylized flowering plants against a purple background.
21. (opposite page 181), full-page painting, the rivers Gangitas and Strymon rivers divide the painting into two scenes, that on the left is entitled "Paul preaching in Macedonia, A.D. 52. at Philippi, and on the river bank," on the right "Lydia his first convert, the Mother of European Christianity."
22. (page 204), tailpiece vignette (4" x 2.5") painting of The Three Graces.
23. (page 205), headpiece vignette (3.75" x 1.75"), a floral painting with the caption Mark 11:14.
24. (page 229), headpiece vignette (1" x 4"), a floral painting with a lyre in the center.
25. (page 255), tailpiece vignette (1.75" x 4") painting entitled "Hades. Pale Horse. Death. Man."
26. (page 256), small floral headpiece vignette.
27. (page 282), large 3/4 page painting of the Jesus (his back turned away from the viewer) facing his 12 apostles, at Jesus' left side is Judas ("suicided") wearing black robes, in the foreground a field of stylized flowers.
28. (page 283), headpiece vignette (1.75" x 3.75") painting of six birds surrounding a harp with red heart-shaped leaves at each corner.
29. (opposite page 305), full-page painting entitled "John. X. 27 - 29": in a grove a shepherd walks with his flock and his dog, through a clearing appears a duck in a pond.
30. (page 312), detailed headpiece vignette (3.75" x 2.5") painting above the chapter entitled "The Careless Alarmed" in which a strange Ethiopian village is depicted.
31. (opposite page 313), full-page painting showing Ethiopians fleeing into the woods from the sailing ships sent by Providence to scare them from their "carelessness."
32. (opposite page 331), full-page painting entitled "Jacaranda, Africa": in a psychedelic setting a central tree is flanked by a lion, an ape and her baby, and a patchwork giraffe. Several colorful trees sit in the background and a city can be seen in the distance.
33. (page 332), small tailpiece lettered AMEN with five delicately rendered flowers on sides.
34. (opposite page 333), full-page painting entitled "Justitia Omnibus. Supreme Court"; a view of the neoclassical Federal building with greenery and flowers in the foreground. NB: this building was not completed until 1935, i.e. two years before the present volume was made.
Binding: Blue cloth elaborated hand-painted and covered with a clear (shellac?) coating; the painting on the front board entitled "Druids Worship the Mistletoe": a full moon shines above a grove, beneath a large tree a bearded Druid (?) in a decorated cape performs a ceremony attended by men, women and children, in the trees are numerous faces (spirits?), group of men, women, and children, at their feet a brown dog. The painting on the rear board is entitled "Pandora and the Jar of Epimetheus": surrounding a bearded Epimetheus (seated) are 13 women; in the center Pandora holds the golden jar; a crescent moon and seven stars shine above while and an owl perches in a tree. In the foreground squirm the released evils in the form of beasts labeled WINE, ENVY, DECEPTION, WAR, JEALOUSY, and RAT (plague?). Title and author's name ("Vail, S.N.") painted on spine (rubbed, plastic or shellac coating chipping).
SAMPLE TEXT (Sermons, pp. 129-131, discussing Vail's painting of Hades and Death on his horse):
"There is an aspect of the scene carried by the pale horse of very great moment, generally overlooked, even by those in accord with God's plan of managing the world, namely, Death is necessarily the condition of life. This law appears when we remember that, God maintains individual life, only by the production and the destruction of organic particles in the body, no portion of the human system is ever in a state of immobility, but each displays incessant change. Now, this recognized fact makes the whole scene of Death riding his pale horse, the necessary condition of your life, and mine. By this is not meant that it is determined by a blind necessity, but by the will or plan of an intelligent Being governing all his creatures and all their acts, within and without, according to their nature, and for purposes of wisdom and goodness, the events of history are like a river borne onward which cannot be controlled by man. [...] We are shut up to the fact that, here we are in the river of time, in America, and not in Africa. Man's body consists of lime, phosphorus, iron, carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, and many other elements not yet discovered and named. God made all of them out of nothing. [...] Now, the more energetic the function of any element of the body, the greater the waste and the more numerous the deaths of the interstitial constituents. Here then is death, and here is work for Hades the undertaker, who trails the pale horse and removes out of sight that which has served its day, and dies. Each particle or each person comes into existence, discharges an appropriate duty, and then passes away, thus making room for another particle or another person; and that is life and history combined. The production, continuance, and death of an element of the body answers to the production, continuance, and death of a person, and of a national type. Much is said in these days of national types, Anglo Saxon, German, French, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, and others. Each pursues its way through changes and developments answering to those of the individual, and being represented by Infancy, Childhood, Youth, Old Age, and then comes Death on his pale horse, and Hades with pick and shovel [...]
MUST BE SEEN TO BE FULLY APPRECIATED. (Inventory #: 4280)
The paintings, illuminations and texts contained within these two books are simultaneously naive, mystical, religious, eccentric, pseudo-scientific, anthropological, historical, highly complex, perhaps wise, perhaps unbalanced; in other words, characteristic of the best-known American outsider art. Altogether there are 15 full-page paintings, one nearly full-page painting, one half-page painting, plus 27 illuminated head- and tailpiece vignettes, all illustrating more than 600 typescript pages.
Rev. Solomon Nelson Vail has received exactly zero notice as an author / artist, save one: it is an entry in the "Minutes of the 79th Annual Session of the Synod of Baltimore" (1934) p. 50, in which his obituary appears. As stated: "He was the author of several unique books of a religious nature, which he also published, printing them in typewritten form, and binding them himself. THEY ARE WORKS OF ART" (emphasis ours). However, not a single book by Rev. Vail has been located in Worldcat or elsewhere, despite considerable efforts. On the title-page of "The Divine Temple on Mount Moriah" (1930), the titles of six of Vail's books are listed, none of which can be located and are presumably lost.
Vail was born in Bucyrus (Crawford County), Ohio in 1848, attended the McCormick Theological Seminary (class of 1877; ordained 1878), and for 28 years served as a Presbyterian minister in Iowa, Illinois, and Kentucky, until retiring to Washington, D.C. in 1905. He lived there for 29 years and died in 1934; he is buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery, Suitland, MD beside his wife Mary Alice Wilson Vail (1852-1938; they had no children). Vail's death is also recorded in a tiny obituary notice in The Indianapolis News (3 February 1934, p. 3), solely because "a number of his relatives live in this [i.e. Indianapolis] community" according to the obituary editor.
CONTENTS - DIVINE TEMPLE ON MOUNT MORIAH (1930). By the Author of "Ottar of Roses," "Limiting and Enlargin (sic) God," "The Route to Heaven," "A Journey Through History," Sermons in Washington City Presbytery," and "Sermons with Simple Illustrations." With 4 full-page paintings and 6 head- and tailpiece vignettes:
1. Title-page in gold and color framed by two "Celtic" side borders topped with candelabra, a headpiece featuring a pheasant and flowers, a title vignette of a possum on a branch, and tree at the bottom of the page.
2. Table of contents page with four different birds, gilt ruled borders.
3. Full-page painting of a strange perspective view of Solomon’s Temple (tissue guard torn).
4. Explanation page decorated with pillar side borders and two birds at the top (tissue guard torn).
5. (between pp. 38-39), full-page painting entitled Plan of the Temple In the Time of Christ. The left side shows the temple in the wooded garden in proximity to a monument and two smaller buildings. The slightly larger right painting shows the interior of the temple; borders painted light blue.
6. "Index of Temple Objects" decorated with copper borders and plants at each top corner.
7. (between pp. 94-95), full-page town view of Bethlehem, with orchards and fields along the bottom half; on the top are two shepherds with their flocks, travelers on a road, and town buildings.
8. Description of Bethlehem, with copper and silver side borders, at the top are two elaborate birds in trees.
9. (between pp. 185-186), full-page painting of the Palace of Hiram, King of Tyre: walled structure in gray (in contrast to the Temple) surrounded by woodlands, gardens and streams. Various animals inhabit the landscape, and travelers on camels pass by outside the palace walls.
10. Description of the Palace, the title painted in seven colors, headpiece portrait of Hiram and the golden dog in the garden, gilt side borders and birds at each lower corner.
Binding: blue cloth (rubbed), gold and white rules around sides, the front board depicts a woodland scene: oxen pull a felled tree on a wagon attended by a dog, above which appears a woman, a turkey and a cow. On the rare board a portrait of Solomon (?) standing (pigment heavily worn away. Three exotic trees decorate the spine.
CONTENTS - SERMONS OF S.N. VAIL. DEDICATED TO THE CAUSE OF THE REVEALED TRUTH (1933). With 11 full-page paintings, one nearly full-page painting, one half-page painting, plus 21 head- and tailpiece vignettes:
1. Illustrated title page with blue and gilt borders; two robed men bearing swords, one of whom is anointing (or baptizing?) the other.
2. Table of contents (2 pp.), the first with flowers and sun headpiece, the second The continued contents page features a 13 tiered candelabrum alight, a vase of flowers at the left, an open Bible enflamed at the right.
3. First page of text with headpiece showing a decorated altar with a glowing Bible, colorful trees are on each side of the altar, gilt borders.
4. (page 18) tailpiece vignette entitled "Thor, Eldest Son of Odin" (1.75" x 3.5"): two gnomes (?), apparently on skis, pull a sled, while Thor rides a goat (ordinarily there are two).
5. (page 19) headpiece of a sunrise in gold and white line.
6. (opposite page 26), full-page painting entitled "Origin of Man": Adam and Eve stand in a manicured lawn garden dressed in "modern" attire, with Adam in a suit with a top hat and cane, and Eve in a white wedding dress holding a bouquet.
7. (opposite page 47), full-page painting entitled "The Human Species": against a green and floral background are portraits labeled American, Arctic, Australian, Caucasian, Mongolian, African, and European. On p. 47 is a small vignette painting of a floral arrangement in a vase.
8. (opposite page 57), full-page painting entitled "The Fall of Man" with Adam and Eve in a manicured garden wearing the same attire; Eve reaches for the apple which dangles from a dazzling tree in the garden, Adam has a bewildered look on his face, and an owl sits high in the tree. No serpent is in sight.
9. (page 74), a tailpiece vignette depicting a vase of ferns.
10. (page 75), a headpiece vignette of a crucifix inside a wreath.
11. (opposite page 81), full-page painting entitled "Cain's Offering Rejected; Abel's Offering Accepted": the two brothers sit in a verdant landscape with a lamb and a cow in the background. Cain (covered with hair) ominously leans toward his brother who is sitting in front of his burning altar.
12. (page 94), small vignette painting (2.25" x 3.75") entitled "Scape-Goat. Leviticus. XVI. 10."
13. (page 95), small vignette painting (1.75" x 3.75") entitled "Prayer": a robed man stands at worship before a temple flanked by trees.
14. (page 122), half-page portrait entitled "John Calvin"; the balding reformer at a lecture places his left hand on the Bible, the whole surrounded by circular frame with floral decorations, at the bottom are trees, the tops of which emerge through the circle itself.
15. (opposite page 133), full-page painting entitled "Hades. Revelation. VI.8. Servant": within a foreboding grove, a dark-skinned Death rides a white horse, attended at left by Hades ("the world's oldest undertaker") with pick and shovel, at his right Death's servant holds the horse's reins.
16. (page 146), small vignette (2" x 4") painting of a cemetery surrounding a large tree.
17. (page 147), gold, gray and blue borders surround chapter title "Christ, A Divine Teacher."
18. (opposite page 161), full-page painting entitled "Officers. High Priest. Procurator. Pharisees": Pharisees discusses with soldiers, at upper left a bird sits in a tree.
19. (page 176.), a marvelous rectangular tailpiece vignette (2" x 3.75") painting of a person sitting in a circular field of yellow tulips flanked by fields of red tulips on the left and white flowers on the right.
20. (page. 177), headpiece vignette (1.5" x 3.75") painting of three stylized flowering plants against a purple background.
21. (opposite page 181), full-page painting, the rivers Gangitas and Strymon rivers divide the painting into two scenes, that on the left is entitled "Paul preaching in Macedonia, A.D. 52. at Philippi, and on the river bank," on the right "Lydia his first convert, the Mother of European Christianity."
22. (page 204), tailpiece vignette (4" x 2.5") painting of The Three Graces.
23. (page 205), headpiece vignette (3.75" x 1.75"), a floral painting with the caption Mark 11:14.
24. (page 229), headpiece vignette (1" x 4"), a floral painting with a lyre in the center.
25. (page 255), tailpiece vignette (1.75" x 4") painting entitled "Hades. Pale Horse. Death. Man."
26. (page 256), small floral headpiece vignette.
27. (page 282), large 3/4 page painting of the Jesus (his back turned away from the viewer) facing his 12 apostles, at Jesus' left side is Judas ("suicided") wearing black robes, in the foreground a field of stylized flowers.
28. (page 283), headpiece vignette (1.75" x 3.75") painting of six birds surrounding a harp with red heart-shaped leaves at each corner.
29. (opposite page 305), full-page painting entitled "John. X. 27 - 29": in a grove a shepherd walks with his flock and his dog, through a clearing appears a duck in a pond.
30. (page 312), detailed headpiece vignette (3.75" x 2.5") painting above the chapter entitled "The Careless Alarmed" in which a strange Ethiopian village is depicted.
31. (opposite page 313), full-page painting showing Ethiopians fleeing into the woods from the sailing ships sent by Providence to scare them from their "carelessness."
32. (opposite page 331), full-page painting entitled "Jacaranda, Africa": in a psychedelic setting a central tree is flanked by a lion, an ape and her baby, and a patchwork giraffe. Several colorful trees sit in the background and a city can be seen in the distance.
33. (page 332), small tailpiece lettered AMEN with five delicately rendered flowers on sides.
34. (opposite page 333), full-page painting entitled "Justitia Omnibus. Supreme Court"; a view of the neoclassical Federal building with greenery and flowers in the foreground. NB: this building was not completed until 1935, i.e. two years before the present volume was made.
Binding: Blue cloth elaborated hand-painted and covered with a clear (shellac?) coating; the painting on the front board entitled "Druids Worship the Mistletoe": a full moon shines above a grove, beneath a large tree a bearded Druid (?) in a decorated cape performs a ceremony attended by men, women and children, in the trees are numerous faces (spirits?), group of men, women, and children, at their feet a brown dog. The painting on the rear board is entitled "Pandora and the Jar of Epimetheus": surrounding a bearded Epimetheus (seated) are 13 women; in the center Pandora holds the golden jar; a crescent moon and seven stars shine above while and an owl perches in a tree. In the foreground squirm the released evils in the form of beasts labeled WINE, ENVY, DECEPTION, WAR, JEALOUSY, and RAT (plague?). Title and author's name ("Vail, S.N.") painted on spine (rubbed, plastic or shellac coating chipping).
SAMPLE TEXT (Sermons, pp. 129-131, discussing Vail's painting of Hades and Death on his horse):
"There is an aspect of the scene carried by the pale horse of very great moment, generally overlooked, even by those in accord with God's plan of managing the world, namely, Death is necessarily the condition of life. This law appears when we remember that, God maintains individual life, only by the production and the destruction of organic particles in the body, no portion of the human system is ever in a state of immobility, but each displays incessant change. Now, this recognized fact makes the whole scene of Death riding his pale horse, the necessary condition of your life, and mine. By this is not meant that it is determined by a blind necessity, but by the will or plan of an intelligent Being governing all his creatures and all their acts, within and without, according to their nature, and for purposes of wisdom and goodness, the events of history are like a river borne onward which cannot be controlled by man. [...] We are shut up to the fact that, here we are in the river of time, in America, and not in Africa. Man's body consists of lime, phosphorus, iron, carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, and many other elements not yet discovered and named. God made all of them out of nothing. [...] Now, the more energetic the function of any element of the body, the greater the waste and the more numerous the deaths of the interstitial constituents. Here then is death, and here is work for Hades the undertaker, who trails the pale horse and removes out of sight that which has served its day, and dies. Each particle or each person comes into existence, discharges an appropriate duty, and then passes away, thus making room for another particle or another person; and that is life and history combined. The production, continuance, and death of an element of the body answers to the production, continuance, and death of a person, and of a national type. Much is said in these days of national types, Anglo Saxon, German, French, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, and others. Each pursues its way through changes and developments answering to those of the individual, and being represented by Infancy, Childhood, Youth, Old Age, and then comes Death on his pale horse, and Hades with pick and shovel [...]
MUST BE SEEN TO BE FULLY APPRECIATED. (Inventory #: 4280)
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