I’ve been on a mighty quest to locate a reliable portrait of once-popular author Catherine Crowe (1790-1872). It’s been so disappointing, however, that I’ve pretty much given up the struggle. Luckily, I’m not alone. There’s been a resurgence in scholarly interest in Crowe, and the findings of others is now my main source of information regarding such a portrait.
I recently heard from Emily Cline, a doctoral researcher at Queen’s University. She found the source of a caricature of Crowe. I had a digital copy of it, but it was trimmed in such as way that there was no clue of where it had been published. In other words, my copy did not look this this:
As Cline explained to me, this is found in “vol. 3 of the comic magazine The Man in the Moon, edited by Angus B. Reach and Albert Smith, which ran from Jan. 1847 to Jun. 1849.” On the one hand, it’s far from a flattering portrait. On the other, it’s pretty great, too.
A number of scholars have contacted me regarding this unusual endeavor, and I’m grateful to each of them.
— Tim
BROM BONES BOOKS 