Welsh Journals

Joseph Mayer, and others to Robert Balmauno (London), W. Clements, Henry Howard (painter, 1769-1847 D.N.B., xxviii, 35), Benjamin Edward Spence (sculptor, 1822-66; D.N.B., liii, 334), Charles Roach Smith (antiquary, 1807-90 D.N.B., liii, 26), and Mrs. James Vose (Liverpool). Other autograph letters relating to the sculptor and his work are from J. B. Crouchley to Gibson and to Joseph Mayer, from John Gibson's brother Benjamin to J. B. Crouchley and Charles Roach Smith, from James Kendrick, A. Morelli, H. C. Pidgeon, Mrs. Robert Berthon Preston, E. S. Roscoe, William Roscoe, Mrs. M. Sandbach, and Benjamin E. Spence to Joseph Mayer, and from Joseph Bonomi (sculptor, 1796- 1878; D.N.B., v, 364) to Joseph Nollekens (sculptor, 1737-1823 D.N.B., xli, 97). The rest of these two volumes is taken up with press cuttings and articles in various art journals, etc., and include a draft of an appreciation of Gibson by A. Jamieson which later appeared in The Art Journal. The third Gibson manuscript in the National Library, N.L.W. MS. 6757,1 relates largely to his famous sculpture The Tinted Venus and consists of autograph letters, press cuttings, photographs, and other illustrations. The material appears to have been collected by Mrs. Robert Berthon Preston of Liverpool, to whom are addressed over thirty autograph letters from Gibson. Much of the other material in the volume relates to arrangements in connection with the showing of The Tinted Venus at the International Exhibition of 1862, held in London. The Tinted Venus a replica of the uncoloured statue he had previously designed for John Neeld, Gibson regarded as his finest achievement. In his biography he states :2 Thus it [the Tinted Venus '] became, I may say, the most carefully laboured work I ever executed, for I wrought the forms up to the highest standard of the ideal'. Gibson's letters to Mrs. Preston are mainly written from Rome and relate largely to The Tinted Venus Among them is the letter containing Gibson's transcript of the verses to his Venus written by the Rev. E.S. '3 [tutor to John William Spencer, 2nd earl Brownlow]. The other material in the volume includes autograph letters, mainly to Mrs. Preston, from Owen Jones (1809-74; D.N.B., xxx, 150), architect and designer, son of Owen Jones ('Owain Myvyr'), Benjamin E. Spence, and Lady Eastlake (1809-93 D.N.B. Suppl. II, 173), and relate to the International Exhibition of 1862. Miscellaneous papers in the volume also mainly relate to preliminary arrangements for the Exhibition and include an insurance policy covering the Venus during the period it was exhibited. It was insured for the sum of £ 1500. These three volumes contain much fresh material, and provide an invaluable contribution to any new study of John Gibson. MEGAN ELLIS. RUSH RHEES (1860-1939). The Librarian of the University of Rochester, New York, has presented the National Library of Wales with a copy of Rhees of Rochester, a biography by John Rothwell Slater, 1946, of Rush Rhees, president of that University from 1900 to 1935, and architect of its eminent position in modern American education. Rush Rhees was a great-grandson of Morgan John Rhys (1760-1 804). That the University of Rochester is proud of its association, through Rush Rhees, with that great Welshman is underlined by the publication, in the February 1947, issue of The University of Rochester Library Bulletin, of an article by Dr. Slater based on the letters of Morgan John Rhys as printed in our own Journal, Vol. II, pp. 1 31-41. The name Rush (actually Benjamin Rush) has become hereditary in the family descended from Morgan John Rhys, since he gave it to his second son in 1798. It was a tribute to an illustrious physician of Philadelphia and signer of the Declar- ation of Independence, Dr. Benjamin Rush, who helped Morgan John Rhys to found the Welsh colony around Ebensburg and the abortive town of Beulah, the land into which Ezeciel Hughes led his party from the Llan- brynmair district in 1795. The descent from Morgan John Rhys can be traced back to Wales in the person of Rush Rhees, Jr., younger son of Rush Rhees, who is lecturer in philosophy at the University College, Swansea. The names Morgan John passed out of this branch of the family with the death in 1941 of his elder brother, Dr. Morgan John Rhees. E. D. JONES. 1 See Handlist of Manuscripts in the National Library of Wales, Part X, p. 211; 2 See Lady Eastlake Life of John Gibson, R.A., p. 209. 3 Ibid., pp. 213-14.