Souvenir of the discovery of America

image of Columbus and his men
landing in America

LANDING OF COLUMBUS
OCT 12th 1492

Portrait of Columbus

with flags

COLUMBUS

image of his ship

THE
SANTA
MARIA

by Geoffrey Godden:
Godden does not list this silk, although he includes a picture of IMAGE B within the Stevens Presentation Volume (page 36 of his book).

Other comments:
Neither of these silks have the Stevens name on it.

Below are two smaller image versions of the main IMAGE B above. Both these smaller images are shown with the stiff backing paper to which they were originally attached. Both silk bookmarks themselves are identical, but the image to the left has the STEVENS name printed on the paper, whilst the one on the right has slightly different words, but no makers name.

From research conducted by past members of the Stevengraph Collectors Association, we believe that J.J. Mannion exhibited at the same Exposition as Stevens, and probably had a loom working too. It is however believed that Mannion's loom was actually using Stevens cards. Stiff backing papers with the words " SOUVENIR WOVEN AT THE . . ." were identified as having been made by Stevens. Those papers however with the words " SOUVENIR OF DISCOVERY . . ." were attributed to Mannion.

As can be seen, this research analysis applies to the two small images below. As however the actual silks are identical, it is not possible to say whether Stevens made the IMAGE B bookmark.

As an aside, also recorded on this site is a silk bookmark almost identical to IMAGE B. The only difference being that in the wording below the image of the men landing, " COLUMBUS " has the letter " L " missing in the alternative version (see sb 1849 on this site). It would seem that this alternative was perhaps an earlier version of the bookmark, and once the spelling error was discovered, it was re-issued as the more common version above.

Whilst IMAGE B is identified as of either Stevens', or his agent Mannion's, manufacture, the same cannot be said of IMAGE A. Whilst the design and wording are identical, the printing font used in the wording beneath the image of the men landing, and the layout of the words " THE SANTA MARIA " at the bottom of the bookmark are both different.

Does this mean that IMAGE A on the left is a variant produced by the same weaver? Or is it produced by a different weaver?