1377 - America - George Pax

America - George Pax Important clerical album from Buffalo, N.Y. (ca. 1865–early 1870s). Presumably compiled by the Catholic priest Georg Pax. Contains 40 mounted original photographs (36 albumen prints, 3 presumed ferrotypes/tintypes, mostly in carte-de-visite format, loosely mounted in gold-framed passe-partouts on the front and back of 20 white cardboard sheets. Contemporary black morocco leather binding with gold title “Album” on the spine, a metal clasp on the front edge, gold lace trim (dentelles) on the inside, and gold edging on all edges. Front cover with a finely painted, raised medallion: A half-length portrait of Pope Pius IX in tempera, framed in silver. 21.5 × 17 cm. (Minimal scuffing on the corners and edges.) This impressive album is divided into three thematic groups: 32 cityscapes of Buffalo featuring street scenes, landmark buildings, parks, and panoramic views of what was then New York’s second-largest city; five views of the city’s Catholic churches; and eight portraits of Catholic clergy, including four portraits of the album’s owner, Georg Pax, himself. Among the portraits of clergy are three particularly significant depictions of the American church hierarchy of that time. Among others, the album features John McCloskey (1810–1885), who in 1864 became the first American-born Archbishop of New York and held that office until his death in 1885. In 1875, he was elevated to the rank of cardinal by Pope Pius IX, becoming the first American cardinal. Also included is John Timon, the first bishop of the Diocese of Buffalo, established in 1847 by Pius IX who served in this office from 1847 until his death in 1867 and expanded the diocese from an initial 16 churches and 16 priests to nearly 200 churches and 110 priests. Also included is Stephen Vincent Ryan, the second Bishop of Buffalo, who succeeded Timon in 1868 and served until his death in 1896. The album originally bore Georg Pax’s printed “booklabel” on the front endpaper, as well as a pasted-in printed biographical sheet containing the following information: born in 1832 in the Lorraine village of Sarreinsming (France). Pax was ordained a priest in 1861 and appointed secretary to the Bishop of Buffalo in 1862—a circumstance that explains his close proximity to Bishop Timon and his successor Ryan and makes his privileged access to their portrait photographs plausible. The period during which the album was compiled (approximately 1865 through the early 1870s) aligns with the assumption that Pax created it prior to his 1873 trip to Rome, during which he was granted an audience with Pope Pius IX —an event that provides both biographical and iconographic motivation for the extraordinary decoration of the front cover with the painted portrait medallion of Pius IX. Loosely enclosed is a contemporary, double-sided, handwritten index (presumably also written by Pax) that describes and identifies the individual photographs—an extremely valuable accompanying item for provenance research and the precise identification of the images. In the 1860s and early 1870s, Buffalo developed into the second-largest city in New York State and was a major center of the Catholic immigrant community, primarily of Irish and German origin. The church buildings and cityscapes documented in the album date from a period of intense urban and ecclesiastical growth under Bishop Timon, who brought numerous religious orders—including Franciscans, Jesuits, Vincentians, and several congregations of nuns—to the diocese to establish parishes, schools, and seminaries. —A rare source on the Catholic Church in Buffalo. United States. — Important clerical album from Buffalo, N.Y. (c. 1865–early 1870s). Probably compiled by the Catholic priest Georg Pax. Contains 40 mounted original photographs (36 albumen prints, 3 probable ferrotypes/tintypes), predominantly in carte-de-visite format, loosely contained in gilt-ruled mounts on the front and back of 20 white cardboard leaves. Contemporary black morocco binding with a gilt title “Album” on the spine, one metal clasp at the fore-edge, gilt dentelles along the inner edges, and all edges gilt. Front cover features a finely painted, raised medallion: a half-length tempera portrait of Pope Pius IX, framed in silver. 21.5 × 17 cm. (Minor rubbing on the corners and edges.) This striking album is divided into three thematic groups: 32 views of Buffalo depicting street scenes, notable buildings, parks, and panoramic views of what was then the second-largest city in the state of New York; five views of the city’s Catholic churches; and eight portraits of Catholic clergy, including four photographs of the album’s owner, Georg Pax, himself. Among the portraits of clergy are three particularly significant depictions of the American ecclesiastical hierarchy of the period. The album includes, among others, a portrait of John McCloskey (1810–188