Archiving often seems like panhandling for bookworms, but that didn’t stop University library archivist Marie Malchodi from striking gold the other day as she discovered a rare engraved print crafted by Paul Revere. Revere, a Revolutionary War hero and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poetical protagonist, is best known as a silversmith and message carrier, but also maintained a reputation as a skilled engraver, notably authoring the famous print of the Boston Massacre.
Only five copies of Malchodi’s recently discovered Revere prints exist today.
The print, a religious depiction of Jesus and John the Baptist together in the Jordan River was ironically found in a 19th-century physics book. When asked why she was looking through these specifics books, Malchodi told the Boston Globe there were “many signs that theses were somebody’s working books. That’s what slowed me down and made me really want to see them.”
The original owner of the book was Solomon Drowne, graduate of Brown University’s class of 1773. Drowne, a physician who participated in the Revolutionary War, is probably best known for being friends with more important members of the Continental Army including Revere and Marquis de Lafayette.
Image via: Boston Globe