Bernhardt Wall collection

Bernhardt Wall (1872-1956) was an American illustrator and lithographer and a renowned etcher of books. Wall was born in Buffalo, New York, to German parents who were recent immigrants to the United States. In the early 1890s, he moved to New York City, where he first worked as a commercial lithographer and photographer. In 1899, he married Texas artist Jennie Hunter and they started sharing their time between New York and Texas. After the turn of the 20th century, Wall became a successful postcard designer. At the same time, he took an interest in history and after 1913 turned to etching, producing his first fully etched book in 1920.

In the books he produced, every page, including the text, was made from an etched copper plate. He would also hand print every page, cut, sew, and bind the books himself. He never used a printing press. Wall’s work is unique because of the novelty of the fully etched book, and the time and effort it took to make every single one himself. In his own words, he had “the itch to etch”.

Wall is famous for his pictorial biographies of historical figures such as Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and Sam Houston. Wall meticulously depicted places these historical figures had visited or lived in, as well as the people they knew and their personal belongings. He relied on extensive research, and especially photographs, narratives and other documents, to draw as precise a rendering as possible. His etchings are so precise that they are valuable not only artistically, but also historically. His biggest achievement may have been "Following Abraham Lincoln", a 85 volume set, which Wall sent to subscribers in monthly installments between 1931 and 1942. Each volume contained five etchings related to a specific period or place in Lincoln’s life. Only a 100 copies of the set were produced due to the labor intensive nature of etching and hand-producing books.

During the Spanish-American War, Wall served in the 202nd New York Volunteer Infantry from July 1898 to April 1899. He would also serve in World War I. Later on, he became an active member of the United Spanish War Veterans and other veterans organizations. This explains his historical and artistic interest in topics related to these wars, including the sinking of the U.S.S. Maine in February 1898. Wall was able to sketch the wreck before it fully disappeared below the surface of the water in Cuba's Havana Harbor.

Wall's interest in Abraham Lincoln drew him closer to other Lincoln historians and collectors like William Springer, founder of the Abraham Lincoln Civil War Roundtable of Michigan and avid collector of Lincolniana, who sold his own collection to Oakland University in 1969. Springer owned several of Wall's works, including Following Abraham Lincoln, as well as other materials that were produced by Wall or belonged to him. In a 1952 letter to Springer, Wall refers to items he donated to Springer as his "Wall collection."

For more information: H.T. Cook, "A Dog Molded a Man's Career," The Dearborn Independent 26 no. 38 (July 10, 1926), p. 29.