Revealing the Obscure Publishing Origin of an Early Engraving of Emperor Norton

A 9-Year-Old Mystery Is Unlocked Courtesy of a Serendipitous Clue

IN SUMMER 2016, The Emperor Norton Trust launched its digital ARchive of Emperor Norton in the Arts (ARENA) with 40-some images that included the following:

Illustration included in book The Forgotten Characters of San Francisco (The Ward Ritchie Press, 1964), p. 17. Titled in the book as “The Promenade” and credited “Courtesy: Robert G. Cowan.”

The illustration appears, at very small — maybe ⅛ of a page — scale, in the 1964 book The Forgotten Characters of San Francisco, where it is titled “The Promenade” and credited “Courtesy: Robert G. Cowan.”

Robert Grannis Cowan (1895–1993) was the son of Robert Ernest Cowan (1862–1942). It is the elder Cowan’s title essay — adapted from a talk he gave in 1938 — that anchors the book.

The courtesy credit suggests that the illustration was in the personal collection of the younger Cowan and that it was he who gave permission for the illustration to be reproduced in the book.

The book provides no details about the artist, the original source, or the provenance of the work.

But, certain things about the illustration itself beg to be noticed.

For starters, this appears to be an engraving. From this and a few other historical observations…

• The pre-beaver-hatted depiction of Emperor Norton, on the right

• The appearance, on the left, of Freddie Coombs as George Washington II — a role Coombs played in San Francisco from March 1861 to December 1864, but apparently not more than a few months after that

…we’ve made the educated guess that the illustration probably is from the early to mid 1860s.

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FOR THE LAST NINE YEARS, this has been the extent of the Trust’s knowledge about this work.

One thing that always has intrigued us has been what appears to be an insignia of some kind on Washington II’s right lapel. As we’re about to see, this would prove significant.

A few weeks ago, seeking intelligence about an elusive cabinet card of Emperor Norton, I requested from the Society of California Pioneers some catalog information about the Emperor-related items in the organization’s collection.

Included in the information the Society sent to me was a thumbnail of the following — which rang a very large bell:

Cover of Puck (San Francisco) magazine, vol. 1, no. 7, May 1865, with wood-engraved illustration featuring Emperor Norton. Courtesy of The Society of California Pioneers (Object ID C024940).

Apparently, this Puck magazine is unrelated to the more famous Puck founded a decade later in New York, in 1876. The latter was similar to the San Francisco Wasp, established the same year.

The San Francisco Puck launched in January 1865 and ran until sometime in 1866. It was founded and published by Pascal Loomis (1826–1878) and James F. Swift.

In his History of American Magazines (1938), Frank Mott notes:

Out in San Francisco, Puck: The Pacific Pictorial (1865–66) was produced by Loomis and Swift. It began as a four-page weekly quarto, but after three weeks it became a monthly. Pascal Loomis, one of the proprietors, did many of the pictures; but Charles Nahl was perhaps the leading artist for this paper. There were fine lithographed cartoons, many of them local satires.

Born in Hartford, Conn., in 1826, Pascal Loomis was a wood engraver who got his professional start as a named partner in a series of firms in New York City over the course of a decade or so beginning in the late 1840s. He may have first come to the attention of California residents through his illustrations that appeared in Hutching’s California Magazine, published in San Francisco between 1856 and 1861.

In any case, Loomis had established his reputation as an engraver by the time he arrived in San Francisco around 1860.

In San Francisco, Loomis initially was in partnership with Harrison Eastman (1822–c.1886–91) in Eastman & Loomis. The following ad shows that Loomis was on his own by sometime in 1861:

Ad for Pascal Loomis, “Artist and Engraver on Wood,” Hand-Book Almanac for the Pacific States, 1862, p. 190. Collection of the California State Library. Source: Internet Archive

It’s worth noting Loomis’s business address: 617 Clay Street.

Loomis still was at this address in 1865, when he and James Swift became business partners and established Puck magazine — and, although the 1866 San Francisco directory is lost, it stands to reason that Loomis & Swift remained at this address while they continued to publish Puck that year.

Listing for Loomis & Swift, Langley’s San Francisco Directory, 1865, p. 281. Collection of the San Francisco Public Library. Source: Internet Archive

Between Montgomery and Kearny Streets, the 600 block of Clay was — and remains — the next block to the north from the 600 block of Commercial Street, where Emperor Norton is documented to have taken up residence at the Eureka Lodgings sometime between the summers of 1864 and 1865.

Given the close proximity of Pascal Loomis’s office and Emperor Norton’s residence, Loomis would have had ample opportunity to see, and perhaps speak to, the Emperor during this period.

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ALMOST CERTAINLY, it was Pascal Loomis who engraved the illustration featuring Emperor Norton that appeared on the cover of Puck magazine in May 1865.

The tell is the emblem that appears to be on George Washington II’s lapel.

Here’s one of Loomis’s pencil drawings dated c.1862–74. Note the handwritten “PL” monogram at bottom left:

“The Owl,” c.1862–74, by Pascal Loomis (1826–1878). Drawing on paper, pencil, 14.2 x 22.9 cm; on mount 18.6 x 23.7 cm. Collection of the Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley. Source: Calisphere

Here’s another of his drawings from the same period that features a slightly different “PL” monogram:

“Napa Creek, 1868; A sketch from nature,” 1868, by Pascal Loomis (1826–1878). Drawing on paper, pencil, 22.2 × 14.3 cm; on mount 24.3 × 18.7 cm. Collection of the Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley. Source: Calisphere

Clearly, a stylized “PL” was a signature that Pascal Loomis attached to some of his works. And, while the “PL” at the bottom left of the Puck cover illustration is more ornate, the most obvious conclusion — especially given that Puck was Loomis’s magazine — is that the engraving is the work of Loomis.

Detail of wood-engraved illustration on the cover of Puck (San Francisco) magazine, vol. 1, no. 7, May 1865 showing monogram of Pascal Loomis. Original image courtesy of The Society of California Pioneers (Object ID C024940).

The 1865 date of this engraving marks it as including one of the earliest artistic renderings of the Emperor.

Eagle-eyed observers will note that the printing of the engraving with which I open this article is “in isolation” from additional artwork that intersects with the engraving on the Puck magazine cover.

Among the services that the firm of Loomis & Swift offered was lithography. So, it’s possible that the firm produced Loomis’s “promenade” engraving as a standalone print and either sold it commercially or used it promotionally — or both — after the engraving was published in Puck.

On at least one occasion, Puck published a lithograph of a cartoon by Edward Jump. Immediately below the cartoon, in the following example from 1865…

“The Political P.R. (Long Hair and Short Hair),” 1865. By Edward Jump (1832‒1883). Lithograph, 18.1 x 25.8 cm, on 22.6 x 30.1 cm sheet. “Published With ‘Puck the Pacific Pictorial.” Collection of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Source: FAMSF

…is printed “Published With ‘Puck the Pacific Pictorial.’” This suggests that the lithograph was included as a loose-leaf insert with an issue of the magazine.

Perhaps it is such a lithograph that was reproduced in Forgotten Characters from the collection of Robert Grannis Cowan.

Was Cowan or, for that matter, Ward Ritchie, the publisher of Forgotten Characters, aware that the engraving probably is by Pascal Loomis — and that, most likely, the engraving debuted on the cover of Loomis’s Puck magazine in May 1865?

The absence of information about the engraving in Forgotten Characters invites one to conclude: Possibly not.

But, whatever Cowan and Ritchie knew about the engraving in 1964, you now — dear reader — probably know more about it than anyone has for at least 60 years or more.

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