Fortunately placed; Chicago designer of type faces and craftsman of the book arts: Robert Hunter Middleton had picked out Paul Standard's blocks.4 He was also, according to Deborah Benson, one of the first two people to set eyes on the collection when it arrived from England.
The marked up office set of Bewick’s Works is key in determining who bought what:
‘When you purchase Bewick’s woodblocks, we will retain your name and address in this connection; for it may be that your block will be requested (subject to your permission) to contribute a print for...a portfolio’.5
Unfortunately, not all buyers names are recorded alongside the appropriate print as intended; most of the others are simply marked as sold. Because of this, it’s not easy to determine exactly when Abramson began releasing individual blocks – many entries are also undated – nonetheless, March 1943 is recorded as a hectic month. On 10 March 1943 Ernst Detterer and a representative from The City Art Museum of St. Louis made selections. Six days later and St. Louis returned to the bookshop for more; all the while casual buyers drifted through Argus making their choices. The records tell us that Major Walker bought the block of a man walking. Ralph Wheelright is said to have chosen one of a wheelwright, while a Mr. Fletcher took home the tail-piece vignette of a fletcher.
Major Walkers block
Head of the Morrell Meat Packing Company of Chicago; T.Henry Foster selected a tail-piece block originally designed for the Fables of Aesop. The gory but appropriate: Butchers Coat of Arms.
