Ca faisait un moment que Delphine insistait pour que je lui trouve des exemples d’ombres chinoises pour amuser les petites. C’est maintenant chose faite grace au projet Gutenberg qui a publié Hand Shadows to Be Thrown upon the Wall de Henry Bursill, un livre de 1859 contenant des illustrations montrant comment faire certaines ombres chinoises.
Je me permet d’en recopier l’intégralité ici-même, puisque le livre en question est maintenant passé dans le domaine publique.
I need not explain how these Shadows were suggested, to any one who has seen
WILKIE’S picture, “The Rabbit on the Wall.” But by what pains they were invented
can never be revealed; for it is known to my tortured digits alone, and they,
luckily for me, are dumb. I calculate that I put my ten fingers through hundreds
of various exercises before my “Bird” took wing; my left little finger thrills
at the memory of “Grandpapa”; and my thumbs gave in no less than twenty times
before “Boy” was accomplished. Yet now how easy it is to make the “Duck”
to quack, the “Donkey” to bray, “Toby” to wag his tail, and the “Rabbit” to
munch his unsubstantial meal.
Of course the Shadows are not to be reproduced perfectly, on “one trial only”;
but I believe that in each case I have drawn the due position of the fingers with
such care, that the most difficult subject may be accomplished after a few minutes;
nor need ingenious youth or parental fondness confine their endeavours to the
sketches contained in this book. With a little ingenuity and some patience, new
shadows may be produced; and not unfrequently figures appear that one never dreamed
of attempting.
Other Books of Shadows have been published; but it will be seen at a glance that
mine bears affinity to none. Some of my sketches were made years ago, others when a
student at the Academy. Indeed, the Shadows have often been displayed on the walls
of my studio, much to the amusement of fellow-students, who would, I am sure, at
any time bear witness to their originality.
HENRY BURSILL
December, 1858.
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