Page - 63 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 07/02

Unruly Images | 63www.jrfm.eu 2021, 7/2, 55–86 ing conception of world history and religions, locating historical agency ex- clusively in the west.17 Engravings, Photographs, and Engravings of Photographs According to the preface, the images published in the volume stem from a collection kept by the Calwer publishing house (an “Illustrationsschatz”). In fact, all the images had already been published, not only in periodicals pub- lished by the Calwer Verlag (the Calwer Missionsblatt) or the Basel Mission (the Evangelisches Missionsmagazin), but also in periodicals of British mis- sionary societies such as the Missionary Register (CMS), Church Missionary Gleaner (CMS), The Church Missionary Intelligencer (CMS), or The Missionary Magazine and Chronicle (LMS).18 Periodicals of these British societies had in- cluded images in the form of wood engravings from an early date, modelled on the American Tract Society, which was a pioneer in this domain.19 Other pictures had initially appeared in secular publications, such as the French journal Le Tour du Monde: Nouveau Journal des Voyages – a journal which published travelogues and reports of explorers – or in books by British schol- ars, such as James Fergusson’s History of Indian and Eastern Architecture (1868/1891).20 Tracing the origins of a specific image can be a tricky task even though many of them are signed by an engraver. In some rare cases, the artist’s name21 or the technology used is specified, but this information does not reveal much about the image’s own source, which might have been, for example, a sketch, drawing, painting, or photograph. 17 See further examples in the volume edited by Richards 1989, as well as the case of depictions of Africa in Swiss children’s literature in Purtschert 2012. 18 Chronologically, the first missionary periodical to include pictures was the Missionary Papers for the Use of the Weekly and Monthly Contributors to the Church Missionary Society (London, from 1816 on). The Calwer Verlag did not pursue missionary activities by itself but was closely associated with the Basel Mission; see Lahmann 1999, 10. 19 See Morgan 1999, 52, who emphasises the role of this medium in the context of American evangelical societies as examples of early mass-media communication: “Wood engravings conformed in medium and appearance to the format of the tract and its use: visual propaganda that was inexpensive, mass produced, and able to entice the eye with the tract and then its contents.” 20 Fergusson 1868/1891. 21 Signatures are often (but not always) followed by a Latin abbreviation, for example sc. for sculpsit or del. for delineavit, which indicate respectively the engraver and the author of the drawing on which the engraving is based. See Gascoigne 1986, 48a-b-c.