“THE IMPORTANCE OF TRUTH”: GEORGE WASHINGTON CHERRY TREE MYTH TEXTILE, LIKELY PRODUCED IN GERMANTOWN [PHILADELPHIA], BY THE GERMANTOWN PRINT WORKS, WITH VERSE FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1806 IN A BIOGRAPHY OF WASHINGTON (5TH EDITION) BY PARSON WEEMS 1759-1825); COPPER ENGRAVED ON COTTON, ONE OF THREE KNOWN EXAMPLES, THE ONLY ONE IN BLUE AND THE ONLY EXAMPLE IN PRIVATE HANDS

“THE IMPORTANCE OF TRUTH”: GEORGE WASHINGTON CHERRY TREE MYTH TEXTILE, LIKELY PRODUCED IN GERMANTOWN [PHILADELPHIA], BY THE GERMANTOWN PRINT WORKS, WITH VERSE FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1806 IN A BIOGRAPHY OF WASHINGTON (5TH EDITION) BY PARSON WEEMS 1759-1825); COPPER ENGRAVED ON COTTON, ONE OF THREE KNOWN EXAMPLES, THE ONLY ONE IN BLUE AND THE ONLY EXAMPLE IN PRIVATE HANDS
Web ID:	pat-808
Available:	In Stock
Frame Size (H x L):	Approx. 26" x 33"
Flag Size (H x L):	14.75" x 21.75"


Description:
Printed in blue pigment on coarse, plain weave cotton, this horizontal, rectangular, kerchief-like textile falls among the earliest of those known with an American political theme. The imagery features is an illustration of the mythicized story of George Washington and the cherry tree, in which the future general and first President of the United States appears with his father, as a child, before his boyhood home, axe in hand, on a landscape filled with flora and fauna. At the top is a header that reads: “The Importance of Truth,” followed by “Exemplified in the Life of the Celebrated Washington when a Youth; Afterwards President of the United States of America.” Along the lower register is a poem that first appeared in the 5th edition of a well-known biography, penned by pastor and bookseller, Parson Weems (1759-1825) in 1806. Because there is no surviving documentation of George’s relationship with his father, who passed in 1743, when he was just 11, Weems is suspected to have fabricated the tale to increase sales of the work, first published in 1800, on the heels of Washington’s death. Two smaller, copper plate-engraved, printed kerchiefs, very similar in both color and appearance, are believed to have been produced by Germantown Print Works in Germantown, Pennsylvania, part of Philadelphia, that became a mecca of textile production in the city.* Printed as companion pieces, adjacent to one-another, on the same bolt of cloth, one of these bore the title “The Effect of Principle, Behold the Man,” and the other, “The Love of Truth Mark the Boy.” The latter of these likewise highlights the cherry tree myth and includes the same Weems verse. Printed in at least 3 color variants, including what appears to be the identical blue, mulberry/red and sepia or black, the width of the fabric employed, likewise visually identical in weave and weight, as well as to the touch, is the same at approximately 20.5 – 23 inches.** Having had the rare privilege to hold the “Importance of Truth” example, together with multiple copies of the “Love of Truth / Effect of Principle” companion textiles, and to have viewed Winterthur’s uncut bolt, with 3 blue repeats thereof, I would hasten to suggest that these two, closely-related varieties, with the Weems verse and similar imagery, were either both produced by Germantown Print Works, circa 1806, in the wake of Washington’s death, with the same pigment, on the same cloth, or by competing firms with access to the same materials. While the Roman style font--extremely close in both style and scale--differs just slightly, (note for example, the straight versus curved tails of lowercase “y,” and different foot serifs on lowercase “p,”) a printer doing any amount of text would have likely possessed numerous alphabetic typesets. Just two other copies of the “Importance of Truth” textile are known, neither of which is blue; both of which are institutionalized. One, in mulberry/red, is among the holdings of Lewis Walpole Library at Yale University. Another, likely sepia or black, though perhaps a deep violet (difficult to ascertain), is presumably in the collection of Washington Old Hall, the ancestral home of the Washington family, in the town of Washington, in the UK. Though an image of the original appears not to have not yet been published, a reproduction appears to have been made available in the museum’s gift shop. Bound by machine along the upper and lower edges, text within the lower border reads: “Produced by Recollections After the Original in the Possession of the National Trust at Washington Old Hall.” If Washington Old Hall had been occupied by the Washington family throughout time, or if the textile was not so closely related to the signed, Germantown examples, I might seriously consider English manufacture as a possible origin. The Washington’s moved south in 1613, however, and the National Trust did not reacquire it as a historic site until the 20th century. I have owned at least one pair of sewer tile eagles that appear in many published images of Washington Old Hall, that I believe to be of mid-19th century, American origin. The same style is present in more than one location in Philadelphia, having stood there for many years, probably since the time of their manufacture. In other words, there is some reason to believe that American-made objects were at some point purposefully acquired for the structure, or else received by charitable donation and thus utilized. None of the three color variants of this “Importance of Truth” textile are recorded in “Threads of History, Americana Recorded on Cloth, 1775 - the Present,” by Herbert Ridgeway Collins (1979, Smithsonian Press)—the foremost reference that features textiles with American political themes—or in any other text, of which I am aware. All-in-all, an incredible, one-of-a-kind, early example, and a significant addition to any collection. * It is of interest to note that Collins, in his discussion of Germantown Printworks, states that it was operated by the Hewsons. John Hewson was an Englishman, who came to America and opened his printing business, on the advice of Benjamin Franklin. He was one of the first “calico printers,” and is the earliest of those documented to have advertised printed kerchiefs. Hewson’s ads for ‘bandanas’ appear as early as June 20th, 1774. He is suspected of having produced the very first American kerchief that pictured an American president, which is documented in Collins as item 1 on page 48. Collins sites the source of his attribution of Germantown Print Works ownership as having been recorded in one of Worthington Chauncey Ford's books on George Washington. When doing so, however, Collins fails to identify precisely which one contains such information—there are many—and no page numbers are given. In 2012, the late Linda Eaton, curator at Winterthur Museum & Gardens, was deeply engaged in research surrounding the three printers of fabrics operating in Germantown, in early America. In private correspondence with me, Linda relayed that she had discovered that the owner and/or operator of Germantown Print Works, while not currently known, was not John Hewson, and that this information had yet to be published. She also noted that Winterthur possessed examples of the two George Washington textiles, which I thereafter had the privilege to see in first person. Though a pair of the “Love of Truth / Effect of Principle” kerchiefs, in the collection of the museum at Ohio’s Western Reserve, in Cleveland, is recorded as having been signed “Germantown Print Works,” this is inaccurate, per private discussion between their chief curator and I, in 2026. They indeed posses an uncut pair, but there is no signature/maker’s mark. * The blue “Importance of Truth” textile that is the subject of this narrative is 21.75” in width; the mulberry red copy of “The Importance of Truth” at Yale is recorded at 20.5”; a surviving pair (Love of Truth/Effect of Principle) in private hands, in sepia, is recorded as being 22 1/8”; and a surviving sheet of with 3 repeats of the pair, at Winterthur, in blue, is recorded at 23”. Minor differences seen here are attributable to slight variation in the 220-year-old, water driven, loom-woven product, plus the propensity of cotton to shrink and expand with fluctuating heat and humidity.

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Earliest Date of Origin:	1806

Latest Date of Origin:	1806

State/Affiliation:	Pennsylvania

War Association:	1777-1860 Pre-Civil War

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