Newly acquired antique prints and maps or items of particular interest
A rare and very important political campaign portrait of Lincoln issued by Currier & Ives. Beginning in the 1840s, Currier & Ives issued campaign portraits of political candidates. These prints would have been one of the main way that these candidates could get their images out to the general public and many of these would have been passed around and hung (usually just tacked to the wall) in homes and taverns around the country. So despite the important role they played in the country's history, few of these prints have survived to today. This is a print, showing a beardless Lincoln, from Lincoln's first campaign. Currier & Ives issued a small folio print and also this rarer medium folio image. 3,200
A. Ruger. "Portsmouth. Buckingham Co. New Hampshire. 1877." Madison: J.J. Stoner, 1891. 19 1/4 x 26 1/4. Lithograph by D. Bremner in Milwaukee, WI. Full margins, with a few slight stains. Otherwise, fine condition. Reps: 2265.
A fine example of the American bird's eye view of the nineteenth century. Beginning after the Civil War, the bird's eye view became one of the most popular of print genre. This was a period of significant urban growth throughout the country, and the civic pride which proliferated provided a fertile field for print publishers to market these visual vistas of American cities and towns. According to John Rep's seminal Views and Viewmakers of Urban America (Columbia, 1984), publishers sent their artists out into the field throughout all parts of the country to draw and market the views. The artist would walk the streets of the town or city, drawing all the buildings and encouraging the citizens to subscribe to the view that would be produced. Once the entire area was sketched and enough subscriptions obtained, the artist would use a standard projection to turn his street-level images into a bird's eye view of the town. Because these views were primarily sold to citizens of the place depicted, they had to be accurate and all buildings shown, lest an owner were to be insulted. Thus these views are not only highly decorative, but are also detailed and accurate pictures of each place shown, providing us with a wonderful documentation of nineteenth century urban America. $2,100
From 1834 to 1907 the firm of Currier and Ives provided for the American people a pictorial history of their country's growth from an agricultural society to an industrialized one. For nearly three quarters of a century the firm provided "Colored Engravings for the People" and in the process, because of the democratic philosophy of the business, became the visual raconteurs of nineteenth century America. Some of the finest artists of the day, Louis Maurer, Thomas Worth, Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait, Frances Flora Bond Palmer, George H. Durrie, Napoleon Sarony, Charles Parsons, and J. E. Butterworth were engaged by the firm to produce a variety of images. The prints were printed in black and white and then the finest colors were applied by hand. These prints, which were issued in small, medium and large folio size, were hung in homes, businesses and public venues all around the country and even overseas. One of the most popular subjects were sporting prints and the most renowned of the Currier & Ives sporting artists was A.F. Tait. Tait's hunting and fishing prints capture this popular nineteenth-century pastime like no other body of work. Tait was himself a sportsman (and he often included himself in his pictures), so the scenes, equipment, animals, and paraphernalia are all accurate and beautifully rendered. This set of four prints are classics of Tait's sporting prints.
A very large and finely detailed panoramic view of Boston. The Smith brothers, Francis, George W., David C., and Benjamin F., grew up in Maine working on their father's farm. By 1846, Francis and George became involved as agents and salesmen for Edwin Whitefield, who had recently started his series of American views. Shortly thereafter, Benjamin also joined Whitefield, possibly helping him with the drawing on some of his prints. In 1849 the Smiths established their own print publishing firm and proceeded to produce some of the most impressive American city views of the nineteenth century, including this lovely image of Boston. This print was drawn by J.W. Hill, with C. Mottram engraving it onto steel. It is interesting to note that though the Smith brothers' views were generally lithographs, this was done as an engraving, and was printed in London. The perspective is convincingly rendered and the detail is excellent. As John Reps says, "the Smith brothers' views achieved a standard that equaled or surpassed the best work of its kind." [Reps, Views and Viewmakers of Urban America p.207] $6,200
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