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When imagined outside the reality of print consumers' largely urban surroundings, fires could become exotic fuel for imagination. On the prairie, for example, wild fires that licked through grasses fed popular ideas of the west as a place of great danger and drama. Famous fires of history, like the one from which John Wesley was rescued as a child, added to the mystique of well-known people and places and offered an alternative to more staid portraits and landscapes.
Francois Xavier Habermann. "Representation Du Feu Terrible A Nouvelle Yorck." [The terrible fire in New York.] Title printed in reverse at top. Augsburg, ca. 1776. 9 1/2 x 15 1/2. Etching. Original hand color. Narrow margins. Old creases down center. Overall, very good condition. Cresswell: 268.
This print is a perspective view, or "vue d'optique," a special type of popular print published in Europe during the eighteenth century. These prints were a form of entertainment meant to be viewed through a device called an "optical machine" or an "optique." When displayed in the optique, the prints were able to transport the viewer into a far away place---an unknown city, or perhaps into the midst of a dramatic bit of contemporary history. A number of prints in this fashion depicted the American Revolution for a European audience hungry for news of the strange events in the British colonies. This print allegedly shows the burning of New York as the British moved in behind the retreating Americans on September 19, 1776. A delightful aspect of the perspective views is their often imaginary settings, and this print is a good example of this. The description mentions specific buildings such as King's College (later Columbia University), the Bourse (exchange), the Lutheran Chapel, the poor house, and 1600 other houses, but the buildings depicted are imaginary. Slaves in loin cloths and baroque buildings are also imaginary, but the dramatic fire and torture by soldiers of civilians is certainly part of a long tradition of showing the horrors of war in European prints. The print takes no sides in the controversy about whether the invading army maliciously burned the city or if the Americans conducted a scorched earth policy, rather, it treats the event as it would any natural disaster. $1,200
S. Jones & J. L. Krimmel. "The Conflagration of the Masonic Hall Chestnut Street Philadelphia. Which Occurred on the Night of the 9th of March, 1819". Philadelphia: S. Kennedy & S.S. West, 1819. First state; on paper watermarked 1817. 24 x 19 1/2. Aquatint by J. Hill. With two small filled holes and repaired tears, including one ca. 6" into image. Old stain at bottom, just into plate mark, but away from image. Impressions very good. Expertly conserved and appearance very good. Naeve, John Lewis Krimmel: 96; Fowble, Two Centuries of Prints In America: 317; Stauffer: 1345.
The dramatic event depicted is the burning of the Masonic Hall, a gothic brick and marble structure designed by William Strickland and built to much acclaim in 1809-10. This striking edifice, located on Chestnut Street above Seventh, burned in spectacular fashion in 1819, watched by a large crowd of spectators. The print was issued by Kennedy & West just a few months after the conflagration, a very short time to bring out a print of such an event. This rousing print well captures the drama of the scene, conveying the excitement of this Philadelphia disaster from over a century and a half ago, and testifying to the ability of the artists and engraver.
The view was a collaboration of two artists, John L. Krimmel and Samuel Jones. Little information is available on the life and works of Jones. He seems to have been commissioned by the original publishers to paint the background for the scene. For the figures in the foreground, John L. Krimmel was hired. Krimmel was a native of Germany, who came to the United States in 1810, settling in Philadelphia, where he painted portraits, miniatures, and good-natured street scenes. Krimmel is particularly known for his delightful treatment of the latter, and this print is a fine example of his style. Krimmel was able to graphically capture the frenzy of activity at the scene, the details and furor of the fire illustrated with great intricacy and emotion. The print was aquatinted by John Hill, the most skilled etcher in the United States. Hill (1770-1850) was an Englishman who had just settled in Philadelphia, and he was soon to go on to other projects which would bring him great fame. $2,400
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"Awful Conflagration of the Steam Boat Lexington in Long Island Sound." 1840. Lithograph. 6 1/2 x 11 1/2. Close margins, but complete. Very good condition.
The "Awful Conflagration" of the Lexington in Long Island Sound on January 13th, 1840, with its large loss of life, was an event that attracted much attention in New York City and area. This spurred the production of broadsides and lithographed images of the disaster, most famously one by Nathaniel Currier that is supposed to have been one of the foundations of his successful career [click here to see the Currier print]. This was not the only "rush print" made of the burning of the Lexington and here is an unusual and unattributed lithograph of the same scene. The title is similar to the Currier print, but the image is quite different. It was undoubtedly issued within a short time of the event and was aimed at the market created by the public fascination with this famous disaster. $575
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Ferogio. "Fire in the Country." Engraved by F. E. Jones. Cincinnati: F. C. Middleton for The Ladies' Repository, 1854. Mezzotint with line engraving. 4 7/8 x 7 3/4.
In the urgen flight of the farm family, the artist conveys the great danger posed by a fire in the open prairie. For many of the rural Midwestern subscribers to The Ladies' Repository, such a fire was never far from everyday thoughts and concerns. $45
"Terrible Conflagration and Destruction of the Steam-Boat 'New-Jersey,' on the River Delaware, opposite Philadelphia, on the Night of Saturday, March 15th, 1856, between 8 and 9 o'clock, by which Dreadful Calamity Sixty-One lives were lost." Philadelphia: A. Pharazin, 1856. 7 5/8 x 12 3/4. Lithograph. Original hand color. Very good condition.
In the nineteenth century, "rush" lithographs were one of the few ways that the general public had access to visual information of events which interested them such as elections, battles and disasters. These prints were rushed out shortly after the events by publishers hoping to sell them as sensational broadsides. The images were often drawn after "on the spot" sketches, though sometimes they were made up out of whole cloth. The year 1856 was a bad one for disasters around Philadelphia, including a spectacular fire on the ferry between Philadelphia and Camden. On March 15, 1856, the ferry caught fire, and because of the ice in the river and a loss of steering, the ferry was never able to reach the shore. Sixty one lost their lives; the names of the "dead," "missing," and "saved" are listed below the image. $650
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News images of the Chicago Fire. The Illustrated London News: October-November 1871. Wood engravings. ca. 13 1/2 x 8 3/4. Hand color. Very good condition.
Probably the most famous blaze in American history, the Chicago fire made news around the world. Here, The Illustrated London News brings to its readers images of the fire's aftermath. Ruined buildings and displaced Chicagoans illustrate the widespread destruction that covered four square miles by the end of the two-day fire.
Click here for page with views of pre-fire Chicago.
"The Burning of Chicago." New York: Currier & Ives: 1871. Small folio. 8 1/8 x 12 5/8. Lithograph. Original hand color. Small chips in bottom margin. C:738.
A powerful image from Currier & Ives, typical of one of their most popular types of prints. $850
"Willard's Hotel, Washington, Saved By The New York Fire Zouaves." Harper's Weekly: New York, May 25, 1861. Wood engraving. 14 x 9. Very good condition.
A dynamic image of the fire and rescue efforts in a landmark Washington, D.C. hotel. $60
"A Forest Fire in America." London: The Illustrated London News, 28 November 1871. Wood engraving. 19 1/4 x 12 1/4.
In addition to covering the Chicago fire, The Illustrated London News noted that fire had been wreaking havoc in other parts of the United States, as well. Here, the paper illustrates one of the many forest fires that had been raging in Michigan's lumber regions, where logyards and saw-mills became tinderboxes for destructive blazes. $95
J. J. Harley. "The Boston Fire -- Washington Street, Looking South, With Ruins of the Chickering Building and Globe Theatre on the Left." New York: Harper's Weekly, June 14, 1873. Wood engraving. 14 x 9. $110
W.G. Armor. "Burning of Union Depot During the Railroad Riot July 21st and 22nd 1877. Pittsburgh, PA." Pittsburgh, ca. 1881. Chromolithograph by Otto Krebs. Engraved on stone by William G. Armor. 14 1/2 x 20 1/2. Repaired tear just into image at left and light waterstain in lower left corner. Overall, very good condition.
One of the most traumatic events in Pittsburgh's history was the great railroad strike of 1877. This was the first widespread labor uprising in the United States and a pivotal event in American labor history. The strike began in West Virginia and soon spread throughout the country, increasing in violence until the Federal government intervened and the strike was brought to an end after a month and a half. Pittsburgh was the site of some of the worst violence of the strike. On July 21st, Pennsylvania militia troops were brought in to try to control the situation but things got out of hand. A large mob gathered at the railroad yards-made up of at least as many present only to cause trouble as were actual strikers-and soon there was fighting and an exchange of gun fire between the strikers and militia. By morning the troops were put to flight and the rioters turned to burning and looting.
A local printmaker, Otto Krebs, produced this dramatic print showing the "Burning of the Union Depot During the Railroad Riot July 21st and 22nd 1877. Pittsburgh, PA." This colorful chromolithograph depicts the depot being consumed by flames, with a large, angry mob surrounding it and looking for more trouble. Demand for such a print would have been created both by those who were interested in a memorial of this significant local event and by those who had not been present and were interested to see an image of what transpired. It is likely Krebs would have found a ready market for his print among local citizens, with some copies undoubtedly making it to other parts of the country as well. An interesting note about this print is that the scene was copied, without attribution, from a wood engraving which appeared in Harper's Weekly on August 11, 1877. A list of those killed in the riot is included below the title. $1,800
Julian Rix. "A Forest Fire." New York: Harper's Weekly, August 21, 1886. 13 3/8 x 9. Wood engraving. Very good condition. $45
Go to page with other drawings by Vernon Howe Bailey.
As an integral (necessary) part of a town of any scale, they also became fodder for satire. Visual satirists, who used permutations of recognizable types to lampoon their subjects, used the archetypal fireman to make jokes, often racially oriented. In series of prints mocking African-American communities, popular print makers like Currier & Ives included a fire brigade in the images marketed as comical chromolithographs to a white, middle-class audience.
During the nineteenth century, lithographic publishers such as Currier & Ives from New York and the Kellogg firm of Hartford, issued thousands of images in separately issued prints. The wonderful perspective on the myriad subjects which these images depict offers us a unique look through the eyes of that earlier time. $575
In fact, Archibald Robertson, who assembled and annotated the Memoir's illustrations, claimed that the print of Engine No. 13 was "the first engine that was lithographed, and that by Mr. Imbert." Two fine prints; important for both subject matter and printing method.
Displaying a finely apppointed fire engine, this lithograph actually features as its background the scene painted on the back of the engine itself. Close observation reveals that this is not a strictly accurate scene of the falls on the Mohawk River, but it mirros the image barely visible on the engine's back panel. $225
Marvelous pictoral journalism examining New York City's Metropolitan Fire Department. Published in the ubiquitous Harper's Weekly, this illustration, like others in the popular magazine, offered readers a glimpse of the news and newsmakers of the day. In an urban center like New York, prone to building fires, those who combatted the blazes were certainly worthy of such a graphic spread! Here, vignettes of Fireman's Hall, fire engines, department officers, and firemen in action illuminate the department for magazine subscribers and modern viewers. $145
Go to full listing of Currier & Ives prints.
Go to listing of other Darktown prints.
A handsome steel engraving of the Hartford Fire Insurance Co.'s building at 53 Trumbull Street in Harford. This company is the oldest insurance firm from Hartford, founded in 1810, it survived through the many disasters of the nineteenth century and still exists, though in modified form, as the Hartford Financial Services Group. This was probably issued shortly after the their new building was built. The structure was located on the northwst corner of Pearl and Trumbull, and the Pearl Street trolley is shown at left. Also documented are many dapper Hartford citizens, on foot, riding bicycles, or in carriages. $350
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