Arnout “Museum de Philadelphie” From Jean B.G. Roux de Rochelle’s "Etats-Unis d’Amerique”

Arnout.  “Museum de Philadelphie.”  [Also known as the Arcade on Chestnut Street between Sixth and Seventh].  From Jean B.G. Roux de Rochelle’s Etats-Unis d’Amerique. 

Paris: Firmin Didot freres, [1837].  5 ½ x 4 (image).  Steel engraving by Traversier.  Very good condition.  

This marble structure, which was one of the architectural sights of the city when it was erected in 1827, fronted on Chestnut Street.  Designed by architect John Haviland, it was introduced as an improvement and competitor to the very popular Burlington Arcade in London.  “In some respects,” wrote Joseph Jackson, “the Arcade might be classed as the first office building in the United States.”

A steel engraving from an octavo set of illustrations by the French Minister to the U.S., Roux de Rochelle.  The volume included 96 images of the United States and it was first issued in 1837 as part of a larger series entitled L’Univers.  The work and its plates were reissued in several French editions, one Italian edition in 1839, and one Spanish edition in 1841.  They form one of the most interesting series of views of Philadelphia from the first half of the nineteenth century.