Pownall, Thomas “A View of the City of Boston the Capital of New England in North America” From "The History and Antiquities of Boston…"

After Thomas Pownall. “A View of the City of Boston the Capital of New England in North America.”  From The History and Antiquities of Boston… by Samuel Drake. 

Boston: William Guild, 1856.  7 ¾ x 19 ¾ (image).  Engraving on thin paper.  With folds as originally issued.  Light smudging in title area.  Diagonal tear across image bottom left hand corner, repaired with archival tape.  Slight chip in margin right hand side and in bottom left margin corner.  Else, good condition. 

This view of Boston, from Cambridge, looking across the Charles River is a mid 19^th century re-strike from the original plate that was included in Drake’s History of Boston.  Thomas Pownall, born in England in 1722, served in North America in various official positions between 1753 and 1760, including Governor of Massachusetts and South Carolina.  During this time, Pownall traveled about the colonies, keeping a journal and making sketches of the sites he visited.  Upon his return to England, Pownall hired Paul Sandby, the drawing master at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, England, to work with him on producing a set of engraved scenes based upon Pownall’s sketches.  This set was entitled Six Remarkable Views in the Provinces of New-York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania in North America, and it was first published in 1761.  In 1768 these prints were incorporated into Scenographia Americana, a portfolio containing twenty-eight prints by Pownall and other artists.