Unattributed “Ohio Wesleyan University. Delaware, O.” From "The Ladies’ Repository”

Unattributed. “Ohio Wesleyan University. Delaware, O.”  From The Ladies’ Repository: A Monthly Periodical, Devoted To Literature and Religion. 

Cincinnati: November 1855.  4 3/4 x 6 1/2.  Octavo.  Engraving.  Foxed, else very good condition. 

An early view of Ohio Wesleyan University, in Delaware, Ohio from an unusual and scarce group of engravings for The Ladies’ Repository.  This mid-nineteenth century periodical was produced in Cincinnati by members of the Methodist Church.  It was a magazine “Devoted To Literature and Religion,” containing articles, poetry, fiction, and notes of interest to its readers.  One of its most interesting aspects was the inclusion of engravings.  Many had a religious or “genre” theme, but others were topographical views of different parts of the United States.  The magazine had a limited circulation, and as a result these prints are more scarce than most engravings of the period.  Some of the views are based on images by W.H. Bartlett, but others were taken either from some of the large folio views of the period or drawn first hand for The Ladies’ Repository.   Whatever their source, these are among the most interesting and hard-to-find American views of the middle of the 19th century.