Dupare after Bonfils. “Vue d’une partie des deux Branches de la Cataracte de Niagara”

Dupare after Bonfils.  “Vue d’une partie des deux Branches de la Cataracte de Niagara.” 

From Michel-Guillaume Saint Jean de Crèvecoeur’s Voyage dans le Haute Pennsylvanie.  Paris: De Crapulet, 1801.  7 1/8 x 10.  Engraving by P.F. Tardieu.  Large margins.  With fold as issued.  Very good condition.  Dow: 883; Impressions of Niagara: 29.   

A strongly engraved print of Niagara Falls from the Canadian shore of the Niagara River below the falls.  Crèvecoeur, a Frenchman who lived and farmed in America in the late eighteenth century, issued in 1801 an account of his peregrinations around the United States which included two views and a map of Niagara Falls.  The Falls are shown with all the power they had before the building of the power plants from the unusual perspective of the lower river.  On the shore, in the foreground, can be seen a traveler with his native Indian guide.  The use of the turbulent water, spray, and small foreground figures emphasizes the grandeur of the Falls. A fine early print of an untamed Niagara.