A set of four prints of Philadelphia issued by the Philadelphia newspaper, the "Public Ledger"

A set of four prints of Philadelphia issued by the Philadelphia newspaper the Public Ledger.   

The use of prints for promotion extended to newspapers.  In the 1850s and 1860s the Public Ledger issued prints for its paperboys to hand out to their subscribers as their annual greeting.  A/A  Set of four.

Samuel Byron Brittan.  “Ledger Carrier’s Annual Greeting, 1863.  Fairman’s Mansion & Treaty Tree.  Built 1702.  Taken Down 1825.”  [Penn Treaty Park, Kensington].  Philadelphia: Public Ledger, 1863.  Second state.  7 x 9 3/4.  Steel engraving by John Serz.  Repaired tear right hand margin.  Some light creasing along top margin edge.  Else, very good condition.  Snyder, Mirror: 578.

This print shows Penn’s Treaty Tree and Fairman’s Mansion, an early Quaker meeting house in Shackamaxon.  The house was demolished in 1825 and this view is intended to depict the structure as it stood in the eighteenth century. 

John James Barralet.  “Ledger Carrier’s Annual Greeting, 1860.  Centre Square.  Erected in 1800.  Taken Down in 1828.”  [current site of City Hall].  Philadelphia: Public Ledger, 1860.  7 x 12 (image) plus full margins.  Engraving by A.B. Walters.  Printed by H. Quig.  Third state.  Two repaired short tears in margins right and left hand side.  Else, very good condition. Snyder, Mirror: 113.  Prints of Philadelphia: 193.

A lovely print that shows the first waterworks in Philadelphia which was located at Centre Square, current site of City Hall.  This lovely classical building was built in 1800 and taken down in 1828, after it had been supplanted by the Fairmount Waterworks.  Also depicted is William Rush’s statue of the “Nymph of the Schuylkill” installed on the site in 1809.                                                  

C.H. Wells.  “Annual Ledger Carriers Greeting 1861. The Hall of Independence.”  Philadelphia: Public Ledger, 1861.  8 x 11 1/2 plus text.  Engraving by John B. Neagle.  Printed by H. Quig.  Third state.  Repaired tear in margin left hand side.  Light creasing in top and bottom margin edge.  Otherwise, very good condition.  Snyder, Mirror: 414.  

A finely engraved image of the interior of the Assembly or East Room in the State House, which by the mid-nineteenth century was commonly referred to as “Independence Hall.”  This room was made into a historic museum, with the Liberty Bell on display.

After Benjamin West.  “Ledger Carrier’s Annual Greeting, 1857.  William Penn’s Treaty with the Indians./ This Justly Celebrated Treaty,...”  Philadelphia: Illman & Sons, ca. 1857. 14 1/2 x 11 (plate marks) plus margins.  Steel engraving.  Two repaired tears in margins.  Two somewhat circular translucent areas of paper due to skimming of paper surface on verso.  Not noticeable when white mat board placed behind print.  Some soiling and light multiple crinkling in print.  Fine condition.  Not in Snyder, Mirror.  

A broadside illustrating Penn’s legendary treaty of friendship with the Lenni Lenape Indians.  The theatrical rendering of the figures, along with the exuberant poem.  A charming piece of  Philadelphia history