| Title |
Anastatic Office |
| Date |
fl. 1846-1847 |
| Description |
Anastatic Office, a lithographic firm established in 1846 by Library Company of Philadelphia librarian John Jay Smith and
two of his sons, Robert Pearsall and Lloyd Pearsall, operated until 1847. John Jay acquired the American rights to the anastatic
process, a new method of transfer lithography in 1845; Robert P. managed the establishment; and Lloyd P. sold and advertised
the material printed at his law bookstore at 19 St. James Street. The Anastatic Office first advertised an office at 317
(i.e., 800 block) Market Street in February 1846, which by June 1846 relocated to 144 (i.e., 600 block) Chestnut Street.
|
|
The Office produced a number of works, many reproductions of historic maps and documents, and entered at least one piece in
the Franklin Institute Exhibition in October 1846. Works of import include anastatic copies from facsimiles drawn by James
C. Sidney of Thomas Holmes's 1687 "Map of the Improved Part of Pennsilvania" and John Reed's 1774 "Explanation and Map of
the City and Liberties of Philadelphia," as well as a copy of the "Declaration of Independence," with signatures, procured
by the City Councils in 1846 (copy in Independence National Historic Park collections). In addition, the Anastatic Office
produced the plates for John Jay Smith's "Designs for Monuments and Mural Tablets and Guide to Workers in Metals and Stone"
(co-authored by Thomas U. Walter).
|
|
By 1847, the office dissolved and Robert P. Smith operated a printing establishment under his own name at the Chestnut Street
address.
|
| Is part of |
Philadelphia on Stone Biographical Dictionary of Lithographers |
| References |
See Smith, Robert Pearsall. |
| Call number |
Philadelphia on Stone Biographical Dictionary of Lithographers |
| Bibliographic citation |
North American, February 2; June 9 and 29; July 8; September 12 and 23; and October 24, 1846 |
|
Public Ledger, February 2 and August 1, 1846 |
|
Ristow, "The Anastatic Process in Map Reproduction," The Cartographic Journal, IX, 1, June 1972 |
|
Ristow, "The Map Publishing Career of Robert Pearsall Smith," The Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress, XXVI, 3, July
1969, 170-196
|
|
Smith, Recollections of John Jay Smith (1892) |
