Details
Title Duval, P. S. (Peter S.)
Alternate title P. S. Duval & Son
P. S. Duval & Co.
Date 1804 or 5- February 9, 1886
Description Peter Stephen Duval, the most prominent Philadelphia lithographer of the 19th-century, was born ca. 1804/5 in France. He emigrated from France to Philadelphia in the fall of 1831 to accept a job as a lithographer with the printing firm of Childs & Inman. By 1837 he had established his own lithographic printing shop and remained in business until his retirement in 1869. The firm continued for a few years under the management of Duval's son, Stephen. Duval died in Philadelphia on February 9, 1886 of "enlargement of the heart."
Trained as a lithographer in France, Duval brought much needed expertise to Childs & Inman, one of the first commercial Philadelphia firms. Duval worked for Childs until late 1834 when he bought out Childs and formed Lehman & Duval with artist George Lehman. Duval bought out Lehman in 1837 and launched one of Philadelphia's most influential and successful lithographic firms. Located at 7 Bank Alley throughout most of the 1840s, the firm produced advertisements, pictorial views, certificates, sheet music covers, book and periodical illustrations, maps, and portraits. By the mid 1840s Duval advertised that his shop printed in colors and by the late 1840s he had begun winning awards, including several from the Franklin Institute, for his work in chromolithography. Also in the late 1840s Duval was one of the first Americans to introduce steam power to parts of the lithographic process. To accommodate his growing firm, one of the largest in the city, of almost 30 presses and 60-70 artists, draughtsmen, and workmen, Duval moved to a six-room suite in the Artisan Building at 26 South Fourth Street in 1848. Duval's firm suffered a disastrous fire in 1856 and moved to a shop at the corner of South Fifth and Minor streets. In 1857 the firm moved to 22 South Fifth Street. The financial hardship caused by the fire forced Duval to declare insolvency in 1859, but he successfully re-established his business in the decade before his 1869 retirement.
Over his decades in the trade, Duval printed some of the most noted prints of the period, including his tromp l'oeil advertisement "Lithography. P.S. Duval 7 Bank Alley" (ca. 1840) and early chromolithographs "Tamany Fish House, on the Pea Shore, R. Delaware" (ca. 1852) and "Great Central Fair Buildings, Philadelphia" (1864). He also mentored the careers of noted lithographers James Queen, Albert Newsam, Frederick Bourquin, and Christian Schussele.
Duval worked with a large number of partners throughout his long lithographic career beginning with George Lehman in 1834. From about 1852 through 1857 Bourquin was his partner in the firm known as P. S. Duval & Co. In 1857, his son Stephen Duval joined the firm now known as P. S. Duval & Son. Around 1860 prints were produced with the imprint Duval, Williams, and Duval and in the middle of the decade a print was published with the imprint of Duval, Swander & Co. In 1867 the firm added Isaac L. Miles as a partner, forming P. S. Duval Son & Co. Soon after Duval's retirement, his son took on Thomas Hunter as a partner, forming the firm of Duval & Hunter.
Duval lived in Center City not far from his establishments during most of his career. During the early 1840s, he lived at Second and Cox Streets, when his youngest son and namesake passed away just prior to his first birthday (1840) and another son drowned in the Delaware River (1842). By the mid 1840s he lived in a boarding house catering to the French community run by Mr. Esmoil. By 1850 Duval had moved to Walnut and Tenth Streets, a location he remained at for more than a decade. By 1863, he relocated to West Philadelphia, where he resided at 4024 Ludlow Street until his death.
In the 1850 and 1860 census, Duval is listed each year as living with almost completely different household members that did not include his wife whose identity remains unknown. Only his son Stephen was present during both censuses, when they lived with Dr. Addinell Hewson, the Hewson family, and a few servants.
Duval became a naturalized United States citizen in 1841, but maintained close ties to Philadelphia's French community throughout his lifetime, serving as an active member in several of the city's French charitable organizations. He joined the Freemasons and the International Order of Odd Fellows, as well as served as president of Philadelphia's Lithographers' Association. Duval's position as an esteemed member of the lithographic community in America was acknowledged in 1871 when he authored the extensive entry on lithography in John Luther Ringwalt's "American Encyclopedia of Printing."
Is part of Philadelphia on Stone Biographical Dictionary of Lithographers
References See Bourquin, Frederick; Childs & Inman; Duval & Hunter; Duval, Stephen; Hunter, Thomas; Lehman, George; Newsam, Albert ; Queen, James,; and Schussele, Christian.
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Call number Philadelphia on Stone Biographical Dictionary of Lithographers
Bibliographic citation Census 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
Groce & Wallace, 199-200
Last, 72-73
Library Company of Philadelphia research file
Marzio, 23-30.
Peters, 163-168
Philadelphia Business & City Directories, 1831-1886
Public Ledger, February 10, 1886
Wainwright, 30-45; 61-74
WWWAA,
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