Title |
H. J. Toudy & Co. |
Date |
fl. 1865-1878 |
Description |
H. J. Toudy & Co., established by partners Henry J. Toudy and William Toudy at 503-505 Chestnut Street, specialized in maps,
atlases, and city view prints, and operated 1865-1878. Relocating to 525 Chestnut Street in 1872, the studio merged with the
printing firm of George W. Ward & Company (formerly at 52 North Sixth Street). The new company of Henry J. Toudy, George
W. Ward and William C. Merillat lasted less than two years with Ward leaving in 1872 and Merillat in 1873. Despite William
Toudy's continual affiliation with the firm during this time, Henry J. Toudy became the sole proprietor, and as of 1875, his
firm had a reported worth of $10,000.
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Although the firm executed "very fine specimens of work in all departments of the art," atlases, maps, and city views preponderate
the noted works of the company. Toudy & Co. worked on several Stone & Stewart county atlases in 1866, numerous county atlases
published between 1873 and 1877, and many of the "General Surveys" of industrial plants throughout the Mid-Atlantic region
produced by Ernest Hexamer during the 1870s. The firm also produced a number of respected views of cities, including one of
the earliest depictions of Salt Lake City (1867), 13 full-color city view prints for "The Centennial Book of the Signers"
(1872), and one of the first bird's-eye views produced by T. M. Fowler - Trenton, N.J. (1874).
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During the 1870s, the firm relocated first to 623 Commerce Street in 1875 and later into the Ziegler & Smith building at Fourth
and Cherry Streets in 1877. The decade also saw the firm triumph over Breuker & Kessler in a copyright infringement case over
a print based on a drawing by Hermann J. Schwarzmann, architect of the Centennial Exhibition of 1876 grounds. Titled "Bird's
Eye View of Centennial Buildings, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pa. 1876," the view copyrighted by Houdy & Co. in March 1875
was one of a number of the Centennial produced by the company for which they are favorably known.
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In spite of this legal success, a blow of another sort struck the company in a few years. On March 25, 1878, a devastating
fire destroyed the six-story Ziegler & Smith building as well as several adjacent blocks of structures. H. J. Toudy & Company
suffered a complete loss, and as a consequence, went out of business, only having a reported $21,000 worth of insurance.
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Is part of |
Philadelphia on Stone Biographical Dictionary of Lithographers |
References |
See Breuker & Kessler and Toudy, Henry J.; and Toudy, William. |
Has format |
LCP-Toudy-Newell-6-1322-F-73b.jpg |
Call number |
Philadelphia on Stone Biographical Dictionary of Lithographers |
Bibliographic citation |
Freedley, Philadelphia and Its Manufacturers (1867), 547 |
|
Last, 233 |
|
Library Company of Philadelphia research file |
|
Pennsylvania, Vol. 149, p. 267, R.G. Dun & Co. Collection, microfilm, Hagley Museum & Library |
|
Peters, 389 |
|
Philadelphia Inquirer, March 26-27, 1878 |
|
Philadelphia Business and City Directories 1867-1878 |
|
U.S. Circuit Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Equity Case File # 49, April Sessions, 1875 |
Image file |
LCP-Toudy-Newell-6-1322-F-73b |