Search results

Title: Robt Adrain
Description: Half-length portrait of the mathematician, professor, and author. Adrain, attired in a white shirt and scholarly black robes, faces the viewer with his right hand on an open book. Adrain was born in Ireland and left due to his revolutionary beliefs. He taught at Queens College (later Rutgers), Columbia, and University of Pennsylvania where for a short while he was also Vice-Provost., Title from printed signature of sitter below image., Appears in "The United States magazine and Democratic review" (June 1844), 24: frontis., Accessioned 1884., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Reason was an African American artist, engraver and lithographer working in New York City in the 1830s and 1840s.
Creator: Reason, Patrick Henry, 1816-1898, engraver
Date: [1844]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Portrait prints - A [52551.O.13a]

Title: Emerson
Description: Bust-length portrait commissioned by Furness's father, Unitarian minister and abolitionist William H. Furness, as a tribute to his friend Ralph Waldo Emerson, and his deceased son who was the original artist. Depicts the transcendentalist, preacher, and abolitionist, attired in a white collared shirt, a black bowtie, and a black jacket, facing slightly right. Sartain's father, engraver John Sartain, was a family friend of Furness and a supporter of the abolition movement., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1871 by W.H. Furness D.D. in the office of the Librarian of Congress Washington D.C., Printed below title: (Private Plate)., See a description of the commission of the portrait print in Phyllis Peet's "Emily Sartain: America's first woman mezzotint engraver," Imprint 9 (Autumn 1984), p. 22., Purchase 2001., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator: Sartain, Emily, 1841-1927, engraver
Date: 1871
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *portrait prints - Emerson [P.9966]

Title: [Pictorial lettersheet containing illustration of "Am I Not a Woman and Sister"]
Description: Illustration depicts the enslaved woman, bare-chested, kneeling on one leg, and holding up her chained hands as in prayer., Addressed to Mr. S. T. haulk [sic] Salburry [i.e., Salisbury] South Carolina., Inscribed: Advertised July 1st., Completed in manuscript from Thos. Wall, Granville, Ohio to "Dear Sir" on May 25, 1840. Reads: Dear Sir is this the way you th treat slaves - if so you had better set thith free and Let them go - the load be upon your head at the [bar?] of god. Then god Say all you an [sic] your slaves must come before god and then be juge [sic] at the Bar of god - Set the [?] free and Let he aogo [sic]. Let the slave go free - [?] and I am - Do you [sic] Work yourself., Illustration of a kneeling male slave is a variant of the image popularized by Josiah Wedgwood. Formed in 1787, the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade designed and adopted as its seal the image of a supplicant African male slave asking "Am I not a man and a brother?" That same year, Wedgwood, a ceramics manufacturer and member of the Committee, issued the image as a medallion, which was distributed in America. The image became a popular anti-slavery icon and was soon widely reproduced on artifacts and in print in the United States and in Britain. During the 1820s, a female counterpart with the motto “Am I not a woman and a sister?” was created by British abolitionists and quickly embraced in the United States, particularly among women abolitionists., Purchased with funds from the Albert M. Greenfield Foundation., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Purchase 2011., Access points revised 2021., Description revised 2021., Reason was an African American artist, engraver and lithographer working in New York City in the 1830s and 1840s.
Creator: Reason, Patrick Henry, 1816-1898, engraver
Date: [ca. 1835]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department GC - Allegories [16971.Q]

Title: 1888-1889 third supplement to catalogue of electrotypes from A. Blanc, Horticultural Engraver, No. 314 N. Eleventh St. Philada., Pa., U.S.A Registered Cable Address, "Blanc, Philadelphia."
Description: Catalog, including section “New Electros of Vegetables for 1889,” of electrotype specimens for the premier Philadelphia horticultural engraver and lithographer containing images of flowers, plants, fruits, and vegetables. Varieties of flowers, plants, fruits, and vegetables represented include begonias, carnations, chrysanthemums, ferns, pansies, poppies, roses, verbena, corn, melons, lettuces, onions, peppers, pumpkins, squashes, and tomatoes. Illustrations include specimen numbers and prices (ranging from $.50-$10), and most include titles. Images predominantly depict sentimental and genre views of women, children, and animals containing or bordered by flowers; baskets of fruit or flowers; wilderness scenes; insects; single letters and words embellished with floral details; potted plants and flowers; flower bushes; residential views containing flowers; flower and vegetable vignettes; bean pods; single, fields, patches, and bushels of fruits and vegetables; and gardening tools and agricultural implements and equipment., Other specimens depict reproductions of lithographs; female representations of months of the year; “Bulbs grown in Bamboo rod”; a montage, including a crate with packages of bulbs; "Craig’s New Chrysanthemum, Mrs. A. Blanc"; "The Philadelphia Prize Chrysanthemum of 1888"; "Cornfield"; "Insect Destroyers" (i.e., insect destroying insects); and "Odds and Ends" showing bottles of herbs. Also includes a photomechanical studio portrait of an African American boy and girl attired in winter coats and hats, a racist metamorphic montage showing a melon morph into a caricaturized African American figure; and an illustrated advertisement with testimonials promoting W. M. Giradeau’s Seminole Watermelon. Contents also include statements describing the flowers depicted; promoting made to order cuts and the possibility for the addition of text (mortised); noting possible alterations, including “each cut separate” and reductions in price; and indicating "3/4 natural size.", Cover annotated in pencil with date: 1890., Some leaves contain page numbers: 58-134., Cover contains photomechanical illustrations of a studio portrait showing a seated, barefoot girl in simple attire, holding a basket of roses under her arm, and holding a flower to her nose with the other. Attire includes a wide-brimmed hat adorned with several flowers. Grass and flowers rest at her feet. Portrait bordered by a large pictorial detail depicting two stemmed roses. Portrait is specimen 4817 in catalog., Contains promotional text to "Dear Sir" and dated Philadelphia, September 1, 1888 on inside front cover. Text advertises "list of new electrotypes, issued since last year’s supplement … that will enable you to give your catalogue an entirely different appearance" and references how it’s "an important item to the Horticultural trade" and Blanc’s stocks of electros are a “trifling expense” compared to original cuts. Text also explains the deferment of the reprinting of an entirely new catalog due to his addition of a large number of new electros, as well as ordering information including the necessity of a signed order sheet in which purchaser agrees not to sell or loan the electros; ability to make to order any cut for exclusive use; no discounts excepting for orders amounting to over $100; terms strictly cash with order; and cuts ordered to be mailed require a 10% additional fee for postage. Text also advertises "List of My Catalogues," including "Catalogue of Fruit and Tree Cuts"; "Cuts for Catalogue Covers'; "Lawn Views"; and "Sheets of Potato Cuts, Oats, Wheat, Grasses, etc."; their prices of 15 to 20 cents each or $1 for set, which is deductible from orders amounting to $5; and note about "Correspondence en Francais.", Several specimens include Blanc's copyright statement or name., Includes order sheet inscribed with addition equations., Back cover and end pages missing, RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Purchased with funds for the Visual Culture Program., See the Albert Blanc entry in the Philadelphia on Stone Biographical Dictionary of Lithographers., See the Edward Stern & Co. entry in the Philadelphia on Stone Biographical Dictionary of Lithographers., William M. Giradeau (b. 1852), owner of Girardeau Seed Company in Monticello, Fla., developed the first commercial machine for separating seeds from watermelons, making Jefferson county, the top watermelon seed supplier in the world by 1884.
Creator: Blanc, Albert, 1850-
Date: [1888]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums - Blanc [P.2013.69.2]

Title: [Evans, card & fancy printer. Office, Fourth St. below Chestnut, Philadelphia]
Description: Business advertisement depicting the commercial building at 402 Library Street containing the establishments of Howell Evans; the Dime Savings Fund; ship and custom house brokers, E. Headley Bailey & M.S. Alexander; engravers on wood, James W. Louderbach & Gustavus A. Hoffman; lithographer, John Childs; and engravers, stationers and producers of embossed cards, envelopes, labels, etc., Jacob Maas, Henry Percival, and Jacob's son, Charles E. Maas. Several men and women pedestrians, including an African American man laborer carrying a bundle, walk the sidewalk. Patrons enter the building's open doorways. A coach travels speedily past the building. Evans, the self-promoted first "fast card press in the city" operated his firm at the address until 1880. In 1860, his press executed the advertisements for the Philadelphia City Directory. Louderbach & Hoffman, a partnership formed in 1853 resided at the site until dissolving in 1860., Title from duplicate print., Date from Poulson inscription on recto: Fourth Street; s.w. cor.; Library Street; Feby, 26, 1856., Accessioned 1979., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator: Louderbach & Hoffman, engraver
Date: [February 16, 1856]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department PhPr - 11x14 - Business [P.2277.23]

Title: Evans, card & fancy printer. Office, Fourth St. below Chestnut, Philadelphia
Description: Business advertisement depicting the commercial building at 402 Library Street containing the establishments of Howell Evans; the Dime Savings Fund; ship and custom house brokers, E. Headley Bailey & M.S. Alexander; engravers on wood, James W. Louderbach & Gustavus A. Hoffman; blank book manufacturer, J.R. McMullin; and engravers, stationers, producers of embossed cards, envelopes, and labels, Jacob Maas, Henry Percival, and Jacob's son, Charles E. Maas. Several men and women pedestrians, including an African American man laborer carrying a bundle, walk the sidewalk. Patrons enter the building's open doorways. A coach travels speedily past the building. Evans, the self-promoted first "fast card press in the city" operated his firm at the site until 1880. In 1860, his press executed the advertisements for the Cohen Philadelphia City Directory. Louderbach & Hoffman, a partnership formed in 1853 remained at the site until dissolving in 1860., Title from item., Date inferred from content and history of the printer., Advertising text printed around border., Advertisements printed on verso: engraver, J.H. Byram - wholesale collar manufacturer, Robert C. Winters - and truss manufacturer and importer, C.W. Van Horn & Co., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of engravings related to Philadelphia. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator: Louderbach & Hoffman, engraver
Date: [ca. 1857]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department PhPr - 11x14 - Business [(7)1322.F.158.1a]

Main menu