[Geo. S. Harris & Sons print specimens]
Title
[Geo. S. Harris & Sons print specimens]
Description
Series of specimens, primarily for trade cards and labels, printed by the prominent Philadelphia lithographic firm. Subjects include fanciful, allegorical, and sentimental scenes and portraiture with women, children, and flowers; hunting and recreational scenes; international iconography; animals (dogs, horses, and an alligator clutching a Black baby in its jaws); political and military imagery, including President James Garfield; land and marinescapes; and mythological and fairy tale views. Collection also includes specimen without an imprint and probably printed by Harris showing a plantation scene with a white man, attired in a straw hat, a white collared shirt, white pants, and a sword on his waistband, placing his right hand on the shoulder of a barefooted Black man, attired in a straw hat, a white collared shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows, and white pants that are torn at the bottom, who carries a hoe. They stand before a body of water surrounded by flowers and trees with the plantation in the background. Racist scene shows a white female angel with wings pouring packages of tobacco from a cornucopia to a group of men and women from various ethnic groups and nationalities, including Native Americans, Chinese, Spanish, and Middle Eastern people, many of which smoke cigars, hookahs, and pipes. Specimen depicting a man, attired in a turban with a dagger in his waistband, kneeling with a rifle beside him. Surrounding him are palms and desert plants. In the right background, a lions stands and looks on., Title supplied by cataloger., Publication date inferred from content of one print depicting President James Garfield., Originally part of Specimens Album [P.9349]., Gift of Margaret Robinson, 1991., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012.
Date
[ca. 1881]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Specimen Album Loose Prints Collection - Geo. S. Harris [P.9349.279, 283-284, 292, 298-307, 309, 317-318, 321, 328-329, 332, 436-437, 439, 441-442, 447, 451-453 & 455-456]
Views of Philadelphia
Title
Views of Philadelphia
Description
Collection of prints from the various editions and restrikes of Birch's "Views of Philadelphia," originally published in 1800 as The City of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania North America; as it appeared in the year 1800. Four editions of the views, purchased through subscription and totaling 44 unique plates including a map of the city and title page with vignette, were published by William Birch in Philadelphia from 1800 until 1828. First and largest edition contained 29 plates, the pictorial views drawn by Thomas Birch and engraved by Samuel Seymour between 1798 and 1800; with the map and title page executed by script engraver William Barker. Bookseller Robert Campbell is listed as a seller on many of these plates, but appears to have been disassociated with the project before publication of the bound volume. Second edition of 22 plates was published in 1804. Third edition of 14 plates was published in 1809. Fourth edition of 12 plates was published between 1827 and 1828. The first and second edition were printed by Philadelphia printer, Richard Folwell. The later editions, predominately completed by William Birch alone, contained reissues of selected plates from the first edition as well as new engravings of prominent city structures erected after 1800. In the 1840s restrikes of five plates were produced by bookseller Robert Desilver, and in the 1860s, twelve by the antiquarian John McAllister, Jr; many of the restrikes originally published in the fourth edition. Collection also contains the second edition copper plate of the Bank of Pennsylvania, and the fourth edition copper plate of The Late Theatre in Chestnut Street., Series of late 18th and early 19th-century views of principal sections of the city of Philadelphia including primary streets, government buildings, local landmarks, and financial, religious, educational, and benevolent institutions. The series, the first of its kind in the United States, was created to attract new citizens and to illustrate to an international audience the vitality of the nation's premiere city. The views focus on structures, but also contain lively depictions of daily street life in Philadelphia. Plates depict Philadelphia's Delaware River port with the Penn Treaty Tree; several street views including Arch Street, High (Market) Street, and Third Street; city markets; city banks, such as the Bank of the U.S.; the State House (Independence Hall); Congress Hall; prominent churches, such as Christ Church; Pennsylvania Hospital; Library and Surgeon's Hall; Chestnut Street Theatre; the Alms House; Walnut Street Jail; the Water-Works; and the Schuylkill Bridge., See S. Robert Teitelman's Birch's views of Philadelphia. (Philadelphia: The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1982, rev. 2000)., Snyder, "William Birch: His Philadelphia views," The Pennsylvania magazine of history and biography 73 (July, 1949), p. 271-315., Snyder, "Birch's Philadelphia views: New discoveries," The Pennsylvania magazine of history and biography 88 (April, 1964), p. 164-173., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., William Birch, trained in England, was a Philadelphia engraver, miniaturist, and enamel painter. He also engraved and published in 1804 "The Country Seats of the United States of North America."
Creator
Birch, William Russell, 1755-1834
Date
1800-1860, bulk 1800
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Birch's views [Sn 1 - Sn 43]
Philadelphia, western & southern trade journal. Illustrated supplement
Title
Philadelphia, western & southern trade journal. Illustrated supplement Devoted to the commercial and manufacturing interests of Philadelphia
Description
Advertisement supplement containing 23 titled vignettes depicting and promoting prominent landmarks and businesses within Philadelphia. Landmarks include the State House; Girard College; U.S. Mint at Chestnut and Juniper streets; Merchants' Exchange; Chamber of Commerce at Dock and Walnut streets; Custom House at 420 Chestnut Street; Carpenters' Hall; the Navy Yard at Southwark; and Fairmount Water Works. Businesses include George W. Plumly, paper box manufacturer; Harrison, Havemeyer & Co.'s Franklin Steam Sugar Refinery; R. & G.A. Wright, manufacturers of fine perfumery; F. Gutekunst, photographer; Brooke, Colket & Co., commission merchants; McKeone VanHaagen & Co. Soap Works; Henry Disston's Keystone Saw, Tool & Steel works; Seyfert, McManus & Co.'s Reading Iron Works; Charles Magarge & Co., dealers in paper; Howsons' United States & Foreign Patent Offices; Wilson, Childs & Co., Philadelphia Plantation & Road Wagon Works; Dohan & Taitt, tobacco commission merchants; Lafourcades Brothers & Irwin, importers of cloths, cassimeres & vestings; and Lockwood's Paper Collar Factory. Also contains several passages of text recounting the history of the city and describing the depicted landmarks., Title from item., Various delineators and engravers, including Van Ingen & Snyder, Matthias Reiff Longacre, and Lauderbach & Schell., Accessioned 1992., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., 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 Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date
[ca. 1868]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department ***Ph Pr - Government Buildings [P.9384a-w]