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Description of Banvard’s Panorama of the Mississippi River, painted on Three Miles of Canvas: exhibiting a view of country 1200 Miles in Length, extending from the Mouth of the Missouri River to the City of New Orleans; being by far The Largest Picture Ever Executed by Man.
Boston: John Putnam, Printer, No. 81 Cornhill, 1847. 8vo (8.5” x 5.5”), printed buff wrappers. 48 pp. Cover-title amended with the addition of the words “at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly” on a printed yellow label, 3.25” x 1.75”, affixed to bottom. Additional yellow label affixed to verso of title-page. A guide to John Banvard’s celebrated panoramic painting of the Mississippi River, this copy distributed for an exhibition at London’s Egyptian Hall and particularly interesting for the addition of a printed label warning of a spurious copy created by “speculators” in the U.S. and soon to be exhibited in England. The text consists of sections entitled Tribute to Native Talent (an account of the response of the Governor of Massachusetts and state legislature to an exhibition of the panorama), Adventures of the Artist (a sketch of the artist and his activities drawn from various sources), Mississippi River (an overview of the river), The Panorama (descriptions of the various features of the panorama, including islands, rocks, banks, settlements, etc.), Life on the Mississippi, and Testimonials. Seven opinions of the press appear on the back wrapper: five from Boston newspapers and two from Louisville papers.
Born in New York, John Banvard (1815–1891) was a self-taught, itinerant painter of portraits and panoramas who began sketching scenes in the 1840s along the Mississippi River which he later painted in sequence on canvas—creating a panoramic painting that was eventually almost a half mile long. Banvard also devised a mechanism for “moving” the panorama. He assembled the work in Louisville, Kentucky, where it was first shown (in a building especially erected for the purpose). The colossal work established Banvard as the finest promoter of the genre. Although the painting was described as a bit “rough” (panorama painting was typically rather cursory), the size and length of it, along with Banvard’s wit and storytelling ability, made the overall presentation very popular. After a successful run in Boston and New York, he took his panorama to London, opening at the Egyptian Hall.
The present guide, with its “Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly” label, was adapted for his London engagements (a similar guide was published in London the following year). Banvard’s success inspired competition, as indicated by the label on the verso of the title-page:
Notice. The following is extracted from the late American Papers. “The Public of London should be on their guard against a Spurious Copy of Banvard’s Great Painting of the Mississippi River, which has been got up by a party of speculators, who have already sailed for Europe, with the intention of palming it off on the British Public as the Original.”
The panorama proved so popular in London that Banvard was invited to exhibit it for Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle, following which he continued touring throughout Europe and even in Asia and Africa. The panorama made Banvard a wealthy man, and upon his return to the U.S. he built a mansion based on Windsor Castle on the north shore of Long Island where he lived until his death in 1891. After the successful tour of the panorama, it was cut up into pieces and dispersed.
REFERENCES: Holien, Ried. John Banvard’s Brush with Success at southdakotamagazine.com; Moving Panoramas of the Mississippi River at thecrankiefactory.com
CONDITION: Very good, spotting and foxing throughout; splitting at top and bottom of spine.
Item #6731
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