A captivating poster featuring the Krewe of Rex’s “Heavenly Bodies” floats for the 1896 Mardi Gras. One of the oldest participants in Mardi Gras and the source of many of its storied traditions, the Krewe of Rex was founded in 1872 on the occasion of the visit to New.....
A captivating and very rare satire of the presidential campaign of 1844, employing the popular metaphor of “Up Salt River” to denote political peril or defeat. Whig nominee Henry Clay and his running mate Theodore Frelinghuysen, in their boat Tariff, lead the other candidates in the race up Salt River.....
An iconic satire of a gold-hunter, published at the height of the California Gold Rush. This scarce print depicts a prospective gold miner as an inappropriately well-dressed man in a knee-length coat, absurdly laden with mining tools, cookware, knives, and food as he walks overland to California along a body.....
A rare lithograph honoring John Mitchell—here dubbed “The Miner’s Champion”—who served as the President of the United Mine Workers of America from 1898–1908, with vignettes of coal mining scenes, including depictions of child labor. This print consists of a central portrait of John Mitchell set against a background of.....
A fascinating and delightful watercolor by an anonymous steamboat traveler on Lake Ontario depicting a blind musician on board who played the violin and the cello simultaneously, using both his hands and his feet. This vivid watercolor bears witness to both the unusual talent of the musician as well.....
A delightful bird’s eye view of the Rose Standish House hotel, situated on Downer’s Landing in Hingham, Mass., presenting an alluring image of this lively seaside resort near Boston. The Rose Standish House hotel was part of the Melville Garden amusement area, constructed in 1871 and spearheaded by Samuel Downer.....
A rare and anonymously-produced political cartoon attacking Henry Clay's duplicitous position on slavery, the issue that was at the fulcrum of so many political, moral, and legal conflicts in antebellum America. Clay, at the time a Senator from Kentucky and one of the country's most popular politicians, grew infamous.....
A scarce bird’s eye view of the north shore town of Beverly, Massachusetts, a seaside resort, residential, and manufacturing community. This view shows the town’s residences, manufacturing sites, railroads (the Boston & Maine R.R. and its Gloucester branch), churches, municipal buildings, and the city’s bustling harbor where numerous vessels are.....
![The Repeal, or the Funeral of Miss Ame[rican]=Stamp. After Benjamin Wilson](/pictures/thumb/6515_1.jpg?v=1615566664)
Important and scarce political cartoon lampooning the repeal of the Stamp Act under the administration of George Grenville, Prime Minister from 1763 to 1765. “One of the most famous and popular political satires commenting on the Stamp Act”. (Dolmetsch) Background As Prime Minster, George Grenville (1712-1770) was faced with restoring.....
A recently discovered, early self-portrait by “the father of American wood engraving” accompanied by another Anderson drawing representing George Washington’s skull (as the artist imagined it), evidently done prior to Washington’s death. The self portrait is quite possibly the earliest extant depiction of Anderson. These two drawings appear to date.....
An exceedingly rare American naval engraving, one of a mere handful printed in the United States in the eighteenth century, and a striking expression of Federal era patriotism, published at the height of the Quasi War. The vessel, a 110 gun man-of-war, is shown with a figurehead in the form.....
A scarce and vivid lithograph illustrating the tensions surrounding the passage of the fugitive slave law. The Library of Congress provides an excellent description of this evocative print: “A satire on the antagonism between Northern abolitionists on the one hand, and Secretary of State Daniel Webster and other supporters of.....
A rare and delightful lithograph advertising a nineteenth century Italian weight-lifting champion and performer. Sali is shown here in a central portrait, with three medals pinned to his chest, one of which appears to be dated 1885. Below him are the various weights and clubs used in his act.....
An exceedingly rare pictorial broadside advertising Turner Brothers wines, syrups, and cordials. The broadside was drawn by John Ffooks, who depicts the manufacturing facilities of the Turner Brothers in New York City, Buffalo, and San Francisco in three separate insets. The latter depiction is especially interesting, as it sets.....
A scarce and very fine engraved view of Harvard, based on a painting by early American view and landscape painter Alvin Fisher. This evocative 1820s engraving depicts the campus from the south, showing the six halls that constituted the campus at the time: Massachusetts Hall, Harvard Hall, Stoughton Hall.....
One of the largest and most spectacular bird’s eye views of Boston ever published, with the built environment of the city rendered in meticulous detail. This magnificent view shows the city from an elevated imaginary vantage point in the east, looking toward the Charles River and Cambridge in the.....
John Hill’s 1855 view of Portland, Maine from Cape Elizabeth—perhaps the best known topographic view of the port city—showing in wonderful detail the flourishing conditions there before the Civil War and the Great Fire of 1866. The captivating quality of this view is achieved through its broad foreground area.....
A striking 1920s watercolor elevation for a music and arts building to be located at the intersection of Cahuenga Ave. and Highland Ave. in Hollywood, evidently designed to welcome visitors to the Hollywood Bowl. Situated in the plaza in front of this handsome Beaux-Arts edifice is a column surmounted.....
A delightful volume of trial drawings, many of them satirical, for an illustrated alphabet featuring a variety of humorous and imaginative characters complimenting Johnston’s limericks. The volume begins with two calligraphic frontispieces, one consisting of the phrase “The Envelope” graced by an angelic figure holding a brush and canvas (apparently.....
An exceptionally rare lithograph depicting The Battle of the Pearl River Forts, also known as the Battle of the Barrier Forts, in late 1856, at the beginning of the Second Opium War. The USS Portsmouth is shown in the center of the river exchanging fire with four forts visible at.....
The first separate printing and first separate facsimile of Lincoln’s famed autobiographical sketch, originally composed in response to a request from his friend Jesse Fell, printed with a brief account by Fell of the circumstances under which it was written and extracts from a few of Lincoln’s speeches. Lincoln and.....
A broadside published a little over a decade after General George Washington’s death, featuring a fine emblematic engraving and text extolling Washington’s virtuous character. Consisting of a lively scene within a border adorned with swags, the engraving allegorizes Washington as a great rock in the sea, standing firm amid crashing.....
A very scarce view of the Maine island town of Vinalhaven, located in Penobscot Bay, once an important center of the granite industry. Vinalhaven Village, with its many buildings clustered around the harbor, appears in the foreground and two active granite quarries can be seen nearby. A variety of vessels.....
An impressive depiction of the ships of the U.S. Navy at the time of the Spanish-American War, a period when the U.S. emerged as a major naval power. When this print was created the U.S. Navy was transforming itself from a force of ironclads guarding the U.S. coast to.....
The original engraved copper printing plate for a view of Boston, prepared by James Trenchard to illustrate a description of the city in the December 1787 issue of The Columbian Magazine. A unique and important artefact of early American printing, complete with fingerprints in ink. The plate depicts a charming.....