Views in Philadelphia, and Its Environs; from Original Drawings
Item #78622
CHILDS, C[ephas] G[iovanni]. Views in Philadelphia, and Its Environs; from Original Drawings Taken in 1827-30. Phila.: Published by C.G. Childs, Engraver, 1827-1830. [36] text leaves, including engraved titlepage, plus twenty-five fine engraved plates, as issued (with blank tissue guards). Small folio. Modern calf-backed marbled boards, gilt leather spine label. Minor occasional foxing. Very good plus. HOWES C-383, "aa." Decker 48:241. DAB VII, pp.467-68. Sabin 12731. Snyder, Mirror of America, pp.70-77. A handsome large-paper copy of this quite early example of American lithography, and one of the nicest series of city views produced in the nineteenth century. The work itself, originally issued in six parts, each with four plates, features engravings of prominent churches, the state house, the Bank of Pennsylvania, the University of Pennsylvania, the United States Mint, and the Academy of Natural Sciences, among other important buildings. A plan of the Eastern Penitentiary was also included in the fifth part, calling for twenty-five plates in a complete copy, as here. In his MIRROR OF AMERICA, Martin Snyder describes the order of the plates in bound copies as "erratic." The bound order of the plates in this copy is as follows: 1) Philadelphia from Kensington. 2) Friends Meeting House Merion. 3) Swedish Lutheran Church. 4) Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. 5) Christ Church. 6) Eaglesfield. 7) Academy of Natural Sciences. 8) Pennsylvania Hospital. 9) Sedgeley Park. 10) University. 11) Pennsylvania Institution for the Deaf and Dumb. 12) Widows and Orphans Asylum. 13) Bank of the United States. 14) State House. 15) Girard's Bank. 16) View on the Schuylkill. From the Old Water Works. 17) Bank of Pennsylvania. 18) First Congregational Unitarian Church. 19) Schuylkill Canal at Manayunk. 20) United States Mint. 21) Fair Mount Water Works. From the West Bank of the Schuylkill. 22) Fair Mount Water-works. From the Reservoir. 23) Saints Stephens Church. 24) Eastern Penitentiary. 25) Plan of the Eastern Penitentiary. A very nice copy of the large-paper edition of Childs' wonderful view book of Philadelphia.
Price: $3,500.00