[VIVIAN, W].

Views of the Great Falls of Niagara Views of the Great Falls

Item #80190

[VIVIAN, W]. Views of the Great Falls of Niagara Views of the Great Falls of Niagara [wrapper title]. 5 lithographed plates printed on chine colle and mounted, as issued. With the original tissue guards. Oblong small folio (11-1/2 x 15 inches). Philadelphia: Published by Kennedy & Lucas Lithographers ... R. H. Hobson and S. M. Stewart, [circa 1830]. First American edition. Stitched lettered wrappers, minor foxing, minor chips at edges. Housed in a cloth box. Dow p. 892 (London edition). The exceptionally rare American edition of this series of lithographic view of Niagara Falls, pirated from the British edition published in London by Ackermann circa 1827, is among the earliest lithographic view books produced in the United States. Printed by Kennedy & Lucas, one of the first lithographic firms to operate in Philadelphia, three of the five plates were drawn on stone by Hugh Bridport (c. 1794-1868) and the other two by Willam B. Lucas, one of the partners in the firm. Peters, in his comprehensive America on Stone, notes the firm in operation from 1829-1835 and describes their work as "above the average" in this early period, but was unaware of the present views. The booksellers/printsellers/stationers noted below the Kennedy & Lucas imprint were independently active on Chesnut Street only from 1829-1831. Unrecorded in the usual bibliographic literature, only two examples are identified in OCLC (the Paul Mellon copy at Yale and the Jay Last copy at the Huntington).

Price: $15,000.00