Mid-19th Century Prints and Multiples

The present hand-colored lithograph was produced as part of the funeral and mourning culture in the United States during the 19th century. Images like this were popular as ways of remembering loved ones, an alternative to portraiture of the deceased. This lithograph shows a man, woman and child in morning clothes next to an urn-topped stone monument. Behind are additional putto-topped headstones beneath weeping willows, with a steepled church beyond. The monument contains a space where a family could inscribe the name and death dates of a deceased loved one. In this case, it has been inscribed to a young Civil War soldier: William W. Peabody Died at Fairfax Seminary, VA December 18th, 1864 Aged 18 years The young Mr. Peabody probably died in service for the Union during the American Civil War. Farifax Seminary was a Union hospital and military headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. The hospital served nearly two thousand soldiers during the war time. Five hundred were also buried on the Seminary's grounds. 13.75 x 9.5 inches, artwork 23 x 19 inches, frame Published before 1864 Inscribed bottom center "Lith. & Pub. by N. Currier. 2 Spruce St. N.Y." Framed to conservation standards using 100 percent rag matting and TruVue Conservation Clear glass, housed in a gold gilded moulding. Nathaniel Currier was a tall introspective man with a melancholy nature. He could captivate people with his piercing stare or charm them with his sparkling blue eyes. Nathaniel was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts on March 27th, 1813, the second of four children. His parents, Nathaniel and Hannah Currier, were distant cousins who lived a humble yet spartan life. When Nathaniel was eight years old, tragedy struck. Nathaniel’s father unexpectedly passed away leaving Nathaniel and his eleven-year-old brother Lorenzo to provide for the family. In addition to their mother, Nathaniel and Lorenzo had to care for six-year-old sister Elizabeth and two-year-old brother Charles. Nathaniel worked a series of odd jobs to support the family, and at fifteen, he started what would become a life-long career when he apprenticed in the Boston lithography shop of William and John Pendleton. A Bavarian gentleman named Alois Senefelder invented lithography just 30 years prior to young Nat Currier’s apprenticeship. While under the employ of the brothers Pendleton, Nat was taught the art of lithography by the firm’s chief printer, a French national named Dubois, who brought the lithography trade to America. Lithography involves grinding a piece of limestone flat and smooth then drawing in mirror image on the stone with a special grease pencil. After the image is completed, the stone is etched with a solution of aqua fortis leaving the greased areas in slight relief. Water is then used to wet the stone and greased-ink is rolled onto the raised areas. Since grease and water do not mix, the greased-ink is repelled by the moisture on the stone and clings to the original grease pencil lines. The stone is then placed in a press and used as a printing block to impart black on white images to paper. In 1833, now twenty-years old and an accomplished lithographer, Nat Currier left Boston and moved to Philadelphia to do contract work for M.E.D. Brown, a noted engraver and printer. With the promise of good money, Currier hired on to help Brown prepare lithographic stones of scientific images for the American Journal of Sciences and Arts. When Nat completed the contract work in 1834, he traveled to New York City to work once again for his mentor John Pendleton, who was now operating his own shop located at 137 Broadway. Soon after the reunion, Pendleton expressed an interest in returning to Boston and offered to sell his print shop to Currier. Young Nat did not have the financial resources to buy the shop, but being the resourceful type he found another local printer by the name of Stodart. Together they bought Pendleton’s business. The firm ‘Currier & Stodart’ specialized in "job" printing. They produced many different types of printed items, most notably music manuscripts for local publishers. By 1835, Stodart was frustrated that the business was not making enough money and he ended the partnership, taking his investment with him. With little more than some lithographic stones, and a talent for his trade, twenty-two year old Nat Currier set up shop in a temporary office at 1 Wall Street in New York City. He named his new enterprise ‘N. Currier, Lithographer’ Nathaniel continued as a job printer and duplicated everything from music sheets to architectural plans. He experimented with portraits, disaster scenes and memorial prints, and any thing that he could sell to the public from tables in front of his shop. During 1835 he produced a disaster print Ruins of the Planter's Hotel, New Orleans, which fell at two O’clock on the Morning of the 15th of May 1835, burying 50 persons, 40 of whom Escaped with their Lives. The public had a thirst for newsworthy events, and newspapers of the day did not include pictures. By producing this print, Nat gave the public a new way to “see” the news. The print sold reasonably well, an important fact that was not lost on Currier. Nat met and married Eliza Farnsworth in 1840. He also produced a print that same year titled Awful Conflagration of the Steamboat Lexington in Long Island Sound on Monday Evening, January 18, 1840, by which melancholy occurrence over One Hundred Persons Perished. This print sold out very quickly, and Currier was approached by an enterprising publication who contracted him to print a single sheet addition of their paper, the New York Sun. This single page paper is presumed to be the first illustrated newspaper ever published. The success of the Lexington print launched his career nationally and put him in a position to finally lift his family up. In 1841, Nat and Eliza had their first child, a son they named Edward West Currier. That same year Nat hired his twenty-one year old brother Charles and taught him the lithography trade, he also hired his artistically inclined brother Lorenzo to travel out west and make sketches of the new frontier as material for future prints. Charles worked for the firm on and off over the years, and invented a new type of lithographic crayon which he patented and named the Crayola. Lorenzo continued selling sketches to Nat for the next few years. In 1843, Nat and Eliza had a daughter, Eliza West Currier, but tragedy struck in early 1847 when their young daughter died from a prolonged illness. Nat and Eliza were grief stricken, and Eliza, driven by despair, gave up on life and passed away just four months after her daughter’s death. The subject of Nat Currier’s artwork changed following the death of his wife and daughter, and he produced many memorial prints and sentimental prints during the late 1840s. The memorial prints generally depicted grief stricken families posed by gravestones (the stones were left blank so the purchasers could fill in the names of the dearly departed). The sentimental prints usually depicted idealized portraits of women and children, titled with popular Christian names of the day. Late in 1847, Nat Currier married Lura Ormsbee, a friend of the family. Lura was a self-sufficient woman, and she immediately set out to help Nat raise six-year-old Edward and get their house in order. In 1849, Lura delivered a son, Walter Black Currier, but fate dealt them a blow when young Walter died one year later. While Nat and Lura were grieving the loss of their new son, word came from San Francisco that Nat’s brother Lorenzo had also passed away from a brief illness. Nat sank deeper into his natural quiet melancholy. Friends stopped by to console the couple, and Lura began to set an extra place at their table for these unexpected guests. She continued this tradition throughout their lives. In 1852, Charles introduced a friend, James Merritt Ives, to Nat and suggested he hire him as a bookkeeper. Jim Ives was a native New Yorker born in 1824 and raised on the grounds of Bellevue Hospital where his father was employed as superintendent. Jim was a self-trained artist and professional bookkeeper. He was also a plump and jovial man, presenting the exact opposite image of his new boss. Jim Ives met Charles Currier through Caroline Clark, the object of Jim’s affection. Caroline’s sister Elizabeth was married to Charles, and Caroline was a close friend of the Currier family. Jim eventually proposed marriage to Caroline and solicited an introduction to Nat Currier, through Charles, in hopes of securing a more stable income to support his future wife. Ives quickly set out to improve and modernize his new employer’s bookkeeping methods. He reorganized the firm’s sizable inventory, and used his artistic skills to streamline the firm’s production methods. By 1857, Nathaniel had become so dependent on Jims’ skills and initiative that he offered him a full partnership in the firm and appointed him general manager. The two men chose the name ‘Currier & Ives’ for the new partnership, and became close friends. Currier & Ives produced their prints in a building at 33 Spruce Street where they occupied the third, fourth and fifth floors. The third floor was devoted to the hand operated printing presses that were built by Nat's cousin, Cyrus Currier, at his shop Cyrus Currier & Sons in Newark, NJ. The fourth floor found the artists, lithographers and the stone grinders at work. The fifth floor housed the coloring department, and was one of the earliest production lines in the country. The colorists were generally immigrant girls, mostly German, who came to America with some formal artistic training. Each colorist was responsible for adding a single color to a print. As a colorist finished applying their color, the print was passed down the line to the next colorist to add their color. The colorists worked from a master print displayed above their table, which showed where the proper colors were to be placed. At the end of the table was a touch up artist who checked the prints for quality, touching-in areas that may have been missed as it passed down the line. During the Civil War, demand for prints became so great that coloring stencils were developed to speed up production. Although most Currier & Ives prints were colored in house, some were sent out to contract artists. The rate Currier & Ives paid these artists for coloring work was one dollar per one hundred small folios (a penny a print) and one dollar per one dozen large folios. Currier & Ives also offered uncolored prints to dealers, with instructions (included on the price list) on how to 'prepare the prints for coloring.' In addition, schools could order uncolored prints from the firm’s catalogue to use in their painting classes. Nathaniel Currier and James Merritt Ives attracted a wide circle of friends during their years in business. Some of their more famous acquaintances included Horace Greeley, Phineas T. Barnum, and the outspoken abolitionists Rev. Henry Ward, and John Greenleaf Whittier (the latter being a cousin of Mr. Currier). Nat Currier and Jim Ives described their business as "Publishers of Cheap and Popular Pictures" and produced many categories of prints. These included Disaster Scenes, Sentimental Images, Sports, Humor, Hunting Scenes, Politics, Religion, City and Rural Scenes, Trains, Ships, Fire Fighters, Famous Race Horses, Historical Portraits, and just about any other topic that satisfied the general public's taste. In all, the firm produced in excess of 7500 different titles, totaling over one million prints produced from 1835 to 1907. Nat Currier retired in 1880, and signed over his share of the firm to his son Edward. Nat died eight years later at his summer home 'Lion’s Gate' in Amesbury, Massachusetts. Jim Ives remained active in the firm until his death in 1895, when his share of the firm passed to his eldest son, Chauncey. In 1902, faced will failing health from the ravages of Tuberculosis, Edward Currier sold his share of the firm to Chauncey Ives...

Plate n. 4 from the suites of caricatures on political themes topic “Croquis d’Été ”.  Realized by Honoré Daumier  (France, 1808-1879), printed by Destouches, and published by the M...

Plate n. 8 from the suites of caricatures on political themes topic “ Croquis d’Été ”.  Realized by Honoré Daumier  (France, 1808-1879), printed by Destouches, and published by the ...

Plate n. 16 from the suites of caricatures on political themes topic “ Croquis d’Été ”.  Realized by  Honoré Daumier  (France, 1808-1879), printed by Destouches, and published by th...

Medium: mezzotint (engraved by David Lucas after the John Constable painting). Printed in 1855 on cream wove paper for the "English Landscape Scenery" portfolio, published in London ...

Woodcut shunga print attributed to Keisai Eisen and realized in the early 19th century. Good condition except for some signs of time.

Artist: John James Audubon (American, 1785-1851) Title: "Key-West Dove" (Plate 282, No. 57) Portfolio: The Birds of America, First Royal Octavo Edition Year: 1840-1844 Medium: Origin...

Rembrandt van Rijn, After, Dutch (1606 - 1669) - Self Portrait, Medium: Heliogravure, Image Size: 5.5 x 5 inches, Frame Size: 22 x 19.25 inches, Printer: William French

Artist: John Gould (English, 1804-1881) Title: "Phalacrocorax Graculus (Spectacled Cormorant)" (Vol. 5, Plate 53) Portfolio: The Birds of Great Britain Year: 1862-1873 Medium: Original Hand-Colored Lithograph on wove paper Limited edition: approx. 750 Printer: Walter or Walter & Cohn, London, UK Publisher: Taylor and Francis, John Gould, London, UK Reference: Sauer No. 23; Ayer/Zimmer page 261; Wood page 365; Nissen No. IVB 372; Sitwell page 78 Sheet size: 21.63" x 14.75" Image size: 17.25" x 12.25" Condition: Has been professionally stored away for decades. In excellent condition with strong colors Notes: Provenance: private collection - Aspen, CO. Lithography and hand-coloring by John Gould and English artist Henry Constantine Richter (1821-1902). Comes from Gould's five volume "The Birds of Great Britain", (1862-1873) (First edition), which consists of 367 hand-colored lithographs. Other contributing lithographers were German artist Joseph Wolf (1820-1899) and Irish artist William Hart (1830-1908). "The Birds of Great Britain" is recognized as Gould's greatest work. Gold gilded edges as issued. The spectacled cormorant or Pallas's cormorant is an extinct marine bird of the cormorant family of seabirds that inhabited Bering Island and possibly other places in the Commander Islands and the nearby coast of Kamchatka in the far northeast of Russia. Biography: John Gould FRS (14 September 1804 – 3 February 1881) was an English ornithologist and bird artist. He published a number of monographs on birds, illustrated by plates that he produced with the assistance of his wife, Elizabeth Gould, and several other artists including Edward Lear, Henry Constantine Richter, Joseph Wolf and William Matthew Hart. He has been considered the father of bird study in Australia and the Gould League in Australia is named after him. His identification of the birds now nicknamed "Darwin's finches" played a role in the inception of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. Gould's work is referenced in Charles Darwin's book, "On the Origin of Species".

L'ACTEUR . . . . - On voit bien qu'il fait chaud . . . . . . . trois spectateurs dans la salle ..... faut-il commencer ? . . . . LE DIRECTEUR .- Et encore un des trois est le vendeu...

Signed and dated on plate. An early state on the 5 issued, with very fresh impression and marked contrasts, Includes passepartout (cm. 53x37). The American artist James Abbott McNei...

A beautifully framed set of twelve rare "nature prints" produced in 1856 by Henry Bradbury. Henry Bradbury (1829-1860) is known for the innovative technique of “nature printing”, a...

David Roberts R.A. 1796 - 1864 The Doorway, Baalbec Antique First edition lithograph Full plate 81 Presented in a acid free mount We have a full set of the 250 David Roberts prints in stock. Hand coloured lithograph printed in 1847 by F.G. Moon and Son.

Lithograph on wove paper. Signed and dated in the stone lower right. This lithograph by Auguste Raffet, one of the most celebrated French lithographers of the 19th century, depicts...

Utagawa Kuniyoshi No. 65 Kawachi sekkai 河内右灰 (Limestone from Kawach), 1852 From Series: Sankai medetai zue 山海目出度図絵 (Celebrated Treasures of Mountains and Seas) Woodblock print Oban...

Artist: Nathaniel Wallich (Danish, 1786-1854) Title: "Impatiens puberula (Soft Pink Balsam)" (Plate 193) Portfolio: Plantae Asiaticae Rariores; or, Descriptions and Figures of a Select Number of Unpublished East Indian Plants Year: 1830-1832 Medium: Original Hand-Colored Lithograph on J. Whatman paper Limited edition: 254 Printer: Engelmann, Graf, Coindet & Co., London, UK Publisher: Richard Taylor for Treuttel & Würtz, London, UK Reference: Nissen BBI No. 2099; Pritzel No. 9957; Stafleu-Cowan No. 16583; Dunthorne No. 326 Sheet size: 21.13" x 14.13" Condition: Has been professionally stored away for decades. In excellent condition with strong colors Rare Notes: Provenance: private collection - Aspen, CO. Lithography by Maltese artist...

"The Urchin (Le Gamin)" is an original etching by Edouard Manet. It depicts a young boy holding a basket with his long-haired dog. This is the second and fina...

Lithograph realized by Daumier in 1845, belonging to the Series "Les Gens de Justice". Monogrammed in the plate. Very good condition. Ref. Delteil 1358

This is an original 19th century 1st octavo edition John James Audubon hand-colored lithograph entitled "Sora Rail, 1. Male, 2. Female, 3. Young", No. 62, Plate 306, from Audubon's "...

Un plaideur auquel manquent malheureusement les pieces les plus importantes, les pieces de cent sous. (A litigant who unfortunately doesn't have the most important details to success..dollars and cents) Series: Croquis par Daumier, No. 1 As published in Le Charivari, Paris, October 20, 1865. Croquis (Sketches by Daumier) is a series of 4 prints...

Volturno October 1th 1860 is an artwork realized in 1860 by the artists Michele and Leonardo Doyen . Lithograph on paper. Signed on plate in the right margin. Printed by Legros and ...

The conquest of Palermo is an artwork realized in 1860 by the artists Michele and Leonardo Doyen . Lithograph on paper. Signed on plate in the right margin. Printed by Legros and Ma...

The present work is an excellent example of the erotic Shunga prints produced by Utagawa 'Ando' Hioshige and his school. Shunga imagery became especially widespread in Japan with the...

(Sorry for the reflections on the glass in the photos.) A little boy runaway has returned home, hat in hand, to the relief of his poor beleaguered mother (burdened with four other children, apparently) and the upbraiding of his grandmother. So many fabulous details in this 19th-century etching, in addition to its amazing engraving work (every bit of it originally incised on a metal plate!). Placard on back says "Published exclusively for members of the Crosby Opera House Art...

Etching on laid paper Signed in plate lower right: T. Chauvel Published by Cadart Luquet, Éditeurs, 79 Rue Richelieu, Paris With the blindstamp of the Société des Aquafortistes...

Etching on laid paper Signed in plate lower right: T. Chauvel Published by Cadart Luquet, Éditeurs, 79 Rue Richelieu, Paris With the blindstamp of the Société des Aquafortistes...

WO RO SI IA ZIN Russian Soldier with His Family Color woodcut, 1861 2nd month Signed upper left (see photo) Titled upper right in black cartouche (see photo) Format: oban Style: Yokohama-e Publisherr: Sagamiya Tokichi (Marks #435) active 1955-1866 Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, has an impression of this image RARE Condition: with usual aging Image size: 13 7/8 x 9 3/8 inches Rebecca Salter in her Japanese Popular Prints... on page 18 gives a different take on the situation that Yoshifuji found himself in. "A giant of the period, however, was Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-861). Although best known for warrior prints which reflected the militaristic undercurrents of the time, he was also responsible for some of the most light-heartend and humorous works in this book. His followers in the Utagawa school, Utagawa Yoshitsuya...

Uses and Customs - Women's Head is a lithograph on paper realized in 1862. The artwork belongs to the Suite Uses and customs of all the peoples of the universe: " History of the gov...

Uses and Customs - Republic of Cisalpina is a lithograph on paper realized in 1862. The artwork belongs to the Suite Uses and customs of all the peoples of the universe: " History o...

Uses and Customs - Man From Mountain is a lithograph on paper realized in 1862. The artwork belongs to the Suite Uses and customs of all the peoples of the universe: " History of th...

Uses and Customs - Bavarian is a lithograph on paper realized in 1862. The artwork belongs to the Suite Uses and customs of all the peoples of the universe: " History of the governm...

Uses and Customs - the Carnival of Venice is a lithograph on paper realized in 1862. The artwork belongs to the Suite Uses and customs of all the peoples of the universe: " History ...

Soult is an Etching realized in 1837 by Pierre François Tardieu. Good conditions. The artwork is realized in a well-balanced composition. the artwork and belongs to the suite suite...

Murat is an original Etching realized by Emile Giroua in 1837. Good conditions. The artwork is realized in a well-balanced composition. the artwork and belongs to the suite suite "...

The present work is an excellent example of the erotic Shunga prints produced by Utagawa 'Ando' Hioshige and his school. Shunga imagery became especially widespread in Japan with the...

Vein Diseases is a lithograph hand colored by Ottavio Muzzi for the edition of Antoine Chazal, Human Anatomy, Printers Batelli and Ridolfi, 1843. The work belongs to the Atlante gen...

London: c1850. Engraving with hand coloring in watercolor, full margins. 12 1/2 x 16 inches (317 x 407 mm), the full sheet. In good condition with a small edge loss at the lower-rig...

Etching on laid paper. Signed and dated in plate lower left: L. Lhermitte sculp. Published by Cadart Luquet, Éditeurs, 79 Rue Richelieu, Paris With the publisher’s blindstamp ...

Etching on laid paper Signed in plate lower left: B. Zaleski Published by Cadart Luquet, Éditeurs, 79 Rue Richelieu, Paris With the blindstamp of the Société des Aquafortistes,...

Etching on laid paper Signed in plate lower left: A. Legros Published by Cadart Luquet, Éditeurs, 79 Rue Richelieu, Paris With the blindstamp of the Société des Aquafortistes, ...

Etching on laid paper Signed in plate lower left: Bracquemond Published by Cadart Luquet, Éditeurs, 79 Rue Richelieu, Paris With the blindstamp of the Société des Aquafortistes...

French costumes at the time of Louis XIII is a lithograph made by Auguste Wahlen in 1844. Hand colored. Good condition. At the center of the artwork is the original title "Costumi...

Costumes of the Court of England in the 15th century is a lithograph made by Auguste Wahlen in 1844. Hand colored. Good condition. At the center of the artwork is the original tit...

French costumes at the time of Henry IV is a lithograph made by Auguste Wahlen in 1844. Hand colored. Good condition. At the center of the artwork is the original title "Costumi f...

This is an original 19th century hand-colored McKenney and Hall lithograph of a Native American entitled "Po-Ca-Hon-Tas", lithographed by J. T. Bowen after a painting by Charles Bird...

Etching on laid paper Signed in plate lower left: Longueville Published by Cadart Luquet, Éditeurs, 79 Rue Richelieu, Paris With the blindstamp of the Société des Aquafortistes...

Etching on laid paper Signed in plate lower right: Edwards Published by Cadart Luquet, Éditeurs, 79 Rue Richelieu, Paris With the blindstamp of the Société des Aquafortistes, l...

Porto Ferrajo is a hand colored lithograph realized in 1864. Good conditions. The artwork belongs to the Suite Uses and customs of all the peoples of the universe, or History of th...

Palermo is a  hand colored lithograph realized in 1864. Good conditions. The artwork belongs to the Suite Uses and customs of all the peoples of the universe, or History of the gov...

Samuel Palmer (English, 1805-1881), "The Early Ploughman", Etching on Laid Paper, 1861, titled and inscribed "From Keppel Estate" to the verso, unframed. Image: 5" H x 7.75" W; sheet...

Retour de l'ile d'Elbe is an etching that belongs to the suite AtlasBatt realized for Jacques Norvins Histoire de Napoleon, published in 1837. Author Jacques Norvins published one o...

The Courtship is a lithograph on paper realized by Hégésippe Moreau in 1838. The artwork is in good conditions. Hégésippe Moreau (1810-1838) was a French lyric poet. The romantic m...

An original rare and extremely collectible first edition John James Audubon hand colored royal octavo lithograph entitled "Black-throated Diver", No. 96, Plate 477, from Audubon's "Birds of America". It was lithographed, printed and colored by J. T. Bowen and published in Philadelphia between 1840-1844. It depicts three Black-throated Divers; an adult male (1), an adult female (2) and a young Diver (3). The male sits on the bank, while the young Diver floats in the water and the female watches...

Frederic Lepia is an original Lithograph realized by D. M. Raffet in 1848. Good condition included a cream colored cardboard passpartout. Denis Auguste Marie Raffet (2 March 1804 –...

Ménagerie Parisienne is an Original Lithograph realized by Gustave Doré (1832-1883). Very good condition included a white cardboard passpartout (50x62.5 ...

The Bat is an original lithograph on ivory-colored paper, realized by Paul Gervais (1816-1879). The artwork is from The Series of "Les Trois Règnes de la Nature", and was published i...

The Bat is an original lithograph on ivory-colored paper, realized by Paul Gervais (1816-1879). The artwork is from The Series of "Les Trois Règnes de la Nature", and was published i...

The Bat is an original lithograph on ivory-colored paper, realized by Paul Gervais (1816-1879). The artwork is from The Series of "Les Trois Règnes de la Nature", and was published i...

The Bat is an original lithograph on ivory-colored paper, realized by Paul Gervais (1816-1879). The artwork is from The Series of "Les Trois Règnes de la Nature", and was published i...

The Bat is an original lithograph on ivory-colored paper, realized by Paul Gervais (1816-1879). The artwork is from The Series of "Les Trois Règnes de la Nature", and was published i...