1860s Prints and Multiples

Persian Cloth in 19th Century is a Hand-colored lithograph on paper realized in 1862. The artwork belongs to the Suite Uses and customs of all the peoples of the universe: " History...

Japanese Costumes  is a Hand-colored 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...

"Deer Shooting in the Northern Woods" is an original hand-colored lithograph by Currier & Ives. It depicts a landscape with a hunter aiming his gun at a deer on a winter day. 10" x 14" art 19 1/2" x 23 1/4" frame 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. In 1907, faced with competitive pressures from advancements in offset printing and photo engraving, Chauncey closed the venerable lithography business and sold the printing equipment and lithographic stones to his shop foreman, Daniel W. Logan. Nathaniel Currier and James Merritt Ives are laid to rest along with their families at the Greenwood Cemetery...

No hay quien lo socorra is an original artwork realized by the great Spanish artist Francisco Goya in 1810. Original Etching on paper. The artwork belongs to the famous series "L...

Extrana Devocion is an original artwork realized by the great Spanish artist Francisco Goya in 1810. Original Etching on paper. The artwork belongs to the famous series "Los Desa...

Image dimension: 20.5 x 15.3 cm. Signed under the plate: Art Anst.v. E. Hochdanz. Dated 1866, p.34. Good conditions, except usual signs of aging and a browning of the paper. This ...

North-east view of Kailasso is a  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 ...

Customs -Asian Costume is an Hand-colored lithograph on paper realized in 1862. Titled on the lower. The artwork belongs to the Suite Uses and customs of all the peoples of the uni...

Customs - Rajput is a Hand-colored lithograph on paper realized in 1862. Titled on the lower. The artwork belongs to the Suite Uses and customs of all the peoples of the universe :...

Customs - Achaemenid Kings Costume is a lithograph on paper realized in 1862. Titled on the lower. The artwork belongs to the Suite Uses and customs of all the peoples of the unive...

Customs - Military signs of the ancient Jews is a lithograph on paper realized in 1862. Titled on the lower. The artwork belongs to the Suite Uses and customs of all the peoples of...

The Monument is a  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 government,...

Esta no lo es menos is an original artwork realized by the great Spanish artist Francisco Goya in 1810. Original Etching on paper. The artwork belongs to the famous series "Los D...

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...

A Satirical Scene is an original modern artwork realized by Edmond Lavrate in the second half of the XX Century. Original colored lithograph. Hand-signed on the lower right corne...

Meishoe is an artwork realized in the 1865 by Utagawa Hiroshige II (Ni-daime Utagawa Hiroshige, 1826 – 17 September 1869). Woodcut Print Oban Format. From the series "Suehiro gojus...

1860 Hand -colored engraving "Panorama of Washington D. C. published by Charles Magnus This is a long sheet topped by an oval portrait of Washington...

Portrait of Edmond de Goncourt is an Etching realized in 1860 by Jules de Goncourt (1830-1870). The artwork is based on Gavarni's portrait. Signature on the lower right corner on t...

(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...

Reception of the Duchess of Sutherland is an original zincography realized by an artist of the 19th century (1864). The artwork represent the re...

Image dimensions 20.5 x 15.3 cm. Stilt-Walking Shepherds is a fascinating color lithograph realized by an anonymous artist in 1860. Dated 1860 bottom left, p. 23. On the lower le...

Y se le quema la casa is an original artwork realized by the artist Francisco Goya and published for the first time in 1799. Etching on paper. The etching is part of the Third Edit...

The Flowers is an original lithograph on paper, realized by E. Laport in about 1860. The state of preservation is good except for some diffused stains. Hand-colored. Plate no.6 ...

Aguarda que te unten is an original artwork realized by the artist Francisco Goya and published for the first time in 1799. Original etching on woven paper. The etching belongs to ...

Image dimensions: 25.5 x 28.5 cm. Composition with Nudes is an original modern artwork realized by a French artist in 1862. Original B/W etching on ivory paper. The work is sigled...

Prey for the Dead (Original Title: pregate per Morti) is an original lithograph realized by C. Ronchi in 1860 ca. In good condition but aged. The artwork represents a general, prob...

Muertos recogidos is an original artwork realized by the great Spanish artist Francisco Goya in 1810. Original Etching on paper. The artwork belongs to the famous series "Los Desastres de la...

Study for a Trunk is an original modern artwork realized in 1860s by the French artist Emile Henri Laporte (1841 - 1919). Original lithgraph on paper. Han...

Signed on plate. Plate: 267 Image Dimensions : 24 x 34 cm This artwork is shipped from Italy. Under existing legislation, any artwork in Italy created over 70 years ago by an arti...

Rienz, inspiré de Ribera is a wonderful etching realized in 1868 by Charles Jacque (1813-1894). This is the fifth plate from a suite of eight etchings inspi...

Image dimensions: 15,5x22,5 cm. Attacco di San Fermo da Garibaldi is a beautiful artwork realized by Carlo Perrin. litography colored by hand, published in Turin by Carlo Perrin. ...

Flowers is an original lithograph on paper, realized by E.Laport in about 1860. The state of preservation is good except for some diffused foxings. Hand-colored. Plate no.3 Shee...

Landscape is an original lithograph on paper, realized by E.Laport in about 1860. The state of preservation is good except for some diffused stains. Hand-colored. Plate no.7. Sh...

Obsequio a el Maestro is an original artwork realized by Francisco Goya and published for the first time in 1799. Etching on wove paper. This artwork belongs to the Third Edition p...

Image dimensions: 15.5x22.5 cm. Defense of the Cemetery in Magenta is a beautiful artwork realized by Carlo Perrin in 1860. Hand colored litograph, published in Turin by Carlo Perr...

Landscape is an original lithograph on paper, realized by E. Laport around 1860. The state of preservation is good except for some diffused stains. Hand-colored. Plate no.12 She...

Faust et Marguerite au jardin is a wonderful original lithograph by Eugène Louis Pirodon (1824-1908), d'après James Tissot. A very touching and romantic scene in which two lovers are in Renaissance costume...

Wedding Procession is an original etching of paper realized by Jean Vandekerkhove in 1860 ca. Good conditions except for some folding and stains. Signed on the plate on the lower r...

Warriors are two original colored woodcuts print on paper, realized In 1865 By Ikeisai Yoshichika. The technique used for this artwork is the Nishiki-e, a type of Japanese multi-colored woodblock printing invented in the 1760s, and perfected by the printmaker Suzuki Harunobu. A Nishiki-e print is created by carving a separate woodblock for every color and using them in a stepwise fashion. This wonderful print represents the warrior battle...

Actualités, Old Angle is an amusing satirical illustration by the French illustrator and caricaturist, Cham (alias Count Amédée de Noé, 1818-1879) realized in 1865. Beautiful Hand-c...

The House is an original lithograph on paper, realized by E.Laport in about 1860. The state of preservation is good except for some diffused stains. Hand-colored. Plate no.3. Sh...

Image dimensions: 11.5 x 21.5 cm. Charges du Jour is an original color lithograph, realized in 1860 by Honoré Daumier (1808-1879). This was the cover of the print suit "Album des C...

Artist: John Gould (English, 1804-1881) Title: "Grus Cinerea (Common Crane)" (Vol. 4, Plate 19) 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: 14.75" x 21.57" Image size: 12.75" x 20.13" 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 German artist Joseph Wolf (1820-1899) and Irish artist William Hart (1830-1908). 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 John Gould and English artist Henry Constantine Richter (1821-1902). "The Birds of Great Britain" is recognized as Gould's greatest work. Gold gilded edges as issued. The common crane, also known as the Eurasian crane, is a bird of the family Gruidae, the cranes. A medium-sized species, it is the only crane commonly found in Europe besides the demoiselle crane and the Siberian crane that only are regular in the far eastern part of the continent. 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".

Al Conde Palatino is an original etching realized by Francisco Goya and published in 1799. Original etching on wove paper. This beautiful Etching belongs to the Third Edition of th...

The 1862 original lithography by François-Edmond Pâris, titled "Souvenirs de Jérusalem - Grotte de la nativité," is a remarkable testament to the artistic and historical significance...

Charles Meryon (1821-1868), Pierre Nivelle, Bishop of Lucon (1584-1660), 1861, etching on tin, after an engraving by Michel Lasne (1590-1667). Reference: Schneiderman 76, (fifth stat...

Medium: original etching. This impression on laid paper was printed in London in 1868 for the rare first volume of P. G. Hamerton's "Etching and Etchers". Image size: 4 1/2 x 7 1/2 i...

Medium: original etching. This impression on laid paper was printed in London in 1868 for the rare first volume of P. G. Hamerton's "Etching and Etchers". Image size: 3 1/2 x 5 inche...

Chasseurs D’Afrique shows two bearded French soldiers from the Armee De Ligne or the Line Army series. There is an officer in the foreground with his arms across his chest and a...

Ecole Imp.DE Cavalerie, Officier du Cadre shows two bearded French soldiers from the Armee De Ligne or the Line Army series. There is an officer in the foreground and a soldier...

"The Farmers in boat with vegetables"  is an Artwork realized in 1860. Etching on ivory old paper. The state of preservation of the artwork is good except some stains and imperfect...

Artist: John Gould (English, 1804-1881) Title: "Platalea Leucorodia (Spoonbill)" (Vol. 4, Plate 32) 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 Framing: Recently beautifully framed in a gold Neo-Classical moulding with gold filet and 100% cotton rag matting from Holland. All archival Framed size: 23.5" x 30" Sheet size: 14.75" x 21.5" Image size: 12.5" x 19.5" Condition: One small tear at upper right edge which has been skillfully repaired from verso. Light mat stain in margins and one small area of discoloration upper left center. It is otherwise in very good condition with strong colors Notes: Provenance: private collection - Williamsburg, VA. 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...

Lithograph realized by Auguste Raffet in 1860. Belongs to the series "Souvenir d'Italie - Expédition de Rome". Good condition,

Etude is a black and White etching realized by Jules-Joseph Lecurieux in the 1860s.  Titled in the lower. Image size: 23x31. Very good impression with wide margins and a very fres...

Passage Secret du Vatican is a black and White etching realized by Pierre-Lucien Faure-Dujarric in the 1860s.  Titled in the lower. Image size: 31x23. Very good impression with wi...

En Campagne is a black and White etching realized by Auguste Lancon in the 1860s.  Titled in the lower. Image size: 12x8, 11x10. Very good impression with wide margins and a very ...

Baie de Kerloche is a black and White etching realized by Auguste Feyen Perrin in the 1860s.  Titled in the lower. Image size: 23x32. Very good impression with wide margins and a ...

Les  Etrennes du Bebe is a black and White etching realized by Armand Queyroy in the 1860s.  Titled in the lower. Image size:21x28. Very good impression with wide margins and a ve...

Maison de Guttemberg a Mayence is a black and White etching realized by Pierre Tetar van Elven in the 1860s.  Titled in the lower. Image size: 32x23. Very good impression with wid...

Vue de Saragosse is a black and White etching realized by Henry Charles Landrin in the 1860s.  Titled in the lower. Image size: 17x32. Very good impression with wide margins and a...