1870s Prints and Multiples

This Winslow Homer woodcut engraving entitled "The Morning Walk, Young Ladies' School Promenading the Avenue", was published in Harper's Weekly in the...

Christmas is an original lithography artwork realized by Antonio Manganaro, in 1871. Original lithograph, watercolored by hand. Titled in Italian on the lower left as a part of ar...

Disparate claro - from Los Proverbios is an original black and white etching realized by Francisco Goya (1746-1828). The artwork is the plate n. 15 fr...

Unpublished Portrait of Honoré Daumier is a photographic albumen print on CDV size. Stamp of Photographic studio H. Le Lieure in Rome on front lower edge of cardboard. Slight voile...

Disparate alegre - from Los Proverbios is an original black and white etching realized by Francisco Goya (1746-1828). The artwork is the plate n. 12 ...

Rome, Arch of Titus is an original Modern artwork realized by Luca Beltrami (1854 - 1933) in 1878. Original Sepia Etching on ivory cardboard. Excelle...

Antenna in St. Mark's square is an original Modern artwork realized by Luigi Beltrami (Genoa 1855 - 1933) in 1877. Original B/W Etching on ivory cardboard. Excellent conditions. ...

Certosa is a Modern Artwork realized by Luca Beltrami (Genoa 1855 - 1933) in 1884 ca. Original Etching on paper. Mint conditions. Certosa is an excel...

Disparate fúnebre - from Los Proverbios is an original black and white etching realized by Francisco Goya (1746-1828). The artwork is the plate n. 18 ...

A Lying Animal is a black and white print realized by Friedrich Specht in 1880. Lithograph on dark paper. Original Title: Derendet. Dated 1880, p.24. Signed by the artist on the r...

Landscape is an original artwork realized by Pio Joris, in 1870s. Beautiful etching on ivory paper. conditions: diffused foxings. Pio Joris (1843 - 1921) was an Italian painter, e...

Paris, l'Atelier Pascal is an original Modern artwork realized by Luca Beltrami in 1877. Original B/W Etching on ivory cardboard. Signed on plate on ...

Fontainebleau Forest is an original Modern artwork realized by Luca Beltrami (1854 - 1933) in 1877. Original B/W Etching on ivory cardboard. Mint con...

St-Trophime Cloister is an original Modern artwork realized by Luca Beltrami (Genoa 1854 - 1933) in 1877. Original B/W Etching on ivory cardboard. Ex...

On the Bank of Thames is an original etching artwork on paper realized in 1876 by Arthur Evershed (1836-1919), printed by Delatre London. Plate-signed on the lower right and dated....

Venice, il Fondaco dei Turchi is an original Modern artwork realized by Luca Beltrami (1854 - 1933) in 1877. Original B/W Etching on ivory cardboard. Mint conditions. The etchi...

Paris: from my Window (Original Italian title: "Parigi: dalla mia finestra") is an original Modern artwork realized by Luca Beltrami (1854 - 1933) in 1876. Original B/W Etching on ...

Paris, L'Atelier Pascal is an original Modern artwork realized by Luca Beltrami (1854 - 1933) in 1877. Original Sepia Etching on ivory cardboard. Ins...

Coronation is an original lithography artwork realized by Antonio Manganaro, in 1871. Original lithograph, watercolored by hand. Good conditions, except for a slightly yellowed pa...

Well of the Ducal Palace is an original Modern artwork realized by Luca Beltrami (1854 - 1933) in 1877. Original B/W Etching on ivory cardboard. Exce...

Paris, Rue Mazarine is an original Modern artwork realized by Luca Beltrami (Genoa 1854 - 1933) in 1877. Original B/W Etching on ivory cardboard. Exc...

Lombard Farmhouse is an original Modern artwork realized by Luca Beltrami (1854 - 1933) in 1877. Original Sepia Etching on ivory cardboard. Excellent...

Maintenon Aqueduct is an original Modern artwork realized by LucaBeltrami (1854 - 1933) in 1877. Original Sepia Etching on ivory cardboard. Titled on...

Disparate matrimonial - from Los Proverbios is an original black and white etching realized by Francisco Goya (1746-1828). The artwork is the plate n. ...

"Landscape" is an original drawing in etching, realized by Edwin Edwards. The state of preservation of the artwork is very good. Sheet dimension: 18.5 ...

Finely detailed late 19th century chromo-lithograph portrait of a violinist street musician by John George Brown (British, 1831-1913). Many of Brown’s paintings were reproduced in lithography (Chromo-lithograpy), as is the case with the one offered here. Presented in a rustic antique Oak wood frame with giltwood fillet. Image, 15.63"H x 10.63"W. John George Brown was a British citizen and an American painter born in Durham, England. His parents apprenticed him to the career of glass worker at the age of fourteen, in an attempt to dissuade him from pursuing painting. He studied nights at the School of Design in Newcastle-on-Tyne while working as a glass cutter there between 1849 and 1852, and evenings at the Trustees Academy in Edinburgh while working at the Holyrood Glass Works between 1852 ad 1853. After moving to New York City in 1853, he studied with Thomas Seir Cummings at the National Academy of Design where he was elected a National Academician in 1861. Brown was the Academy’s vice-president from 1899 to 1904. Around 1855, he worked for the owner of the Brooklyn Glass Company, and later he married the daughter of his employer. His father-in-law encouraged his artistic abilities, supporting him financially, letting Brown pursue painting full-time. In 1866, he became one of the charter members of the Water-Color Society, of which he was president from 1887 to 1904. Brown became famous for his depictions of street urchins found of the streets of New York (bootblacks, street musicians, posy sellers, newsboys, etc.). Brown’s art is best characterized as British genre painting...

New Moses and right knights is an original artwork realized in 1873 by Antonio Manganaro. Original colored lithograph. Good conditions, except for some light foxings. Signed on th...

Antonio Canova is an original etching on paper realized in about 1870 after Pellegrini. Sheet dimension: 21.5 x 19.5 cm The state of preservation is very good except for some smal...

One at a Time is an original lithography artwork realized by Antonio Manganaro, in 1872. Original lithograph, watercolored by hand. Titled in Italian on the lower center" Uno alla ...

Solemn Receiving is an original artwork realized in 1872 by Antonio Manganaro. Original colored lithograph. Good conditions, except for the yellowed paper due to the time. This be...

The Honorable Intimate Secretaries is an original lithography artwork realized by Antonio Manganaro, in 1871. Original lithograph, watercolored by hand. Titled in Italian just bel...

Puritani Di Sinistra is an original artwork realized in the 1870s by Antonio Manganaro. Original colored lithograph. Good conditions, except for the yellowed paper due to the passi...

Puritani Di Sinistra is an original artwork realized in the 1870s by Antonio Manganaro. Original colored lithograph. Good conditions, except for the yellowed paper due to the passi...

Centro Destro is an original artwork realized in the 1870s by Antonio Manganaro. Original colored lithograph. Good conditions, except for the yellowed paper due to the passing of t...

The First Meeting, Jerome Park, N. Y. is an original proof before letters of a hand colored lithograph published in 1873 by the prolific German American artist and publisher Henry Schile...

"Winter in the Country" is an original hand-colored lithograph by Haskell & Allen. It depicts a family going back to their home in the snow and c...

Puritani di Sinistra is an original artwork realized by Antonio Manganaro, in 1872. Original lithograph, watercolored by hand. Good conditions, except for a slightly yellowed paper due to the passing of time and some light foxings. This satirical print is plate n. XXXII (as printed on the higher part of the artwork) from "The album of the 500" (Album dei 500), Tipografia De Angelis, Naples, and represents a satirical scene of Italian politicians of the end of the XIX century. On the back, their biographies. Signed on plate on the lower right A. Manganaro. Antonio Manganaro (Manfredonia, 1842 - Naples, 1920) was a painter, caricaturist, and drawing professor. Early designer, at the age of 14, he was sent to Naples at the Royal Institute of Art. The expenses were borne by two local patrons, Baron Cessa and Diego Badarò, who awarded him six ducats a month. He soon passed to painting classes, winning prizes and receiving the praises of his masters, including Maldarelli and Postiglione. Arrested for political conspiracy (his family belonged to the Young Italy), he was ordered to leave Naples. In 1859, he was part of the secret or action committee and, in 1860, he participated in the revolutionary movements that favored the entry of Garibaldi into Naples. Following the General, he participated in numerous feats of arms and was also wounded, obtaining a medal. Taking leave of the Mobile National Guards, he directed a newspaper, The Last Judgment...

Onorevole Romano detto il Tribuno is an original artwork realized by Antonio Manganaro, in 1872. Original lithograph, watercolored by hand. Good conditions, except for a slightly yellowed paper due to the passing of time and some light foxings. This satirical print is plate n. XX (as written on the higher part of the artwork) from "The album of the 500" (Album dei 500), Tipografia De Angelis, Naples, and represents a satirical scene of an italian politician (l'Onorevole Romano) of the end of the XIX century. On the back, his biography. Signed on plate on the lower right A. Manganaro. Antonio Manganaro (Manfredonia, 1842 - Naples, 1920) was a painter, caricaturist, and drawing professor. Early designer, at the age of 14, he was sent to Naples at the Royal Institute of Art. The expenses were borne by two local patrons, Baron Cessa and Diego Badarò, who awarded him six ducats a month. He soon passed to painting classes, winning prizes and receiving the praises of his masters, including Maldarelli and Postiglione. Arrested for political conspiracy (his family belonged to the Young Italy), he was ordered to leave Naples. In 1859, he was part of the secret or action committee and, in 1860, he participated in the revolutionary movements that favored the entry of Garibaldi into Naples. Following the General, he participated in numerous feats of arms and was also wounded, obtaining a medal. Taking leave of the Mobile National Guards, he directed a newspaper, The Last Judgment...

Image dimensions: 26x37,5 cm. L'Album di Montecitorio is an original artwork realized by Antonio Manganaro, in 1872. Original colored lithograph. Good conditions, except for a sli...

Parody of the Orestes is an original artwork realized by Antonio Manganaro, in 1872. Original lithograph, watercolored by hand. Good conditions, except for a slightly yellowed paper due to the passing of time and some light foxings. This satirical print is plate n. XIV (as printed on the higher part of the artwork) from "The album of the 500" (Album dei 500), Tipografia De Angelis, Naples, and represents a satirical scene of Italian journalitsts of the end of the XIX century. On the back, their biographies. Signed on plate on the lower right A. Manganaro. Antonio Manganaro (Manfredonia, 1842 - Naples, 1920) was a painter, caricaturist, and drawing professor. Early designer, at the age of 14, he was sent to Naples at the Royal Institute of Art. The expenses were borne by two local patrons, Baron Cessa and Diego Badarò, who awarded him six ducats a month. He soon passed to painting classes, winning prizes and receiving the praises of his masters, including Maldarelli and Postiglione. Arrested for political conspiracy (his family belonged to the Young Italy), he was ordered to leave Naples. In 1859, he was part of the secret or action committee and, in 1860, he participated in the revolutionary movements that favored the entry of Garibaldi into Naples. Following the General, he participated in numerous feats of arms and was also wounded, obtaining a medal. Taking leave of the Mobile National Guards, he directed a newspaper, The Last Judgment...

L'album di Montecitorio is an original artwork realized by Antonio Manganaro, in 1872. Original colored lithograph. Good conditions, except for a slightly yellowed paper due to the...

La Muette de Portici is a lithograph, realized by C. Deshays in 1870, titled below in the center, from"album de L'opera N.22", from lyrical artwork series. The state of preservation...

Reverie (Dream) is an original lithograph on paper realized by T. P Wagner (1819- 1881) in 1870s. Hand-signed on the lower left and titled in red pencil. Good conditions. Sheet dim...

Umewaka Shrine, from an untitled series of prints depicting Tokyo. A woman braces her umbrella against the rain and a man waits out the storm next to his jinriksha in this view of th...

Metz. Fin Juillet 1870 is a black and white etching realized by Auguste Lançon (1836-1887) in 1870. Remarkable and original example of Lançon's etched art. Beautiful artist's proof ...

Artist: Charles Amand-Durand, French (1831 - 1905) after Albrecht Dürer, German (1471 - 1528) Title: Jesus Christ Expirant sur la Croix Year: 1873 Medium: Heliogravure on wove paper ...

The Iron Man ("L'Uomo Di Ferro") is an original artwork realized in 1872 by Antonio Manganaro. Original colored lithograph Good conditions except for yellowing of paper due to the ...

America is an original artwork realized around 1830. Original black and white woodcut. Image dimensions 11.8 x 15.6 cm. Quite good conditions except for foxings especially along th...

Currier & Ives (Publishers) "Good times on the Old Plantation" 1872 Handcolored Lithograph Size Height 10 in.; Width 13.9 in. Framed Size: approx 16 x 19.5

"The New Steamship Cephalonia, of the Cunard Line" is an original hand-colored lithograph by Currier & Ives. It depicts a large sailing steamship. There is a significant stain in the artwork in the upper center. 12" x 16 3/4" art 21" x 26" 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...

Il Signor Biancheri-scillensciu is an original artwork realized in the 1870s by Antonio Manganaro. Original colored lithograph. Good conditions except for the yellowing of paper du...

Le Duc d'Urbin is a black and white etching on Chine paper attached, by Félix Bracquemond, after Tiziano. This modern artwork representing the noblem...

L'Onorevole Di Nocera Medita Un Discorso is an original artwork realized in the 1870s by Antonio Manganaro. Original colored lithograph. Good conditions except for the yellowing of...

"The Celebrated Clipper Ship Dreadnought" is an original hand-colored lithograph by Currier & Ives. It depicts a sailing ship. 13 1/4" x 17 1/2" art 19" x 23 1/2" 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...

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